The Utter Failure of the Free Will Theodicy

It is highly recommended that you follow along if things get confusing with an audio presentation.

This video is aimed at showing how the Free Will Defense to the Logical Problem of Evil fails, even if we grant that Libertarian Free Will exists and is coherent.

The central part of the critique is aimed at Molinism, the theological solution to god having omniscience of our "free choices" while somehow preserving the libertarian free will of creation and how that ends up not precluding a that god could create what I call "Heaven World" where any natural number of beings never do any evil and always freely choose to love god.

I also point out how William Lane Craig's attempted to response to this problem about god not having free will is demonstrably false.

References:

[ShouVertica]

I think Dr. Rasmussen is probably my favorite apologist because he's actively trying.

[hudsontd]

What about open or process Freewill Theist Theodicy?

[azophi]

Thank you for including a transcript this is sorta odd.

But yeah I’ve never understood the free will whatever. But alas that’s how life works

[davidquintana]

timely video, I've been thinking about this

[mikenash]

If there is a God who interacts with his creation, then how can I have free will if I don't know for certain that God is not interfering with the electrical and chemical processes in my brain which determine my thoughts?

[TheGreenhillsCyclistInRagOrder]

I have a huge problem with the "Free Will" narrative. Considering that God knows the choices and decisions we are going to make in our lives and as a result of our choices/decisions we make, He also knows whether we are going to Heaven or Hell, then us going through life is rendered a useless exercise. The other problem I have is this: Considering that God "cannot interfere with someones' free will, in NOT interferring with the free will of a perpetrator about to do an evil act on another person, is that not, in a way, DIRECTLY interferring with the free will of the perpetrators free will NOT to be the victim of the evil act of the perpetrator? I would love someone to explain or give their theory on that last problem I have with free will.

[lukeman]

If god is free to choose then he could have chosen not to create at all.
If he knew what suffering would result, or even that it could result, and still chose to create when he could have refrained, then all suffering is his fault.

[mannyfrancis]

Where do you put the references to the arguments you used against molinism in the video?

[ShouVertica]

I can't imagine making an argument that knowingly fails at every step. It's simply amazing by design.

[grumpylibrarian]

I'm largely on your side, but devil's advocate here.

I think you would need to demonstrate that there is a possible Bob(1) who is precisely like Bob(0) in every way except that Bob(1) will freely choose ~X in situation Y and Bob(0) would freely choose X. This is a question of independence of traits. Changing X might also affect a set of {a, b, c} to varying degrees.

An example from evolution is that domesticated dogs typically have floppy ears, and wild wolves typically have rigid ears. We've found that if we breed wolves to be more docile, they will also develop floppy ears, even though that wasn't the trait we were selecting for. Bob(1) choosing ~X in situation Y might entail that Bob(1) also chooses ~A in situation B, where Bob(0) chose A.

So even though we might all else equal prefer a Bob who chooses ~X, the entailed other changes in the Bob might result in an overall less-desirable Bob, so all else is not actually equal. Bob(0) might in fact be the best possible Bob.

[CosmoPhiloPharmaco]

I'm a Christian, but I liked/upvoted your video. I think that these apologetic arguments are really bad and their failure only harms the Christian view.

[HJM]

Cannot be omniscient and this can’t be God- false dichotomy.
God claims that he has all wisdom and understanding, and that he knows all things. This can easily mean He knows everything that is possible to be known. But future free will choices are not things- as they are are open, and thus aren’t knowable.

[nlyThis]

God will always reward the Just.
God will always punish the Wicked.
God has no Free Will.