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Originally Posted by Interesting Ian  How is free will a problem in theology? |
The Puritans believed in predestination; that is, that God has already chosen an elect to ascend to heaven and everyone else can go to hell. However, if God has already discerned the good from the wicked, what choice do we really have in being good or wicked people? Why should I bother being saintly when I'm probably not in the elect?
The modern take is that God has a Divine Plan and he knows everything that will happen. Thus, he already knows damn well if you're a naughty or nice, so there's still an elect.
I solved this problem a while back using a variant of determinism while I was a Christian. God is omniscient, so he already knows, and while he is omnipotent, that doesn't mean he exercises the power. Ergo, knowledge does not destroy choice, i.e. free will, so people still have free will. Unfortunately, my solution doesn't work with God as Creator, because it's his fault we started out that way in the first place.