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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 137226" data-attributes="member: 63">Heh, it doesn't give me pause.  It's possible to have foreknowledge and not deny free will.  Like the time travel example above pointed out, just because you know what's going to happen doesn't mean that the people aren't freely choosing what they're doing.Even if God did arrange for you to encounter certain things in life, your choices are wholly yours.  If you're hit by a meteor that nearly kills you, you can choose whether you'd rather hide inside so you can't get hurt, or to encourage the space program to do a better job on finding meteors.  I view life as a test.It's kind of like a D&D game.  Sure, the DM can railroad the PCs into doing just what he wants, but even on that railroad, the PCs have a choice of whether they want to resist.  Much like in real life, you face challenges, because there'd be no personal growth, no chance to be a hero otherwise.  It's not the DM's fault if the PCs decide to act a certain way, and likewise, a player can never say that his character acts a certain way because of what the DM did.  I recall a big debate we had several months ago, where the DM basically said, "Your PCs are captives of an army, and will be used as cannon fodder.  To crush your will, they're going to force you to kill an innocent person, making you just as bad as them.  If you don't kill an innocent person, you'll be killed."And one of the players said, "No."  Even in railroading, which honestly, very few people's lives are, you still have a choice.Challenges are important.  In a game, they give us a chance to be heroic and feel better about ourselves . . . maybe even learn a little something about heroism in the real world.  And in real life, challenges, though perhaps not as dramatic as a Dragon or a plot to kill the king, are just as important.  They give us a way to show that we care, that we are good enough people to not just stand by and let bad things happen if we can prevent them.And hey, look at me, starting that whole philosophical/religious discussion I was warning us about.  Shucks.  I'm just trying to clear up a misconception of my own beliefs, and since I'm not trying to comment on anyone else's beliefs, hopefully this won't be offensive.</blockquote>

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