Interesting. You leave a topic for half a day and when you return, it's twice its original size! So many questions and wonderful responses. I can only select some points that I find fascinating to discuss.
To Cynic:
Though it was not originally intended to act as bait, using "random factor" to account for free will (an idea I hinted in post 20, 4th paragraph) is irrelevant to the topic at hand. The keyword in this case is KNOWLEDGE and not random or pattern.
If you knew an outcome before the event occurred, you possess foreknowledge, regardless of whether the process is random or not. The lottery being random does not logically exclude the possibility that its result may be predicted.
Consider the following analogy:
I know about gravity. I know that if I place an apple in any place with no supporting structure under it, it will fall to the ground (assuming I am conducting this experiment on Earth). Now I lift the apple up and release it. But I also give it free will, that is, I gave it a choice not to fall, or to fall, or to speak, or to swim 15 laps in a 50 meter pool. Question: Am I responsible for its fall? More importantly, does the apple REALLY have a choice NOT to fall?
Now before some fool rushes in a points out that gravity caused the fall of the apple and not me, allow me to explain that the analogy is imperfect in the sense that technically speaking, I also created gravity.
Similarly, God created human, knowing everything that will happen in the future (assuming perfect omniscience). Then he/she set the machines running (lifting and release of apple in the analogy), and observes that yes, we are acting exactly the same way he/she has predicted (i.e. fall). Question: Is God responsible for the way we act? Do our actions really describe free will?
What exactly is the difference(s) between "timelessly eternal and everlastingly eternal" in the context of our discussion?
To Spiritman:
Crashfrog has put it most eloquently in post 56:
"You're confusing the appearance of free will in the absence of known foreknowledge with the existence of free will in the presence of foreknowledge."
Allow me this simple analogy:
If I knew with perfect certainty that at this instant:
1) My dog will bark if I shout.
2) The cat next door will run if my dog barks.
3) My neighbour will trip over and drop fifteen electric toasters into the fish tank if the cat runs.
4) My neighbour's goldfish will be fried to the point of delicious death if he/she drops the afore mentioned items into the tank.
Will you say that if I shout and set the chain of events in motion, that I would not be directly/indirectly responsible for the death of my neighbour's goldfish? Does it matter if the goldfish has free will?
Similarly, if God is omniscient, and he/she knew that should I be created, I would be born an atheist until the day I die, then wouldn't God, in creating me, be directly or indirectly responsible for my atheist viewpoint (and hence my subsequent fiery holiday, hahahahaha...)? Before you scream out "But you have a choice!", pay attention to my neighbour's goldfish's unfortunate fate.
"Respect is like money, it can only be earned. When it is given, it becomes pittance"
™ Version 4.2