Is the Argument about free will and divine foreknowledge both Valid and Sound?

Question:1) If S has free will, then the future actions of S cannot be known.
2) S has free will.
3) Therefore, the future actions of S cannot be known.

I understand "free will" to be the power to perform A or refrain from performing A with A referring to an action. I do not believe that free will is compatible with determinism.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: 1) If S has free will, then the future actions of S cannot be known.
2) S has free will.
3) Therefore, the future actions of S cannot be known.

I understand "free will" to be the power to perform A or refrain from performing A with A referring to an action. I do not believe that free will is compatible with determinism.

The argument is valid, but I would question your first premise. To me, the term "foreknowledge" seems to be a misnomer of sorts. Christianity holds God to be omniscient, meaning that he knows everything. He is not merely a fortune teller, or a good guesser. God is outside of time, because he created it. He is not confined to the present, as we are. The fact that God eternally knows what will happen to a person in the future (relative to the human) obviously does not mean that he caused it to happen.

Also, you seem to be equivocating between "determinism" and "foreknowledge," which may be the cause of your confusion. From what I understand, "determinism" is what you have said, that free-will is not compatible with divine foreknowledge.

The future is a living thing created by our thoughts, fears and expectations. We have many futures...future bends to our powerful mind. Divine knowledge is simply the realization of multiple futures....don't think linearly..God doesn't.

There are infinite possibilities. But as for divine foreknowledge - it happens. But maybe that is because we somehow transcend time and space.

Like today, my father on one side of the world and my aunty on the other side of the world died on the same day. I somehow knew this was going to happen, that they would go out together. My father had an unexpected death due to a heart attack while my aunty was surrendering to cancer in her body.

I don't know if it is divine foreknowledge that I somehow knew this.

Well, how about this?

Have you ever met a teacher or a parent who really takes the trouble to know their children/teens? Have you noticed that some people just have the uncanny knack of being able to predict what a certain person with their own unique personality and eccentricities will do next in a given situation? And knowing that, they then know how to mentor/educate accordingly to meet their needs? It takes a special person to be able to know that, isn't it?

What if God, who is defined as the creator of all things, knows what is going to happen NOT just because He knows all things, but because since He designed each individual with certain characteristics, He can predict accurately what each person would do?

If such is the case, then some people scream it's not fair. People who are destined for destruction should be able to blame God for the design thrust upon them.

But then consider that without free will, where would love be? If God programmed everyone to love Him, that's not love because there is no choice.

Same like a teacher/parent. Teachers and parents, even with that knack to know their children intimately, can only do their part in helping and inspiring them to be better people because they know they can't force something onto someone. They will discipline, they will guide and the special ones will go a step further and love. EVEN with all this, if that child/teen refuses to accept it and decide to go his/her own way, what can a teacher or parent do but continue to try to love and reach out to them UNTIL they respond of their own free will?

Food for thought. It's maybe not so much deteminism as it is foreknowledge.