Growing Power

Our assumptions:

God gave us free will

We make the second assumption because if God didnt give us free will then repentance is useless. everything is predetermined and your actions are just following the course of fate.

my question, based on these assumptions, when do people grow stronger than God? the human quality of free will strips God of his omnipotence. he doesnt know if you wil choose to do good or choose to sin. (if he does know, then its not free will anymore its predetermined) so if God is not omnipotent then how does he know what the um of our actions could cause. he may think he is all powerful but he may not KNOW. and therefore he may not KNOW what we will do that will make us stronger than him.

its a classic story of the monster killing the master because he is too strong

does this make sense? i am not trying to start stuff I am sincerely intersted.

 

A thought-provoking paragraph on this topic from C.S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity:

 

so God isnt really omnipotent he just has a great database system?

 

Well, what I think it means is that God, existing differently than we do (outside of Time, for starters), can know what we are "going to do" without eliminating or even reducing our free will.

In other words, our free will does not strip him of his omnipotence. (Or rather omniscience, if you want to get technical. And being omniscient, God does have "a great database system". The best imaginable, really.)

 

When a person's soul goes to heaven, does it exist outside of time?

 

I think it's possible, perhaps even likely, but I don't think this idea (or Lewis's thoughts about God's relationship to Time) goes beyond speculation. Reasonable speculation, imo, but not doctrine.

What's your thinking on this?

 

Time has no meaning to the immaterial. Time is the 4th dimension. Anything must have substance for dimensions to be applicable.

 

Correct. If we don't make our own choices, we can't choose not to make unrighteous choices (which is what repentance is... sort of).

No. Foreknowledge isn't the same as predestination.

 

I disagree. Choosing not to use power isn't the same thing as not having it in the first place.

Again, anyone can have foreknowledge about someone without controlling his actions and decisions. God is omniscient, so He does know what we will do before we do. But He chooses to allow us to make those decisions on our own, rather than forcing us to do what He knows is best for us, even having the foreknowledge of what will happen when we do make our own decisions.

For example, let's say that hypothetically I know exactly what you're going to post in reply to this. Does that mean I'm going to make you post it? Of course not. You're still making your own decision, I just won't be surprised by it.

 

If someone tells me they are going to do something and then they do it, did I make them do it?