Does God have free will?

[Leox]

First of all, God is all-knowing. That means he knows everything including his own choices regardless of time.
If God has free will. He can choose to go against his knowledge of his own future actions. But then he is not all-knowing because he can't predict his own actions.
For example, God knew Adam will eat the fruit. But he decided to make Adam anyway. Thus God wasn't really punishing Adam out of God's own liking. But it was rather part of the script.

I guess this is a more philosophical problem but I want to know how it is handled in the setting of religion.

[brunumb]

I guess he could break his own rules... but only in theory. But he absolutely, fabsolutely, crabsolutely wouldn't. What if he wanted to? Well, he wouldn't want to, and that's because of his nature. It's because of the part of the universe this God thing is.

Everything about God is just theory or speculation. I do not understand how people continue to describe God's attributes when they have never been demonstrated and there is no way we can ascertain that any of them actually apply.

[JehovahsWitness]

That equals no free will.

First one would have to define free will.

Such discussions only flourish when no definition is supplied or acknowledged. Once one accepts the dictionary definition if free will all such posts become just so much irrelevance.

[Kylie]

That equals no free will.

First one would have to define free will.

Such discussions only flourish when no definition is supplied or acknowledged. Once one accepts the dictionary definition if free will all such posts become just so much irrelevance.

Free will is when some being has several different options they can choose from, and each choice has a non-zero chance of being chosen. The being in question must be technically able to choose any of the available options.

[JehovahsWitness]

Free will is when some being has several different options they can choose from, and each choice has a non-zero chance of being chosen. The being in question must be technically able to choose any of the available options.

That is not the dictionary definition of FREE WILL nor is it the one provided by the OP which was (up until a couple of posts ago) under discussion.

Still, thanks for sharing. If nothing else you have illustrated why people come up with all kinds of weird and wonderful strawmen to endlessly theorize about.


Carry on,


JEHOVAHS WITNESS

[William]

That equals no free will.

First one would have to define free will.

Such discussions only flourish when no definition is supplied or acknowledged. Once one accepts the dictionary definition if free will all such posts become just so much irrelevance.

Identifying Free Will

[JehovahsWitness]

Free will is when some being has several different options they can choose from...

No free will is not having different options (a situation) it is a capacity to choose between options, one retains the capacity even in the absence of opportunity. see definition below...

Wikipedia
Free Will:

Free will is the capacity for agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded.[1][2]

Free will is the capacity for agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded.

It's often stated in the past tense as "the ability to have done differently"

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FREE WILL, SELECTIVE FOREKNOWLEDGE and ... RESPONSIBILITY

[William]

Free will is when some being has several different options they can choose from...

No free will is not having different options (a situation) it is a capacity see definition below...

Wikipedia
Free Will:
Free will is the capacity for agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded.[1][2]

Getting back to the OPQ, "Does God have free will?" one must first define "God" - and in post #18 I define the position of 'God' as omni-omni, and a being in such position cannot be said to have a will which is free.

[JehovahsWitness]

I define the position of 'God' as omni-omni, and a being in such position cannot be said to have a will which is free.

You probably do. But if we take a dictionary definition of GOD as per in the Christian faith

GOD:

The creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the supreme being

.

I see no reason to assume he does not have free will.



JW

[William]

I define the position of 'God' as omni-omni, and a being in such position cannot be said to have a will which is free.

You probably do. But if we take a dictionary definition of GOD as per in the Christian faith

GOD:

The creator and ruler of the universe and source of all moral authority; the supreme being

.

I see no reason to assume he does not have free will.

JW

In that, are you arguing that the dictionary definition of GOD as per in the Christian faith is NOT Omni-Omni?

My impression is that you believe that Satan is the ruler of the Earth, so - since the Earth is part of the Universe, if you stand by the dictionary definition of GOD - then you would need to agree that either Satan was the creator and ruler of the Universe, or that the dictionary definition is incorrect.

"The source of all moral authority" does not in itself allow for us to think therefore that the being has a free will.

"The supreme being" can be seen to be relative to this Universe but does not mean that the being is supreme to a being which is Omni-Omni. Thus, 'Supreme" in relation to beings with lesser power, but not in relation to beings who have greater power.

So yes - I can agree that the biblical GOD does have the attributes of the dictionary definition, rather than the attributes of an Omni-Omni being, from which I am defining "GOD".

Thus, I can agree that the dictionary definition of GOD is of a being which is NOT Omni-Omni, and thus any claims about the biblical God from Christians to the contrary can be dismissed.

Also I can acknowledge that such a being, powerful in its own right, would indeed be free to exercise [His] will in relation to this Universe.

This is because I see no conflict in any being who is NOT Omni-Omni, to be able to exercise their will freely in an environment which allows for that to occur.

The biblical GOD as defined, has the freedom to use [His] will in this environment, created for that purpose [obviously - for this environment is where the "GOD" definition derives] and to the extent [He] is capable of if [He] so chooses.

Likewise, almost every Human being has the same capability to the extent each are capable of, if they so choose to.

[Purple Knight]

That equals no free will.

First one would have to define free will.

Such discussions only flourish when no definition is supplied or acknowledged. Once one accepts the dictionary definition if free will all such posts become just so much irrelevance.

It's the dictionary definition that's not relevant. When people ask if humans have free will, they're not asking if humans are slaves to other beings. The question of free will is more about whether we can choose what we want or change our nature than whether someone else is controlling us. Though I do agree that the Free Will Question needs to be much better defined.

I don't think humans do have free will in reality but in the context of Biblical canon, they do. People can choose to be good or evil. People can choose what's right. They can change their minds. And even after all that, they can give in to temptation and act in opposition to their principles.

God cannot. He's infinite years old. If he could choose to be evil have done it already out of boredom. It's because that being is a part of the universe, a manifestation of good. Or do you deny that if God wanted to be evil, he actually couldn't?

You might think that's a nonsense question because God can't want to be evil in the first place. If so, my reasoning still holds.