The point I've been making is very simple. If there's only one possible thing which can happen in the future (which is what God see will happen), then there's only one possible thing which can happen in the future, in which case, one cannot choose to do something different than what will happen, since there's only one possible thing which will happen. Now the fact that God knows what that thing is, is irrelevant. Regardless of whether God knows what will happen or not, what will happen will happen.

Thomas,

A complex interplay between genetic and environmental risk factors affect the development of breast cancer. If I inherited genetic risk factors and/or am exposed to environmental risk factors, but have a glimpse of the future that I won’t develop breast cancer, how can this mean that my risk was zero?

Tom,

What is your contention about the future being “determined” according to your definition? You said one cannot choose to do something different than what will happen, so is your contention that the individual’s free will is affected? Or what? If I decide to go to the beach on Sunday, but at 7:00 a.m. it rains, and I decide not to go any more; however, at 8:00 a.m. the rain stops and the sun shines again, and I again decide to go; then when I’m ready to leave, at 8:45 a.m., it begins to rain again, so I decide not to go. But at 9:30 a.m. the sun starts shining again, and I decide to go, raining or no raining. The whole day was partly sunny and partly rainy. Was my future “determined”? By whom – by God, by the weather, or by myself?

Rosangela,

Lets say you have a family history where every relative that has this far died that you know of died off cancer, you live in a house where you breathe asbestos and radon at high concentrations, you work with handling nuclear waste without using a protective suit, you eat poorly cooked pork in an area where everyone you know regularily eats medication to get rid of worms recieved from eating poorly cooked pork and you drink nothing but highly distilled vodka, but God has told you that you will die of old age and live free of sickness til that day. What is then your risk level of becoming ill?

If the future is determined and God who can see the rerun of that which has not yet happened tells you that this is how your life will end, then there is no risk whatsoever. You could even add smoking and wrestling with tigers to your list of unhealthy habbits as you would know that neither of them would kill or harm you. (though I dont know how interesting tiger wrestling would be if you knew the tiger couldnt harm you...)

If the future is not determined but God knows all possible options that exist (as the thesis Tom has been presenting) and God decides to protect you from all of these dangers and then tells you that neither of them will be allowed to harm you, then again your risk is zero.

If the future is not determined but God knows all possible options that exist, but God doesnt decide to grant you supernatural protection from these dangers, then you better start making some major changes in your life right away unless all of these risks kill you.

So how you view your risk factor in this scenario with God giving a glimps of your future is decided by what you think about God and the future. If the future is Mikes TV-rerun or if God decides to protect you from yourself, then there can be no risk once God tells you there is no risk. Only if the future is as open as the next season of the series that has not yet been written, and God doesnt grant you that very high level of protection can there be a risk. But I dont think God would tell you unless He also set His mind to making it so.

What is your contention about the future being “determined” according to your definition? You said one cannot choose to do something different than what will happen, so is your contention that the individual’s free will is affected? Or what? If I decide to go to the beach on Sunday, but at 7:00 a.m. it rains, and I decide not to go any more; however, at 8:00 a.m. the rain stops and the sun shines again, and I again decide to go; then when I’m ready to leave, at 8:45 a.m., it begins to rain again, so I decide not to go. But at 9:30 a.m. the sun starts shining again, and I decide to go, raining or no raining. The whole day was partly sunny and partly rainy. Was my future “determined”? By whom – by God, by the weather, or by myself?

It's not "my" definition, it's standard for this type of discussion. The "determined" (or "fixed") simply means that there is one possible future. The alternative would be "open" which means there are multiple possible futures. Who determines the future is a separate question from whether it is determined.

The first question to consider is, is there only one possible future, or many possible futures. For example, when God looks into the future, does He see what will happen (the one actual, determined future), or does He see all the things which may happen (every possible future, not of which is a reality yet)?

If there is an actual future, which exists, but it's simply a case that because of our ignorance we don't know what it is (but God knows, and could tell us if He wanted; for example, if you will go to the beach or not) then free will is affected in a logical sense, not in a casual sense of force (i.e. God, nor anyone else, is forcing you to act contrary to your free will).

To put it another way, if the future is such that there is only one thing that you can actually do (the thing which will happen, the thing that God sees you doing -- although the fact that He sees it is totally irrelevant), then *logically* you do not have free will, if free will is defined as the ability to do either of mutually exclusive possible things. If free will is defined instead as your being able to do what you choose to do, then the logical problem is avoided.

Nice job explaining things, Thomas. The risk is intertwined with the concept of openness, as you point out. No openness means no risk (assuming one has knowledge; even with knowledge, openness can still involve risk).