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OUR FATHER, HELL AND HEAVEN : M. M. NINAN<br />

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Reconciling Omniscience of God and Freewill of Man<br />

Paradox of theological fatalism and free will<br />

Omniscience and free will are incompatible and that any conception of God that incorporates both<br />

properties is therefore inherently contradictory<br />

Moses Maimonides (1135-1204) has set out the problem in the traditional manner:<br />

…"Does God know or does He not know that a certain individual will be good or bad? If thou sayest<br />

'He knows', then it necessarily follows that [that] man is compelled to act as God knew beforehand he<br />

would act, otherwise God's knowledge would be imperfect.…" (1966, pp. 99-100)<br />

It is impossible to reconcile these two facts. Strange arguments that God is outside of time etc., really<br />

wont help solve the problem. Either we have no freedom of choice, since everything is going<br />

accordance with the law of the universe, which are preset by God and God knows them and he knows<br />

every instant of my choice in past, present and future or I have the choice and hence God does not<br />

know my choices ahead of time. Some atheists use this argument to prove that God does not exist.<br />

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