Nelson Pike wrote the article Divine Omniscience and Voluntary Action as an
elaboration of Boethius' Divine Foreknowledge and Freedom of the Will. Pike thought that
Boethius had a valid, logical argument that was just not thought out fully. Boethius stated that
perhaps there is a lack of free will if God already knows what is and will happen. However, in
order for this argument to be valid, some assumptions need to be made.
The first assumption is that God exists. Second is the view of God as omniscient. God
knows everything that has ever occurred, is occurring, or will occur. God is never wrong.
Finally, is the view of God as perpetual, not eternal. This means that at any point in time, God
exists. God has a temporal relationship with the universe, as opposed to having a timeless
relationship. Pike uses these assumptions as the basis for his arguement.
To begin with, what God believes is the same as what God knows, whereas believing and
knowing are two completely different things when in reference to anyone else. One can believe
something yet have that belief be factually wrong. The same cannot be said for God.
Next, if someone believed something three days ago, it is not possible to do something
now that would change the belief of that person three days ago. It follows that if said person was
God his belief three days ago could not be changed now.
The same can be said about existance. If someone existed three days ago, it is not
possible to do something now that would make it such that that person did not exist three days
ago. In other words, if God existed three days ago, nothing can happen now that would make
God not have existed three days ago.
One cannot do something that logically contradicts itself. For example, one is not able to
inhale yet exhale at the same time. It is not possible to do something, yet not do that thing at the
Now, if God exists, and God beli...