One assumption is that there are morally neutral free will decisions. But, in reality, there aren’t. So, Tyrion’s choice of A or B, if under free will, cannot be morally neutral. I have attempted to paint it in more realistic terms, so that A might be saving the girl from the burning building and B might be letting her die instead, in order to demonstrate the fallacy. It is not that no one can freely decide to do something against their own morals. We do it all the time. Saint Peter did it. Saint Peter really wanted to remain faithful, and it would have been morally correct for him to remain faithful. In order for Jesus’s prediction to be correct, Saint Peter had to lie. Saint Peter did lie, three times, denying that he even knew a man with whom he had been in constant contact for the three previous years. He simply did not have the moral strength to own up to the truth, and Jesus knew it.
Now, as pointed out, Tyrion’s decision to even try to “prove God wrong,” is NOT a morally neutral decision. Tyrion has already committed a sin of pride in presuming to test God, in the first place. God is under no obligation whatsoever to cater to Tyrion’s sin of pride. In fact, Holy Scripture plainly states, “He hath confused the proud in their inmost thoughts.”
The thought experiment, then, is not a morally neutral experiment. It is a sin of pride of presumption. The roll of dice may indeed be morally neutral, but the motive behind rolling the dice, is not. So God is under no obligation whatsoever to even allow Tyrion to pick up any dice and attempt to roll them.
But let’s assume, for the sake of the argument, that He did. Let’s assume that Tyrion’s insolent demand of God is that God give Tyrion an accurate prediction of how many dice Tyrion will choose to pick up. Let’s assume that the scenario at t=0 is the following:
- Tyrion has four dice.
- Tyrion has asked God for his prediction.
- God predicts Tyrion will pick up three dice.
Then, to be consistent with reality, the following will occur at t=1:
Tyrion will freely choose to pick up three dice.
Don’t ask me “how?” I don’t know how. I freely admit that I am nowhere near as smart as God, so I don’t experience any requirement to know “how.”
But I do know that there are herein two different principles at work, one of which is stronger than the other. The first, and stronger principle, is God’s omniscient foreknowledge. The second, weaker principle, is Tyrion’s own foreknowledge of his own future free will decision. Perfect knowledge of one’s own future decisions would require, among other things, perfect self-control and perfect knowledge of all the situational factors of those decisions, neither of which Tyrion has. What Tyrion does have, is his insolence of pride, and that calls for rebuke. So, knowing God as I do, I predict that God will rebuke Tyrion’s pride.
“He hath confused the proud in their inmost thoughts.”
If God says that I will select 3 dice, then I will select 1, or 2, or 4, etc… anything but 3. If he says that I will make the toss with my right hand… then I will do it with my left hand.