Time for a lesson - Osten
Time for a Lesson
So far I have enjoyed book eleven more than any other, however, some questions have gone unasked and unanswered. Due to his unfortunate departure which still leaves grief in the hearts of many, we may never be able to ask him these monumental questions. However, I can do my best. ;)
1. If the future exists do we have free will?
This is a magnificent question that can be answered through logic! Heres the scenario. Imagine everything you ever do in the future is planned out and can be seen by God. This shouldn't be hard to imagine because he already knows what you will do. If you will ultimately do whatever God is seeing in the future then do I have free will? There are two possible answers, yes and no. Let's try no first. So congratulations you don't have free will and life sucks! What's the point of living if you don't have free will? How can you truly love anything (especially God) if you were predestined to or not? Let's try yes. Congratulations you have free will and life it what you want it to be (more or less). But how does God see our future if it isn't yet decided? I can think of two theories, God sees every possible future like Doctor Strange and/or he knows your brain so well that even with free will he knows which choice you'll go for every time.
2. What day did God make time?
Augustine is repeatedly asked the question what was God doing before creation? In which he gives a long answer that is difficult to shorten. In that answer, he says that time is not equivalent to your position relative to celestial bodies (but worded differently). If this is true then God would have had to make time before making the stars, sun, and moon. Augustine Answers this question by saying that as soon as God began creating so did time start. This makes sense as there would be no need for time because nothing needed to do anything because there was nothing but God.
3. What does the end of time look like? Does it look like the beginning?
Considering that the earth won't just blow up I'm sure time will still be needed so no, it won't be like the beginning. It will be better.
Note from Owen: Hey sorry for the long post I just had to debunk some personal theories and get thoughts straight hope I answered (or better, brought up) questions you may have concerning time. I like to make these personal which normally means silly and longwinded. I had a lot to say about book ten as well but it would probably be about the same length. Hope you enjoyed. Blog ya later ;)
I commented on
2. What day did God make time?
Augustine is repeatedly asked the question what was God doing before creation? In which he gives a long answer that is difficult to shorten. In that answer, he says that time is not equivalent to your position relative to celestial bodies (but worded differently). If this is true then God would have had to make time before making the stars, sun, and moon. Augustine Answers this question by saying that as soon as God began creating so did time start. This makes sense as there would be no need for time because nothing needed to do anything because there was nothing but God.
3. What does the end of time look like? Does it look like the beginning?
Considering that the earth won't just blow up I'm sure time will still be needed so no, it won't be like the beginning. It will be better.
Note from Owen: Hey sorry for the long post I just had to debunk some personal theories and get thoughts straight hope I answered (or better, brought up) questions you may have concerning time. I like to make these personal which normally means silly and longwinded. I had a lot to say about book ten as well but it would probably be about the same length. Hope you enjoyed. Blog ya later ;)
I commented on
I enjoyed reading the post. I agree with how we have free will and you used a great way to explain it. On time however I might be wrong, but I have always thought about God being kind of outside of time if you can understand what I mean. 2 Peter 3:8 says "but do not forget this one thing, dear friends with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day." I have always thought since he created the present, past, and future he exists in the past at the very same time. Like we see time in one direction that always looks toward the future but never seeing it, but he sees it and can act on it in every way. for on how time ends it is told in revelation although it is hard to decipher. I am not going to put it here because I am going to get it wrong since it has been awhile since I have looked at Revelation, but I do remember something like Jesus coming down and there will be no sun or night because He will be the light.
ReplyDeleteI like to think I have free will to make the decisons that determine my course of life throughout the years. I agree with your little theory about God seeing every possible outcome. But, who are we to put God in a box? Lets just keep trying to make the best decisions to get us closer to the lives we are meant to live and love. Great post, Osten!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to argue against everything you said about free will.
ReplyDeleteTaking it literally, the argument the we have free will because not having it seems disagreeable to us doesn't work. (I don't like being stranded in a desert; therefore, I'm not stranded in a desert).
The point of life point isn't successful either--the point of life is subjective. Some people may feel that having free will makes life arbitrary. Those people may prefer feeling that God has planned out their actions and given them some greater meaning.
The God sees all possible futures argument doesn't get around the omniscience/freedom problem. If God is omniscient, then he has to know, not only possible futures, but which future will actually occur. Likewise, if God can predict our every move, then it seems difficult to maintain the free will position.
On a related note, you'll often hear arguments about indeterminism in quantum mechanics concerning free will. Now, even if indeterminism is some inherent feature of the world and not merely a deficiency of knowledge of the causes of events, the indeterminacy argument doesn't provide any argument for free will. I recently heard an interesting analogy that explains this well: Slave 1 is told to work in the fields; Slave two is told that he has to either work in the fields or herd cattle, depending on the outcome of a coin toss. I slave 2 freer than slave 1?
I'm only making negative arguments here, but I'll add that I'm inclined to a sort of compatibilism.