God's omniscience, Prophecy, Freedom of Choice, Predestination - questions of a Computer Scientist. If God knows everything, how come he allows bad things to happen?

Outline

1. Definitions
2. Theory of words, languages, expressions, ideas, truth, reality
3. Theory of results, hopes, proofs, history, patterns, future, faith
4. Summary

Definitions

Freedom
  1. The power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.
  2. Absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government.

 Choice
An act of selecting or making a decision when faced with two or more possibilities.

Theory of words, languages, expressions, ideas, truth, reality

Words represent ideas. Words usually have multiple senses (meanings).  Languages are imperfect. Languages are different sets.  Not all languages have accurate mappings of words to other languages, some are missing, some have no equivalent, some are combined, some are ambiguous. Expressions are ideas put in language/words.  Truth is what is.  Reality is what is, also.  Awareness is what we can perceive via sensory (sight, hearing, seeing, etc.) or via analytics of patterns.  What is freedom?  What is choice? What is "freedom of choice"?

What if we have different understandings?  Does that change the truth?

Theory of results, hopes, proofs, history, patterns, future, faith

Since we cannot understand everything for lack of time and space, we are forced to look into results instead.  (Like testing by compiling and running a program instead of analyzing program flow).

Now we have laws and rules and protocols.  Or morality in human terms.  We know many results. We look at history, we look at patterns.  Smokers get lung cancer, drinkers get drunk, promiscuous get HIV, etc etc etc... those who kill with the sword die with the sword. etc etc etc.... History is full of patterns, of lessons.

So we can either try to define freedom of choice, or maybe looking at results is easier.

Who knows the future?  Well, who has good reputation for predicting the future? who is the real prophet?  Where is reliable prophecy?  Who knows the program of this world?  or better yet who is the Programmer?

Faith is knowing how the world functions from analysis of sample data.

Summary

We might not be able to exhaustively define freedom of choice BUT we can read Bible history, check archaeological affirmations,  see how history follows prophecy, COMPARE with other options, and believe and follow the most right/profitable/hopeful patterns.

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