It will not surprise you to know that in order to be a “true” believer you must agree with two fundamental properties of God.
First, he is omnipotent. There are literally no limitations on his capacity in any sense whatsoever. He can (and did, according to scripture) create a universe from nothing, using nothing more than his will. It can be assumed then that he could reverse this decision at any moment of his choosing, with no effort at all.
The second property that one must believe is his omniscience. If a being is omniscient then he/she/it knows everything that can be known, regardless of the tense concerned. It follows then, that if one knows everything then one is unable to learn, as there would be no knowledge left to attain. It could also be said that an omniscient being is unable to forget, as this would end the omniscience entirely.
If God is omnipotent then all things are possible. If God is omniscient however, then he is unable to learn or forget anything, undermining his omnipotence. These two qualities can not exist within the same being at the same time.
In the instance of man, God knows everything any person has said, thought and done. In addition to this he knows everything they are going to say, think and do. I shall explain why this troubles me.
Should God exist and be omniscient then he must know all of the events contained within the life of any given person, before those events take place. He knows not only how everyone has lived their lives (thoughts, actions and speech) so far, but also knows how the remainder of us are going to live our lives.
It is this understanding that leads to a chilling conclusion. Our lives are pre-determined. If our actions can be known before they take place, then what possibility is there of committing an act that God is unaware of? If he knows that these actions are going to take place, then surely it must have been he who decided that in the first place.
This leads to the following. If our actions are pre-determined by God, then we live under the illusion of free will. In truth, we are simply acting out a script that has been written for us.
Illusionary free will also happens to be a quality of a perfect dictatorship.
So, when it comes to our judgement why are we held accountable? Free will is not a luxury we possess so how can we do anything other than Gods will? If we are sent to hell to face the eternal fire, who is really to blame?
Thus we reach the major point of this blog. If one is to believe in a divine creator then he/she must accept that God is all knowing (as well as all powerful), by doing so you resign your free will and agree to live out a script. You must also accept the possibility that you have been “designed”, given a purpose that results in you being damned for eternity.
…and there is nothing you can do about it.
I for one, refute this contemptible prospect.
logic limitless 
That God is omniscient and omnipotent is a matter of common sense derived not from religious faith but from the power of reason.
God is Creator, by definition.
So in order to create everything he must have the power to do it and the knowledge to do it.
Thus God is both omnipotent and omniscient.
And me knowing what you are going to do because I understand you in no affects your freewill or gives me any power at all to determine your actions.
Law enforcement profiles criminals in order to predict what they are going to do. Does that mean that law enforcement predetermines the actions of the criminal?
Of course not.
Similarly, God knowing our nature, does not predetermine our actions. It just means our actions are predictable.
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As always, the atheist troll, silenceofmind, is trying to make Christians look bad by presenting very bad arguments. It stopped being funny a while ago, but for the sake of completeness…
The ability to create a universe does not imply the ability to do everything. We can easily imagine a being being able to kickstart a universe but having no influence in it then at all. Like a parent during puberty. Also the ability to create a universe does not imply knowing everything, otherwise a simply lab accident would prove that the scientist in question is very wise.
So, “common sense” here is just another name for “some preconceived belief”. And of course, if our actions are completely predictable, then that means they are predetermined.
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Mutant,
Calling people names isn’t an argument, it’s atheism in action.
All of my comments are based on classical Greek and Judeo-Christian philosophy.
Sadly, all the atheist has for authority is what he grants himself based on his own opinion.
And that in itself is a logical fallacy for one cannot reasonably be the authority for one’s own argument.
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Calling you a troll is not supposed to be an argument. It’s simply stating a fact. Nothing more, nothing less.
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Mutant,
Calling someone who bases their arguments on the great philosophers of the Western Heritage, a troll demonstrates atheism’s rejection of the Western Heritage.
That means atheism rejects objective morals, modern science, justice, reason and any facts that contradict atheism.
Consequently, for the atheist, a fact is anything the atheist opines to be true.
That makes atheism a trip back to the future of pre-civilized, tribal man: if you can’t beat them and bully them into submission they must be a troll (the atheist version of the Devil).
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The first sentence was a nice try, but then you sabotaged yourself by trying to base an argument about atheism on what one atheist said about you. Sorry, but no cookie for you.
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Mutant,
Almost all atheists are like you. You people think, bully and abuse so uniformly that apparently you all came out of the same cookie cutter.
