What about God knowing the end from the beginning? How would you explain this? And am not challenging.
He would have to know the choosing wouldn’t He?
Stonesoffire,
I may have been in a hurry and failed to answer the direct point of your post.
Let me try to restate your whole point to clarify.
1. If God has foreknowledge of all things, then God knows HOW people will choose.
2. If God knows HOW people will choose, then this implies that people are, in some way, "locked in" to God's foreknowledge, and thus God's foreknowledge CAUSES their choosing.
If you read my previous posts, I go into that in a lot of detail.
But I'll give a few more examples of how it works.
Foreknowledge: Information has no causal power
It's a well known principle we all rely on:
A. Information, in itself, has no power to CAUSE anything.
B. If it has no power to cause anything, then it still cannot CAUSE anything regardless of WHEN that information comes into existence.
C. Something (like information) which has no physical substance, no will, no volition, and no power, and which cannot CAUSE anything, simply cannot CAUSE anything. It doesn't matter WHEN that thing comes into existence; it cannot cause anything because it cannot cause anything. It has no causal abilities.
D. If a thing (like information) has no causal power AT ALL, then it still has no causal power regardless of WHEN it comes into existence. Since it has no causal power regardless of when it comes into existence, then it doesn't matter if it comes into existence after an event, or before an event... it still has no causal power.
E. If you gain knowledge of an event BEFORE the event, then that information, in itself and by itself, has no ability to cause the event... because information can never, under any circumstances, CAUSE ANYTHING.
F. Information about an event is only that, information ABOUT an event. Information ABOUT an event is not the CAUSE of an event.
(We know ABOUT lots of things, but that doesn't CAUSE the things.)
No matter how you slice it, knowledge does not cause anything.
Knowledge has no causal power.
Knowledge DOES NOT cause anything because it CANNOT cause anything.
It has no power to do anything.... information is causally impotent.
Information has no causal power.
I didn't just dream this up.
Information scientists know this, philosophers know this, all scientists RELY on this, and it's a thing we all use and count on in daily life. It's well known, and it constitutes a logical axiom... one that has plenty of proofs.
Information is causally impotent.
Examples:
1. Thumb drive:
Imagine you copy a lot of information onto a thumb drive, and lock your thumb drive in a drawer for a million years.
Even after a million years, the information on that thumb drive will not have CAUSED anything to happen.
Nothing will happen unless someone takes that information and ACTS on it.
The information itself has no causal power... it doesn't DO anything.
Information is causally impotent, and WE COUNT ON THIS DAILY!!!
Imagine if all the information in all the places it's stored could just get up, on it's own volition, and just start doing things without us!!!
But it doesn't.
We RELY, DAILY, on information being causally impotent.
2. Tech Companies.
People have privacy concerns because big tech companies collect (often steal) personal information, and then use it or sell it without our consent.
So what is the ACTUAL problem here?
People are not mad at the big tech companies because information merely exists.
People understand that the mere existence of information is safe, because information, in itself, has no power to harm us.
So what's the problem?
People are mad at big tech companies because they take the VOLITIONAL ACTION of collecting/stealing the information, and then taking the VOLITIONAL ACTION of USING that information in some way we don't sanction.
Nobody is upset because their private information simply exists.. because left to itelself, information doesn't do us any harm.
They are only upset when someone takes it and USES it without their permission.
Why?
Because information, left to itself, DOESN'T DO ANYTHING.
It must be ACTED UPON by a VOLITIONAL AGENT.
Now, imagine if your personal information actually had causative power.
What if your personal information, like your bank account number, could just get up, go out, and GIVE ITSELF TO AlL YOUR NEIGHBORS!
But it doesn't.
Information, in itself, has no power to do anything.
We RELY, DAILY, on information being causally impotent.
3. Football game:
A. Imagine there is a football game, and I learn the score 1 hour after the game. If I learn the score after the game, that doesn't cause anything to change in the game.
B. Now, what if I somehow learned the score 1 hour BEFORE the game? Well, that information doesn't CAUSE anything either. The players just played the game the same as they normally would. The fact that I have information doesn't CAUSE the players on the field to do anything.
* My knowledge of the score would only CAUSE anything if I TOOK ACTION on that information by interfering with the game.
Just imagine if sports bookies had really great information about the outcomes of some games. Let's say it's such good information that they are 100% certain of the outcomes. Now imagine if that information actually had POWER to CHANGE THE GAMES!
But it doesn't.
Information doesn't DO anything.
We RELY, DAILY, on information being causally impotent.
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