Posted by Tamar on September 14, 2005, at 19:33:46
In reply to Re: Adam Eve gained knowledge, but it turned, posted by alexandra_k on September 14, 2005, at 18:34:13
> If god has foreknowledge of everything that is going to happen (which is supposed to be implied by his omniscience - knowing everything)...
>
> Then how could Eve (or Adam for that matter) NOT eat from the tree when god knew that was going to happen already???
>
> (AKA if god knows everything that we are going to do before we have done it then how could we 'choose' to do differently from what he already knows we are going to do?)Well, I think some feminists have put precisely that spin on the story in Genesis 3. God anticipated that the man and the woman would eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And the woman’s decision to eat the fruit was a decision for self-determination and adulthood. She made the decision to leave the garden paradise and live in a world of grey areas. Or something like that. Oh, and there’s also the issue that the woman hadn’t even been created when God told the man they weren’t to eat the fruit of that tree. So the woman only had the man’s word for it… It’s one of my favourite stories.
But back to your question: even if God is omniscient, I don’t think it diminishes the idea of human free will. Even if God knows what choices people will make, they’re still free to make those choices.
I tend to wonder what this story says about God… if he’s omniscient and knows that the humans will eat the fruit of the prohibited tree, why bother telling them not to eat it? Why put it there in the first place? Why tell them it’s the tree of knowledge of good and evil, when he could tell them it’s the tree of suffering and death? But my questions are more theological than philosophical I think…
poster:Tamar
thread:553832
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20050909/msgs/555116.html