William Lane Craig Retrospective III: Divine Foreknowledge | Closer To Truth Chats

Analytic philosopher and Christian apologist William Lane Craig discusses God’s Omniscience, God knowing everything, and reconciling God knowing the future with human free will. We look back on his 1987 book, The Only Wise God: The Compatibility of Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom.

William Lane Craig is an analytic philosopher and Christian theologian. He is known for his work in the philosophy of religion, philosophy of time, and the defense of Christian theism.

Closer To Truth, hosted by Robert Lawrence Kuhn and produced and directed by Peter Getzels, presents the world’s greatest thinkers exploring humanity’s deepest questions. Discover fundamental issues of existence. Engage new and diverse ways of thinking. Appreciate intense debates. Share your own opinions. Seek your own answers.

[superman]

If I had found out later today what this was going to be about, I would have watched it tomorrow.

[SRAVALM]

I really like the rules or measures layed down by Robert. Affirmation and negation, logic and accuracy, meaning and intent.

[clive]

Awesome! Middle knowledge is mind expanding.

[JungleJargon]

A lot of people don’t know much at all about God because they underestimate the validity and truth of God’s word.

[ramspace]

I wish a religionist would say "this is our interpretation" or "that is my interpretation." Would there be less division and wars on this planet?

[leonoradompor]

Surely the proud will fall, the humble will win ****

[oscargr_]

Apologetics is an exercise in "backwards causation". It's magical thinking.
Here answering the question: "with which definition of *omniscience* and *free will* can I keep my definition of god "

God's knowledge of "what *would* be under different circumstances" is irrelevant because his knowledge of what *will* happen won't let him come onto a situation where the circumstances are any different from what he knew them to be in advance.

[zenmite]

If the future can be known, there is no free will. Though one may feel as if they are choosing freely, if the future is definitely knowable by anyone, including Yahweh---then their actions are determined, regardless of how they feel. Dr. Craig smuggles in certain words and phrases that lead the listener in his preferred direction. He used the words 'freely chosen' in scenarios that would suggest a determined outcome. I also admire his ability to make sentences that sound perfectly rational and reasonable on the face of it. It requires mental work to go through his reasoning and find the missing or ill-fitting pieces. He knows most listeners will not do that. I used to wonder if Dr. Craig was a con man...weaving his word salad magic for the adoring crowds. But I've since come to think that he is sincere. He's a really smart guy that embraced a belief system with lots of irrational and archaic ideas about the nature of reality. To hold on to his beliefs, he has used his intelligence to twist and turn and make a bazillion square pegs fit into an equal number of round holes. He is a master of mental gymnastics...willing to torture reason without mercy to make Christianity seem true. Despite all that, I hear he is a really nice guy.

Just a suggestion, Robert...next time, why don't you invite Dr. Craig to explain his version of divine command theory? I'd especially enjoy hearing his defense of Yahweh's order to murder all the Canaanite men, women and children. (Slaughter of the Canaanites)

[KevinMurphy]

I like William Craig as a charismatic and respectful speaker, but I’m still at a loss as to how someone as articulate, and seemingly intelligent, can devote his life to pure speculation without an ounce of evidence to back up his claims. Religion is a powerful and potent controller of minds.

[Rohit-ozor]

Does this person have a direct line to God? How can he be so sure about all this?
It is all a conjecture

[dongshengdi]

Any kind of measurement involves things that are part of the universe and these always interact, interfere with it or whatever, I don't think we have a super clear demonstration of how the consciousness determines the clump pattern instead of the interference pattern. But these experiments may potentially help us better understand consciousness or if we understood consciousness by other means we could better understand this experiment and ultimately more about quantum world.
.

"The observer gives the world the power to come into being, through the very act of giving meaning to that world; in brief, No consciousness; no communicating community to establish meaning? Then no world!" - Physicist John Wheeler

[richardsoto]

So what is the difference between "what could be" (all possibilities), and "what would be" (under various circumstances)? "Various" circumstances is embedded in "all" possibilities.

The "could be" and the "would be" are both included in the "will be" for God. Ultimately, either he knows what WILL happen (period), or he is forced to predict outcomes based on approximation (guessing just like us).

Maybe I'm missing something but Mr Craig is famous for using similar word salads that lead to nothing rather than something.

[Wol]

This poor man has spent years “studying” an unstudyable construct.
Imagine spending decades investigating the lives and abilities of fairies. Writing books about them. Discussing how they fly. What they do in their spare time. Etc. Etc.
All based on an assumption they exist, because no-one has proved they don’t.
What a waste of an education.

[thelionsam]

another great discussion between these two men.
Sincerity and struggle and good will and intellect. 👏🏻

[IIllytchnonadinfinitum]

I've respected Craig for years now for his argumentative abilities, but I've never bought into any of them.

I don't believe in any god that is contained within any religion as we know it, but this doesn't mean there cannot exist a god that no one alive has ever or will ever truly understand. I'm agnostic on the existence of god, but I do believe that none of the world's religions have gotten the concept right if there is one. I also don't have reason to believe in free will (yes, I can snap my fingers and write a book, among many other things, but that's not what I mean by free). This is what causes my brain to break: How does a god exist in a world (or infinitely many) in which no one has free will? What's the purpose? How does it make sense? What are their (genderless) intentions? This is not to say that it can't make sense and therefore we either must have free will or there is no god, I just think it makes making sense of it more absurd.

[Joseph-unjk]

Wouldn't God's knowledge of what you would do fall under his knowledge of all possibilities? Also, if God has knowledge (of anything), there has to be a truth-maker. There has to be something that makes it the case that I choose a over b. If the future is truly open, there wouldn't be a truth-maker either way, so God wouldn't be able to know until it happens. Omniscience includes knowing everything that's possible to know. A truly free act wouldn't be able to be known because there is no fact of the matter until the decision is made. If God does know an act, it would have to be determined (aka. have a truth-maker). If God "knows" the future, it would necessarily have to be determined.

[jimscott]

Like all religious apologists, WLC has created a well-paying career out of making complete BS sound intellectual. And his gullible base just eats it up.

[akn]

These type of apologetics astonish me. Craig and others through history are just guessing what a god could be or would be with very little vague information from the bible and zero proof or evidence. All of this is total speculation and guess-work, nothing but a big "thought experiment". If god existed he could just give the answer but it is up to apologetic to guess and speculate what an imaginary creature COULD do, not what is actual or provable.

[michaelbindner]

God has perfect knowledge of all time from outside of it. God is absolutely humble and inserts itself into time in a way to maximize love - including respect for freedom of people in the moment. Time is a dance between God and sentient creatures.

[prime_time_youtube]

Middle Knowledge is really a very interesting model.