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45usp  ·  4596 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Ask Hubski: Does God's omniscience preclude free will?
I've adopted the viewpoint that differentiates between 'faith' and 'reasonable expectation.' Reasonable expectations are based on evidence. Faith is the belief that something happens or will happen despite the lack of evidence or the presence of evidence to the contrary. (I can't claim this my own original thinking. I think I've heard Neil deGrasse Tyson use these terms, but I honestly don't know if he established the dichotomy so cleanly himself or adopted it from another source.) I like this differentiation because it makes it easy to sort out things like ghost stories, good luck charms, portents and so forth.

As to the original question, I was just thinking about this topic the other day because of something someone said to me. I found myself with a lot of leftover building supplies after a project, so I gave it to an acquaintance. I was helping him load the stuff, and in conversation he said, "We've been so fortunate. God has blessed us!" He attributed my kindness to his deity, connoting within his belief system that I didn't make the choice on my own to give the stuff away and to give it to him specifically. Well, I absolutely did make that choice. I debated whether it would be quickest and easiest to take it to the dump or give it to Habitat or what. The notion that I was predestined to make the choice to give it to this one specific person due to some interference by God is offensive to me, honestly. I guess this is an example of omnipotence (all powerful) instead of omniscience (knowing all) but in a lot of cases, it's a package deal.