According to your personal opinion, one I clearly disagree with. I see no conflict.
They do not exist and would never exist. There is no more punishment in that than if a couple decided to not have sex and therefore did not have a child. They did not punish that child because they never existed to be punished. They just never created them.
Well I do. Because Scripture says “Blessed be God who chose us in Him from the foundation of the world…”
And that’s your problem, not mine. Just because you think it has to be one way does not mean it must be. There are multiple people here who completely disagree with you and your personal theory about God denies, by necessity, His omnipotence and omnibenevolence.
And you choose to interpret that as “God had foreknowledge of our fates” rather than “God knows everyone from the moment of their creation, the same moment as all other creation came to be.”
It would be a problem if I thought it.
Not from the moment of creation. From the foundation of the world. Before mankind or the universe even existed!
What does this even mean? Those moments, to God, are all the same.
I have already explained this many times; God can save more souls through the fear of Hell. This is the reason why God tells us that Hell exists and that many will go to Hell (see Matthew 7:13, for example); since God never lies, He created also the souls who will go to Hell.Mmarco:
If you’re right, he has a really bad way of going about it.
I mean, think about it. God, in your view, is fully capable of realizing only souls which, by their own relationships with God and His grace, will be saved. If God desires all be saved, why not only realize those souls?
God’s knowledge does not depend on the act of creation.
There is no logical impossibility involved in the idea that God has always known eternally the souls who go to heaven, independently from the act of creation of the universe.Mmarco:
No it is not. God does not need to know that which cannot exist to be omnipotent, unless you think that He knows many other things about logical impossibility which, again, makes no sense at all.
Can God create souls which He knows need no fear to be saved? Yes. Obviously. So this is completely unnecessary and therefore makes God an idiot.
Without knowing beforehand that those souls would choose it because they didn’t exist to choose.
So God may know things about that which does not exist?
Yes there is. One cannot know qualities about that which does not exist, neither abstractly nor physically. Period. Unless, of course, you think God knows about a lot of other things which don’t exist, like square circles or married bachelors or rocks He can’t lift.
You interpret his words that way. That doesn’t mean you’re correct. Because of the above reasons creating blatant inconsistencies, I can only say that it is you who is totally wrong.
Those damned souls have the free will not to be damned and accept God’s grace, just like the people of the Earth could have listened at the time of Noah, or the people of Sodom could have just ten good people instead of just Lot.
The Cross is also “stupid.”
No, the Cross is an act of love, brotherhood, and self-sacrifice. It shows us more clearly than ever that God truly loves deeper than we could ever imagine.
What part of self-defeat shows patience? How is this relevant to the discussion at hand?
The Cross is foolishness to the pagans. God’s folly is wiser than human wisdom.
Only humans lose in this scenario.
Uhhh, okay? Still not relevant. The Cross had a very clear goal that it accomplished. It wasn’t self-defeating; it gave mankind a path to salvation after we took our first one away from ourselves.
No, God does too. God desires all be saved, and God creates souls that cannot be saved. God causes His own desire to be unfulfillable. That’s self-defeat by definition.
God can create souls which He knows need no fear to be saved but He wants to create also those souls which He knows need fear to be saved, because He wants to save as many souls as possible. This is the point!Mmarco:
Can God create souls which He knows need no fear to be saved? Yes. Obviously. So this is completely unnecessary and therefore makes God an idiot.
No, there isn’t. God has always known everything eternally. God has always known that the expression “square circle” is nonsensical, while a soul who goes to Hell, is not nonsensical. Your comparison is nonsensical.Mmarco:
Yes there is. One cannot know qualities about that which does not exist, neither abstractly nor physically. Period. Unless, of course, you think God knows about a lot of other things which don’t exist, like square circles or married bachelors or rocks He can’t lift.
The verse I quoted is very explicit and clear; from my point of view, you are simply denying the obvious.Mmarco:
You interpret his words that way. That doesn’t mean you’re correct.
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That makes no sense. So God wants to save as many souls as possible, and therefore creates souls that won’t be saved.
Wrong. God could not have designed my soul in a different way, because that soul would not have been me, but another person. He may have created the other person, but He has chosen to create also me.Mmarco:
God could design us all to not need fear if you’re right and He knows our souls before we’re created.
Then the goal that all be saved and the goal that as many as possible be saved are in conflict.
I would add, all that wasn’t, isn’t, and wont be. Especially if such things are indeed manifested in alternate universes.
There is no conflict. God certainly wants that all be saved (I have never denied that), but God knows that some will freely choose evil and won’t be saved.Mmarco:
Then the goal that all be saved and the goal that as many as possible be saved are in conflict.