Hellgiver Wrote:This brings into question the idea of (dammit, what's it called...) God having planned everything out. Since God is both omniscient, and omnipotent, he not only knew this child was not meant to live a long life, but he had intended this. By this logic, if one were to take his or her own life, then it'd not only have been expected by God, but intended.  To say that committing suicide leads directly to hell, it makes it sound like predestination is true. God intended you to live a short life, by making you take your own life. Then why the hell have this rule? Why does (blank) HAVE to go to hell? God chose this outcome, so doesn't that seem a bit unfair?

To circumvent this argument, one could take on the belief of God knowing only how everything will come together in the end, so the means of reaching the end aren't defined until the end actually occurs. This would mean that God isn't omniscient, but it would allow for free will.

That was one of the main points I argued about in my essay.

The first problem with such a claim is the part where free will comes into effect. If God was all-knowing and all-seeing as He is thought to be, that would interfere with our free will; God would be able to see and alter every possible outcome to every human’s choices in life. If omniscience were to stay wee would literally have to murder the freedom to make lucid—or irrational—decisions, those that which God has given to us humans. But if that were to ever happen, the existence of God would make sin completely irrelevant (Pederson 1). People would hurt, 'borrow', and murder one another, and the one excuse they would ever need is that God has foreseen their choices and has set a path for them to follow. He cannot judge them fairly when their time has come, as He had foreseen their mistakes and could have stopped it from ever happening. Wee humans would merely have to walk down it and not feel guilty, gaining a free ticket to the party in Heaven. This plausibly makes omniscience impossible; therefore an omniscient (and omnipotent) God is just as likely to exist as a Flying Spaghetti Monster.