Determinism and free will help

[franklinstower]

There have been multiple ways but I am grateful for all of them. I dont do much debating and this idea was new to me AND made sense from a certain vantage point. I have an ability to really drop in and take another viewpoint that is not my own as if it were my own. This really helps me to connect with people.

Determinism in the way that my friend presented it, the way he sees it, feels like God is a controlling dictator and makes the whole world feel small and meaningless… there is also an anger at God for making it this way…

 

[Gorgias]

I think our argument will be profoundly unpopular in Christian circles.

Which argument?

Those who believe in Calvin’s TULIP are already strict determinists, so I think you’re correct on that point. However, not all Christians believe in “double predestination”.

Or, are you referring to the discussion on “middle knowledge”? There are many Christians of all stripes who hold that God does not have knowledge of counter-factuals.

I am deeply Christian but I converted from the New Age movement completely years ago. There was more of a place for creativity and a kind of knowing that is not linear in that thinking (too much of a place actually.). One of the disappointments I ran into with Christian theology is that I could read a whole book on it and intuition and creativity would not be discussed at all-- even in relation to our relationship with God.

This is a really interesting observation!

We’re getting a bit off-topic – and maybe it might make sense for you to start a topic in the ‘Spirituality’ category to discuss this idea – but my gut feel is that, since Christians (especially non-Catholic Christians (i.e., ‘Protestants’)) see their religion as a religion completely dominated by a book (the Bible), then there’s not room for ‘creativity’ – it was God who created the Bible – and not for ‘intuition’ – since God provided explicit knowledge.

It’s an interesting question, though: where do we, as Christians, find room for these God-given gifts in our relationship with Him?

 

[franklinstower]

Yes it is very interesting. I think I will start a thread on this in the spirituality forum. Its been a while since I was on here. The format has been changed and it is terrible…