The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

For whatever reason, I looked up the concept of the coexistence of free will and predestination. This concept has always puzzled me. I read through many people's comments on how the two entities can be compatible with one another. Some went as far to say, "It's so simple. I don't understand how anyone could not understand it" or "It crazy that so many intelligent scientific-types don't understand this. You're making it more difficult than it needs to be." Are we? A solid chunk of the comments laid claim that God knows what we will choose to do, meaning he doesn't make the choices for us and this is how the two entities can coexist. Others suggested that our free will involves the choices we make to reach the final destination, but that destination has already been predetermined. I think many of these individuals are getting the concepts of omniscience and predeterminism mixed. It is said that God is omniscient or all-knowing. This would n...

I can't tell you how many times I've heard a person tell me with regard to belief in a God or a particular faith, "Well, I figure I might as well, you know? If I believe, what's the worst that can happen? I was wrong? Oh well. If I don't believe and I'm wrong, I'd be a lot worse off, so I might as well believe." I call that explanation, that thought-process, "The God-Fearing Complex". Most people whom believe in God believe in her/him/it to be benevolent (all-loving), omniscient (all-knowing) and omnipotent (all-powerful). So, my question then becomes, if this entity is all-knowing, wouldn't he/she/it be able to see right through the seemingly ingenuine faith? It doesn't take much for one to simply say, "I believe" or "I love". It takes much more effort to back up those words than to simply say them. So, if one says to believe in a faith just in case it's true out of the fear of not believing and being punish...