This weekend i was thinking about all the discussions we've had over the weeks. And I know it's kinda dumb to come back to stuff, but i had some ideas about free-will and about the reason for natural disasters. For free-will, there was a discussion whether there is actually free-will since God knows everything. Maybe the idea that someone knows what your gonna do doesn't mean that you never had a choice. Let's say that I walk into a store and someone says, "I KNOW that he will buy something in there." If I come out with a purchase that means he knew what was going to happen. But that does not mean that I never had a choice. Dealing with God is a little different I know. But again, if that same person was always able to predict my actions, that does not mean that my decisions weren't my own. If someone predicts that I will get married and I do, that doesn't mean I never had a choice.
Also, for the natural disasters. Natural disasters are needed to bring us closer together. If you think about it, it is through the hardest times that humanity becomes the most compassionate. And even if you argue that God did not have to go THAT far. We can also argue that the only way that we were able to become aware that there is a god, is through natural phenomenon. In ancient times, the ideas of gods came from things such as lightning, earthquakes, floods, tornado, and things of that nature. If there were never things like that, we would never think of something as great and powerful as a god or God. This is one of the only ways that God shows humans his grand power.
Those are two very interesting points. I like your thoughts about what foreknowledge is actually about-- although you're right in saying that God's foreknowledge will probably be different than any of ours. But it sounds like you're questioning the "standard", unexamined intuition about what free will means. That will definitely come into play later in the semester.
Good thought about natural disasters, too. This wasn't brought up in any discussion, but if there was only happiness in the world, would humans make any effort to make a personal connection with God? If that's another "greater good" (like the development of the virtues) that the world was made for, perhaps that could justify natural disasters as visible signs of God's power.
Of course, that still leaves the question of the suffering those disasters cause. Is there a better way God could have made Himself apparent to humanity?
3 comments:
This weekend i was thinking about all the discussions we've had over the weeks. And I know it's kinda dumb to come back to stuff, but i had some ideas about free-will and about the reason for natural disasters. For free-will, there was a discussion whether there is actually free-will since God knows everything. Maybe the idea that someone knows what your gonna do doesn't mean that you never had a choice. Let's say that I walk into a store and someone says, "I KNOW that he will buy something in there." If I come out with a purchase that means he knew what was going to happen. But that does not mean that I never had a choice. Dealing with God is a little different I know. But again, if that same person was always able to predict my actions, that does not mean that my decisions weren't my own. If someone predicts that I will get married and I do, that doesn't mean I never had a choice.
Also, for the natural disasters. Natural disasters are needed to bring us closer together. If you think about it, it is through the hardest times that humanity becomes the most compassionate. And even if you argue that God did not have to go THAT far. We can also argue that the only way that we were able to become aware that there is a god, is through natural phenomenon. In ancient times, the ideas of gods came from things such as lightning, earthquakes, floods, tornado, and things of that nature. If there were never things like that, we would never think of something as great and powerful as a god or God. This is one of the only ways that God shows humans his grand power.
First off, who's Josh?
Those are two very interesting points. I like your thoughts about what foreknowledge is actually about-- although you're right in saying that God's foreknowledge will probably be different than any of ours. But it sounds like you're questioning the "standard", unexamined intuition about what free will means. That will definitely come into play later in the semester.
Good thought about natural disasters, too. This wasn't brought up in any discussion, but if there was only happiness in the world, would humans make any effort to make a personal connection with God? If that's another "greater good" (like the development of the virtues) that the world was made for, perhaps that could justify natural disasters as visible signs of God's power.
Of course, that still leaves the question of the suffering those disasters cause. Is there a better way God could have made Himself apparent to humanity?
Josh is "Josue Rodriguez" but Josh is easier to say and remember. Thanks for the feedback.
Post a Comment