John Martin Fischer argues in favor of the view that there can not be a God (or being) who is omnipotent and omniscient simultaneously with humans have the capability of free will.
His argument can be understood as the following:
If God exists, then he is omniscient and omnipotent.
If God is omniscient and omnipotent, then humans do not have the power to freely make decisions that determine their actions (free will).
God is omniscient and omnipotent.
Therefore, humans do not have the power to freely make decisions that determine their actions (free will).
John Martin Fischer believes that God’s omniscience and omnipotence is contradictory to the concept of humans having free will. How could God possibly know everything and be able to be so powerful that he could in theory make a person do something while claiming that they have the power to do whatever it is they want to do regardless of God’s omnipotence? At time one, God believes human will do X at time two. At time two, human does C. It has to be the case that God cannot know everything or that a human cannot make independent decisions.
I object to John Martin Fischer’s argument, specifically premise two. God can know, at time one, what a human will do at time two, even though they have the power of free will, because knowing what someone will do before they make the decision does not undermine the integrity of the independent and uninfluenced decision. God can simply hypothesize all possible options that a person could have and logically deduce what it is that that person will do at that given time without compromising someone’s free will. The present and future are not fixed parts in time; God’s knowledge of what will happen and what is happening probably always changes to account for our decisions, but again this in no one contradicts the ability of the human race to make independent decisions.