When 99% of a population does the same exact thing, every single time, that means it’s save to generalize.
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I really admire your way of making statements that start out as coherent thoughts but then drift into absurdity, like this one, that starts out nicely but ends quite funny by your implication to have knowledge about 99% of all atheists. Or are we at the point again where you claim to be god? Sorry, that was a while ago, can’t remember when you had your last blasphemous phase in your epic troll career…
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Mutant,
Everything means everything whether everything is a universe or a multiverse.
Consequently, God must be all-powerful and all-knowing in order to be able to create all things.
You are trying to explain away common sense which is not rationally possible.
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Hi Silenceofmind, thank you for your post and welcome to the blog.
I see what you are saying. I do have a number of issues with the points you have raised however.
Firstly, you are trying to draw a comparison between how people understand each other and how God understands us. If God has the mind he has (which must be believed) than his understanding of us is absolute.
When people try understand/predict each other, there is enormous room for error (which often occurs). Humanity is such a complex race that even humanity cannot fully understand it.
Because God has an absolute understanding, “predictions” do not apply to him in any sense. He does not predict what we are going to do, he knows. How would be able to know such a thing? Well, as you said, he is the creator. He has created our endeavours along with our being; he knows whether we are going to pass judgement before we are even born.
This can lead to the question “Why would God create a person knowing they are going to hell?” This does not sound like the loving Father we are expected to believe in; in fact it’s quite a malicious concept. Something that is a complex, beautiful and awe inspiring as a human life has been put together for its soul to be damned at the end of it all.
LL
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Logic,
Because God is omnipotent his understanding of us is complete.
But understanding something completely has no connection with predetermining its actions.
“Why would God create a person knowing they are going to hell?”
I don’t know. Only God knows his own mind.
I think the problem is that atheists presuppose that God should be or act a certain way.
Only the other hand, people like me who have been educated according to the Western Heritage presuppose that the world is the way it is, that God is free to act any way he pleases and that since God is infinite, all-knowing and all-powerful, he is the arbiter of good and evil.
As finite beings, it is irrational to apply the morality we need to guide our actions to God who is infinite.
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We can both agree that neither of us know why God would create a person with the intention of sending them to hell (which must be the case if he exists and is omniscient). But act itself is malicious and cruel. Not qualities you would see mentioned about him in any religious texts.
Saying “Only God knows his own mind” doesn’t excuse him of these deliberate acts of wickedness.
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Logic,
God doesn’t need to be excused because he does not act the way you think he should.
By engaging in such thinking you are establishing yourself as a god who judges the real God as unworthy.
People like you have established regimes that engage in the mass murder of anyone they deem unworthy.
In fact, atheists are responsible for the worst mass murders in human history.
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I do not think God should act in a certain way, I am simply stating that if God exists then he is acting in such a way that is contemptible and immortal.
I admit I am fallible, I know that I am mortal, so I can not be God, that is a fact.
Can you give example of these regimes and state what these mass murders where?
I shall state some from my side in regards to religion.
All Crusades
All Jihads
The Spanish Inquisition
The approval from the Catholic church for the Nazis “Final Solution”. (The catholic church made it compulsory for Hitlers birthday to be celebrated during his rein)
The persecution, imprisonment and execution of scientists who were trying to prove that the world was not at the centre of the universe and that the sun orbited the earth.
I have named but a few.
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Logic,
“I do not think God should act in a certain way, I am simply stating that if God exists then he is acting in such a way that is contemptible and immortal,” is a personal opinion and an example of you judging God.
Your judgment labels are “contemptible” and “immoral.”
You have made such a god of yourself that you don’t even notice yourself passing judgment because you presuppose that everything you think (your personal opinions) is true.
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In my earlier response I meant “immoral” not “immortal”
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I noticed you failed to list these “mass murders”, can you please inform as to which Atheist regimes are responsible?
“you presuppose that everything you think (your personal opinion) is true”. Are you aware of a person who thinks their personal opinion is wrong?
The difference between an atheist perspective and a religious one is that atheists can take criticism, we can alter our views should the evidence suggest as such. Religion is certain that it is an absolute truth and will do whatever it can to ignore anything in regards to the contrary.
I look forward to your well prepared list of mass murdering atheist regimes. I hope you haven’t made a statement like that without evidence.
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