I A Religion and Philosophy Presentation 3: An Effort To Harmonize Omniscience and Free Will

The research in this presentation reflects an approach to finding a resolve to one issue presented by God’s omniscience. God’s omniscience raises the question of how much freedom humans have to make choices if God, who created all things, already knows (in the sense that God determines) the choices that humans have made, are making, and will make. Furthermore, if God’s omniscience determines humans’ choices then God’s omniscience is the cause for everything that happens and, thus, God’s omniscience is the cause for everything that is evil. To the issue that omniscience creates, this presentation examines the compatibilist approaches of Boethius, William of Ockham, and Luis de Molina. Of these three approaches, Molina provides the most successful method of harmonizing omniscience and free will. The implication of these findings is that one may continue to maintain the characteristics (omniscience, omnipotence, and omnibenevolence) traditionally attributed to God while maintaining that humans are responsible for their actions