What is the Implication of a Creator having foreknowledge without causality?
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Revised question:
From a Protestant perspective, how can a Creator have foreknowledge of sin, and yet not be responsible for it? Wouldn't He have to use something that was independent of Himself in His creating?
For example, maybe He just randomly assign goodness or badness, say with dice (the thing that is independent of Himself), as a crude example. Because He does it randomly, does that make Him not guilty?
This is what I think everybody is basically implying, when they say that God knows, but doesn't cause.
The alternative is that God creates everything purposely, ie. not randomly. Therefore He IS responsible for everything.
So:
Creator uses independent sources in creation -> Righteous Creator.
No independent sources -> Creator to be blamed for everything.
However, I have difficulty in accepting the existence of such independent sources from God, i.e. sources that God cannot know and control the outcome of; not just that He does not want to know and control, but He cannot. Otherwise, if He could know, but chooses not to, He decided not to correct the situation, and, again, is guilty.
So:
Either "blame" God, but still regard HIM as all-knowing and all powerful; OR
see Him as righteous, but regard Him as limited in knowledge and power.
That is my dilemma. (I see Calvinists on the first side and the Arminians on the second.)
Original question:
In my attempt to understand how a Creator can know the outcome of His creation but not be responsible of the creation's eventual crooked doings, I have concluded that it is necessary that in the creation process He, The Creator, must have used something independent of Himself!
Crude example:
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Please allow the following comparison so I can explain what I mean: For instance, I have imagined that when God created a human, He used a "random number generator" for each person (I apologize again for the comparison). Say that based on this "number", the person ends up being good or bad. God uses this random number **generator** for each person. As soon as He gets the "number", He knows everything there is to be known about that person, because He creates it using that number. Furthermore, no one can blame God for anything. He is righteous because He creates all humans/things equally using that Random Number Generator.
Q
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This is what I immediately think, everybody is basically implying when they say that God knows but is not causing! The alternative is, of course, God creates **everything** with a purpose. He must then have engineered everything, so He must be responsible for everything. So, a Unique Creator of everything must imply unique cause of everything!
So:
> Creator independent sources in creation -> Righteous Creator! No independent sources -> Creator to be blamed for anything!
However I have difficulties in accepting the existence of such independent sources from God! I.e. sources that **God cannot know and control the outcome of**! Like that random number generator (defining the human being) that God did not know the outcome of. Not just that He does not want to know&control, but He cannot: otherwise, if He could but did not, He basically decided not to correct etc.
I see the necessity of having at least two **independent** "sources" involved in creation. Is this dilemma understandable?
So
> Either "blame" God, but still regard as all-knowing and all powerful, either see Righteous but regard as limited in knowledge and power!
While about myself I cannnot decide on neither side, I see calvinists on the first side and the arminianists on the second.
Edit
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Another option is (the most plausible): God generates randomness and the Son creates ... Here God The Father is the independent source of mistery, while The Son is the One who creates. In order to keep both righteous there must be a deep independence between them: like (again apologize for the RNG example) the Son asks for a random number and The Father provides it, but the Father does not know what it shall be used for! (Otherwise He can be blamed ... )
Asked by C Marius
(99 rep)
May 5, 2026, 12:12 AM
Last activity: May 7, 2026, 11:14 AM
Last activity: May 7, 2026, 11:14 AM