God is supposed to have perfect knowledge, which includes all true statements about the future. Does this mean that God knows everything about what is to come? But if the future doesn’t yet exist, then there is nothing now to know. Theologians battle among themselves.
If it seems obvious that you are perfectly free to choose and decide, then it seems perfectly clear that you underestimate the problem (and have never questioned a philosopher). Free Will is a huge problem.
No one denies the diversity of human religions, and the apparent incompatibility of their core beliefs. Many believe only their own religion to be True. Some claim all religions reflect the same Truth. Others assert that differing dogmas expose the emptiness of all religion.
If the universe had been ever so slightly different, human beings wouldn’t, couldn’t, exist. All explanations of this exquisite fine-tuning, obvious and not-so-obvious, have problems.
Turn the tables on whether God exists. Atheists take their best shots at disproving God; theists deflect the arguments, defending God. Atheists come harder still; theists fight back. We keep the arguments tough-minded and the thinking critical.
Consider humanity’s astounding progress in science during the past three hundred years. Now take a deep breath and project forward, oh say, three billion years.
What do scientists mean when they call the laws and regularities of nature “beautiful”? On the largest supra-cosmic scales, and on the smallest sub-atomic scales, why do scientists use “beauty” to assess their theories?
If God exists, and if God ordains history and generates miracles, how does He do it? Fiddle with each and every atom? Command all of them en masse? What possibly could be God’s technique?
What can we know about God? The easy answer is “nothing”: God is not like anything. But that’s not good enough. If there is a God, God must have traits. No?
When you ask “what things really exist”, and you think deeply about this universal probe, you see the whole world anew. It’s such a simple question; how does it inspire such profound insight?
Do we survive bodily death? Can our personal awareness transcend physical decay? There are no bigger questions and there are no shortages of answers. Is there life after death? Some claim to have evidence.
The expanding universe is humanity’s monumental discovery. Beginning with something infinitesimally small, the universe has become something majestically large. How could this happen? What could this mean?