The Problem of Free Will

Premise: Absolute human free will cannot exist in a reality which God actively communicates with his creation.  God in this context is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent, knowing all things of the past, present, and future with absolute certainty.  The assertion made by the argument for absolute free will is that human being are unique in their ability to freely make any and all decisions.  While not necessarily in control of all of the conditions leading to the decision, nor all the consequences resulting from a decision, the act of deciding is completely under the control of the individual (human) making that choice.  Assuming that a complete knowledge of the future could be granted to a human being, that human could determine the outcome of a decision made by another human being violating free-will.  For EX.Alex knows the future with absolute certainty.  He wishes to make his professor give him a B+ for a course in which he only earned a C-.  Alex then talks with his professor.  Because he can see all the consequences of his words upon his professor’s decisions, he should be able to decide the exact wording needed to determine the decision to increase his grade.  This would be possible because before a decision is made, there exist an infinite number of possible influences which can lead to an infinite number of possibilities.   One or more of these influences will result in the professor granting Alex’s desire for the possibility for a B+ becoming a reality.  Alex must simply choose the right combination of words (or for that matter any perceivable influence) that would determine the professors decision.To define choice, one must concede that if only one possible path is available to travel, there is no choice.  Choice can only exist when two or more possible paths can be taken.  In the example given, Alex already knows exactly what his actions during his conversation with his professor will result in.  It would seem then that the professor only had a pseudo-choice in which his decision was already pre-determined by the set of influences given by Alex.  In the same manor, God cannot influence a person, no matter how little the influence, without consequence on the resulting decision.  Even if the influence is confirming, or fails to deter the decision that person would have made free of any divine intervention, the ultimate influence upon that person to make a decision has changed.  Also because God knows what will happen as a consequence of any influence he may place in a persons life, that resulting decision will be determined by God thus a mere pseudo-choice for the individual.Finally there exists one instance in which God can directly intervene in ones life without the resulting decision being determined.  This can only occur when a person without the influence of God asks God to influence their life so as to bring about His will for their life.  If this is true, free will has chosen to give up its right to make decisions and has given God the right to determine choices whenever He chooses.  This can be observed in Christian maturation.  As a Christian grow closer to God, they will choose to give up more and more of their free will.  When this occurs, it allows God to take more control and ultimately leads to a higher degree of perfection in that person as God will, which is always perfect, increasingly manifests itself. 

The Source of Evil

Premise: The Christian God is the creator of all things, in all realities, and all dimimensions of existance.  The Christian God is the Uncreated Creator Who has no beginning and will have no end.  If the Christian God is such then He must directly or indirectly, through part of His creation, be the creator of evil.