@hue-man,
hue-man;130774 wrote:So the deity's purpose for creating an agent is so that it can have free will? I can understand that, but that doesn't cancel out omniscience and fatalism. If omniscience is an attribute of this deity, then doesn't that mean that the future and purpose of an agent is set?
No, because an omniscient deity will know that an agent will what he does of the agent's free will. For instance, Judas betrayed Christ, and sinned. But Judas sinned of his own free will, and, of course, God (who is omniscient knew this). Suppose God had not known Judas would sin of his own free will, then, of course, God would not have been omniscient. Remember, Judas did not sin because God knew he would sin; God knew Judas would sin because Judas would sin. God's knowing Judas would sin did not
force Judas to sin; But Judas's sinning forced God to know that Judas would sin.
(I wrote this before I read Night Ripper's earlier post. Night Ripper makes the same point).