The Problem of Free Will, A Theological Problem. Options

[NoSex]

Alright, the purpose of this thread is to discuss the theological Problem of Free Will. So, under common christian theolgy, God is described as being all-knowing (omniscient) and all powerful (omnipotent). Men are also described as having free will. This is at the heart of the reality of theological fatalism. Solving this issue is vital to christian theology as it becomes an inherent contradiction as well as threatening to the christian conception of salvation and damnation.

I hold that God's infallible foreknowledge makes impossible man's free will. If god knows the future, how can we choose our own path?

Discuss.

[NoSex]

If "God" is indeed truely what is claimed, he IS omniscient. I don't think that really means that he knows exactly what you're going to do, with free will being involved.

Main Entry: om·ni·scient
Pronunciation: -sh&nt
Function: adjective
Etymology: New Latin omniscient-, omnisciens, back-formation from Medieval Latin omniscientia
1 : having infinite awareness, understanding, and insight
2 : possessed of universal or complete knowledge
- om·ni·scient·ly adverb

Alright. If God truly is omniscient, by definition, he really does know exactly what you're going to do, free will or no free will. So, your first premise is a contradiction in terms, which inevitable, given your argument requires said premise, makes your argument invalid.

Think of it as a branching path. He can foresee all possibilities. Let's say you're walking down a path, and it forks into three smaller ones. God is fully aware of all of them. He provides free will, and allows you to choose. Every path leads you to a different life, filled with other choices. Perhaps he can't see what will happen in the far off future exactly, but only the possibilities and what comes with every choice.

Since your premise is false and contradictory, the subsequent argument becomes inherently absurd and meaningless.

To me, Mr. Nietzsche seems more like an angry teenager in his mom's basement proclaiming how much everything sucks (who was actually a hermit living in the moutains somewhere in Europe. Same environment, really).

That's an awful description. For the majority of his life, Nietzsche was decently social. He only became familiar with solitude in his later years, and even then, could not be equated to an "angry teenager in his mom's basement proclaiming how much everything sucks." Nietzsche was a free mind who went against the grain in many of his philosophical positions. He was a very knowledgable and read man. He had worked as a professor, studied under many people, held many friends, published many works, and spent much of his life preparing and perfecting his ideas for future generations. To compare him to this teenager is an awful and shortsighted insult.

Once you kind of get to know his background, you understand him more. He isn't ignorant, but his father was a Lutheran Pastor, who died when Nietzsche was only 7. Like in many families, he was expected to follow in his father's footsteps because he was the oldest son. So, he followed by going to school to also become a Pastor. He soon dropped out and became an uber Atheist. Basically, he experienced Christianity from the inside out, so to speak. And he died of The Clap.

1. His father died when Nietzche was only 5.
2. He never, insofar as I know, went to school to become a Pastor.
3. He studided under Theology (Not to become a Pastor) at the University of Bonn for a short time.
4. Before his time at Bonn, he had been well learned in music and language at esteemed private schools such as Schulpforta. Although Schulpforta was once monastery, by the time Nietzsche had attended, it had long been reformed into a boarding school.
5. Although Nietzsche was an atheist, he rarely developed such arguments. He was a superman but not a super atheist.
6. His atheism could probably be more attributed to his time learning Philology, and with it, ancient mythology.
7. He didn't die of syphilis. He had fallen to pneumonia. It isn't even agreed upon that he ever had syphilis, it's very possible that he hadn't.

That's my little rundown on our friend Friedrich, for those who are ignorant. :]

For the most part, he thought Jesus was a pretty dandy fellow.

This is true. Nietzsche respected the Jesus figure as an overman (superman) and a holder of a master morality.

I don't know if I'd say slave "morality", but I think he's saying religion is a slave-like corruption of the mind and spirit. Religion forces you to submit to "faith", rather than something such as Secular Humanism

Nietzsche described two kinds of morality: A master morality, and a slave morality. A morality that was born out of rationality, reason, and knowledge from the individual would be considered a master morality. A slave morality was a morality derived from fear, insecurity, conformity, ignorance, and obedience.

I don't really see why these two points are connected. Many people have Nihilistic views, so I wouldn't say it hasn't kicked in yet.

Nietzsche had predicted that all of western civilization would fall under a kind of nihilism in at least two centuries (I guess his prediction still has some time to fufill itself). He expected that all values would become devalued. Religion would fall. Science would meet with much trouble. Meaning would implode as a result. This hasn't happened yet.

And the "God is dead" theory is pretty stupid. In order to free ourselves from religion, we must "kill God"? That doesn't seem very plausable. Maybe in our minds, we can "kill God" in a non-literal sense, but if he does in fact exist, we can't just erase him from our minds and call the guy dead. Nietzsche, you silly douche.

Mipadi explained this for the most part.
When Nietzsche said, "God is Dead," he was pertaining to how the concept of a christian God holds up in an increasingly rationale and scientific community. As science was beginning to explain the world around us, Nietzsche believed the influence of the most powerful slave morality, Christianity, would disapear, and the effects of a God, real or imagined, would disapear from the planet leading to his theory of impending nihilism. He saw in the enviroment around him, a very threatening force prepared to assualt the traditional values of western culture. This is what Nietzsche meant to capture in his phrase, "God is dead."

Not really. He was pretty correct on the fact that Western religion is based on Christanity, and is pretty closed minded to any other beliefs/faiths.

Actually, that's not what he thought would happen. He thought it would all disappear into a dangerous nihilism.

I think some things need to be cleared up about our friend Friedrich Nietzsche.
He viewed nihilism as a means to an end. Almost an intermission between two positive philosophical theories. Although Nietzsche spoke of nihilism on many different levels ("nihilism as a normal phenomenon can be a symptom of increasing strength or of increasing weakness"), in the most common sense, Nietzsche was not a nihilist. He refered to himself as a nihilist only so far as he denied traditional values and morality, adhered to his own master morality, and held a relativistic meta-ethical position. Nietzsche infact saw nearly everyone as a kind of nihilist. Although, the nihilistic future that he predicts is both loved and hated by Nietzsche. Nietzsche loves it as a means to a refreshing, real, and healthy positive philosophy, but hates it as a stagnant destructive force. In short, that it is destroying a slave morality is good, but to replace meaninglessness with a less powerful meaninglessness isn't exactly ideal. Nietzsche predicted, and wished, that the impending nihilism would be replaced with a better world view and leave humanity in a more favorable position for progress and future advances in all fields of thought.

Nietzsche refered to overcoming this nihilism as his revaluation of values. In the Will to Power, he wrote that there must be "a movement that in some future will take the place of this perfect nihilism—but presupposes it, logically and psychologically, and certainly can come only after and out of it." This was his revaluation of values.