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| Open Theism Discussion Board > Public Forums > The raging debate continues here... > Appendix to RD's "more questions" thread | Forum Quick Jump
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JET
Registered Member
Date Joined Jun 2002
Total Posts : 397
| Posted 1/27/2003 6:36 PM (GMT -6) |   | RD,
I started a new thread because I didn’t want to interrupt the flow of your discussion with Modes. I’m writing this more for my own benefit (to develop my thinking on these issues). Having said that, I would of course welcome any feedback. Most of the ideas that follow are from Satan and the Problem of Evil (Greg Boyd, 2001).
1. Does divine regret or disappointment imply divine imperfection?
Because love must be chosen, love requires self-determining freedom (see below). Self-determining freedom entails that God risks experiencing disappointment and regret. Thus, God could not create a world in which love is possible without this risk. However, this does not imply divine imperfection any more than saying that God cannot create square circles implies divine imperfection. Both “square circles” and “love without risk” are logically and metaphysically impossible.
2. (a) Why libertarian free will?
Love must be chosen.
We know this from Scripture, e.g. Deut. 30: 16 – 20 (“For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in his ways . . . Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God . . .’)
We also know this from experience. It is not possible to force people to love.
2. (b) How is compatibilism contradictory to love?
My actions (including whether or not I choose love) are either determined by me or not determined by me. If God determines my actions, then I do not choose them. If my actions are timelessly or eternally known, then my actions are not determined by me (because I am neither timeless nor eternal). Therefore, if God either determines my actions or timelessly or eternally knows my actions, then I am not capable of choosing love.
3. If libertarian freedom is important on earth, wouldn’t it be just as important in heaven? If libertarian freedom is not important in heaven, why is it important on earth?
“ . . . elf-determining freedom is not an end in itself. Its role is always probational. It exists in this probationary period to irreversibly determine our eternal participation in or exclusion from the kingdom of God. Self-determining freedom ultimately gives way either to a higher form of freedom – the freedom to be creatures whose love defines them—or the lowest form of bondage—the inability to participate in love. We either become beings who are irrevocably open or irrevocably closed to God’s love. The former is eternal life; the latter is eternal death.”
(From SATPOE, p. 190)
4. (a) If God knows all possibilities (so that God is never totally surprised), how is the OV account of God experiencing “regret” or “disappointment” any different than the classical account?
God can be said to experience genuine regret or disappointment only if God’s knowledge includes possibilities. If God’s knowledge only consists of what will definitely occur, there is simply nothing for God to regret.
4. (b) How does this reconcile the problem of evil?
Genuine possibilities exist because libertarian freedom exists. Libertarian freedom exists for the sake of love. However, freedom (and, hence, love) entails risk. Thus, evil exists because love entails risk, not because evil itself is part of God’s plan.
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