Clete said:
I see no major problems with what you've said here, which in a nutshell is that if something other than causalities exist (like the human will for example) then God can only PREDICT the future based on the information which is knowable to Him (i.e. causalities, and those things which He intends to bring to pass Himself, etc).
This is Open Theism in a nutshell.
Resting in Him,
Clete
It sure is, it's a tiny god in a tiny little nutshell! What a terrible thing to attribute to God that He can only PREDICT based on what is knowable to Him. This isn't God, this is a puny god of your imagination and making.
The one and only true God knows all things:
PSA 139:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me.
PSA 139:2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off.
PSA 139:3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
PSA 139:4 For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo, O LORD, thou knowest it altogether.
PSA 139:5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.
PSA 139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.
The psalmist recognized the omniscience of God in that God knew his actions, his thoughts, his words before he even spoke them, and his entire life (Ps. 139:1-4).
MAT 6:8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
God knows all the variables concerning things that have not occurred. Jesus knew what Tyre and Sidon would have done had the gospel been preached to them:
MAT 11:21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
God knows all future events. Because God is eternal and knows all things in one eternal act, events that are future to man are an "eternal now" to God. He knew the nations that would dominate Israel:
DAN 2:36 This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.
DAN 2:37 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.
DAN 2:38 And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.
DAN 2:39 And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.
DAN 2:40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
DAN 2:41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
DAN 2:42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
DAN 2:43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
DAN 7:4 The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.
DAN 7:5 And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.
DAN 7:6 After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.
DAN 7:7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.
DAN 7:8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.
and He knows the events that will yet transpire upon the earth (Matt. 24-25; Rev. 6-19).