God Knows the ethical decisions we will make. Discuss

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Daniel Flood TM06 ‘God knows the ethical decisions we will make.’ Discuss. Although as humans we behave as if we are free, is it possible that our actions are determined by an external force beyond our control? Although it appears that every event has a cause, some believe that only God knows what we will do and when. God is believed to be omniscient and also omnipresent; that nothing can be hidden from God, as he knows our past, present and future. This theory suggests that perhaps human beings are not free, as if God knows what we will do next week then how can we be said to be acting freely? Augustine believed that in this life God has already decided who will achieve salvation and be saved or not saved, and that human has very little understanding of God’s purpose and plans for us. Some people would argue that if God had already decided whether we are to be saved or not, our actions and purpose become irrelevant, and this would cause people
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to lose faith and act immorally, as it would not affect their after-life.There are three main approaches we should consider when answering this question; Hard Determinism, Libertarianism and Soft Determinism/ Compatibles.  Hard Determinism is the theory of Universal Causation maintains that everything in the universe (including human action) has a cause which precedes it. This is the basis of science, if it wasn't the case that one event or set of circumstances lead to another, scientific observation, and the conclusions drawn, would be pointless and meaningless. John Locke gave the example of a man who wakes up in a room ...

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