Gettier Gods

I think that I have an OCD. Really. I'm an atheist, but I just can't seem to stop thinking about God. I guess it may be due to, in some part, the fact that I live in a culture that is, whether it practices it or not, Christian. No matter where I go, there is either a "God bless you", "have a blessed day", or someone declaring that they've been blessed. So, no matter how hard I try, God and thinking about God is unavoidable. This would be bad, if not for the fact that I have this blog. At least it gives me something to write about. That said, I was thinking some time ago about my philosophy of religion class (that I had almost a year ago). There was, as I recall (then again, I could be making this up for the sake of making a point), there was some talk about the limits (if any) of the powers of God, namely on the topic of God's omnipotence. The question was, are there things that God can't see? That is, if we say that God knows all (all events that happen in the past, present and future), how can humans have free will? Well, for one, when I was a Christian, I was steadfastly a determinist. I figured that God, being a all-powerful being, had ultimate knowledge. There is no thing that he does not see. And being that he saw any particular event, it has to happen.The events of our lives are not only seen by God, but also actively planned.I thought that, if God even sees all things generally, he also sees what occurs specifically -- including the choices that we make. And since God's knowledge is eternal, he may have seen what I'm doing right now the instant that he created the universe. So, I figured, there is not such thing as free will for people. But my Christianity didn't stay with me for long. I soon shrugged it off in favor of the cold, harsh cynicism of atheism. When I started on the path to Hell (i.e. becoming an atheist), I slid from divine determinism to biological determinism. Instead of God commanding my destiny, my choices were determned by my genes. Anatomy is destiny, as they say. This has always been a problem for me -- not because I don't like the idea of everything I do being beyond my control, but because I fancy myself an existentialist. And that's all free will. I know that, even among non philosophers, the idea of determinism is none too popular. People don't like the idea that the things that they do are out of their control. That makes sense. I hate the idea myself. But, for the life of me, I can't figure how a God that sees all events in all times does not in some way determine my fate. Which made me think of something that I heard on the radio a couple of years ago. Out here in So Cal, there's a radio show that comes on on Sunday mornings called "the Jesus Christ show" (it's on KFI AM 640, for those who want to know). The show is hosted by the Son of Man himself! The format is that callers call in with questions to Jesus and he answers them. I suppose that all of his answers are the correct ones, given the fact that he's Jesus. Better than calling Dr. Laura. Anyway, a couple of Christmases ago, a caller asked Jesus about predestination. She wondered how man can have free will in the same universe with a God that sees and knows all. She said that even if we attempt to do otherwise, God can make you do what he has seen you do, and since we humans cannot defy God (I'm thinking that she meant physically), we are subject to God's will. Therefore, she concluded, we have no free will. Jesus answered that man does in fact have free will. Despite the fact that God is all-seeing, all-knowing, and all-powerful, we humans still determine our own choices in life. Jesus said that the caller was mistaken, and gave an example of what is meant when we say that God sees and knows all. He explained it by way of analogy: Jesus said that our free will and God is like "The Newlywed Game". He said that, during the game, one spouse let's say the husband, is secluded from his wife while she is asked a series of intimate questions (usually something to do with "whoopee"). The husband returns and is asked the same questions. They get points when their questions match. So let's say that the wife is asked "what part of your body does your husband like most?". She answers. "he likes my very shapely rear end". When the husband returns from seclusion, he is asked the same question. He answers, "well, my wife knows that I totally dig her sweet bum!". He got the same answer. Jesus told the caller that God's knowledge is just like that. He said that the fact that the husband answered the same as his wife doesn't mean that he knew what she was going to say. He said that God gets the answer right despite the fact that he doesn't know what we're going to do exactly. But then, all sorts of red, flashing lights went off in my head. The husband guessed the right answer. He really had no clue what she was going to say. A man's knowledge of what goes on in his wife's head is limited. But when we speak of God, this is not the case. God knows what we feel in our hearts. He knows about the sins that we merely think about. So, if God knows all the nasty thoughts (well, to be honest -- in most cases, desires) that I entertain about rock stars, former high school classmates, and college professors, how can he not know what actions that I will undertake during the course of my lifetime? It seemed to me that the God that radio Jesus was describing was a God who only managed to get the right answers by guessing the right ones. He was right, but only gettierally. Besides, that, I know that, given the law of averages, some guesses are bound to be wrong. If there is even a chance that God might ( God forbid) guess wrong, then what does that mean for a God who among his qualities is perfection? I'd say that that would make him not God, wouldn't it? Well, some people out there say that what the deal is, is that God sees all possibilities, that is, among the possible thousands of choices that we could have made in any situation, God sees every one of them, which includes the one that we eventually choose. So, say there are five possible worlds, and I'm trying to figure out which pair of shoes to wear. In one world, I put on my black Converse high tops. In another, I choose the white Nikes. In another, I wear high heels. In the fourth, I put on flip-flops, and in the fifth, I go barefoot. God sees all of these. (he sees every possible alternative, even the ones that I'm not aware that I have). All of these includes the choice that I make. I choose, since it's such a nice day, to go barefoot. Now, that allows me to choose, since God saw everything and not me specifically. But I still have a problem. If God sees possible worlds, who he saw in those other worlds wasn't me -- as I exist in this particular world. He saw someone who looked like me who put on a pair of Converse high tops, but I, in this world, did not. So, God doesn't know what will happen anywhere, which is really bad for the creator of the universe. Then again, we say that God sees all possibilities. Even if there are a million, God sees them (which leads me to ask, is there a point where we say that all those possibilities of everyone on the earth makes God's task of seeing all possibilities too big of a task for God?). That means that my array of choices is within God's knowledge. God is still setting the boundaries of my choices. Even if he sees all choices, my actual choice is there -- he still saw it. This means to me that God is not only determining what goes on in my particular universe, but since all of those other people in those other possible universes (who look like me) have choices that are seen by God, he knows what they're going to do. God not only determines choices here, but in all of those other worlds as well. Wow.