Tom, what do possible worlds do? All I can make out is that we can hope for things and hope not for some things. The actual world is all that matters. So perhaps you can help me to understand what “possible worlds” is even used for in arguing anything about God.
There is a guy who believes in what he calls, Transdimensional Universalism. I think he comes from a Calvinist background and believes that some are chosen for salvation, while some are not but only in this world. He believes that there are multiple worlds, thousands even millions or infinite, in which we exist. These worlds exist simultaneously, which means we exist simultaneously with ourselves in other worlds. I guess for him, in order to believe in universalism, he accepted that in some worlds we remain lost but in others we are saved but since we are the same person in all those worlds we are all saved and since God is all in all, we will have full knowledge of all Creation, for just as He is, so are we.
On a side note, according to most Quantum theorists concerning the quantity of time, all things are quanta and have simultaneously began and end the moment it exists, essentially stating the time is relative only to the point our physical being is aware of it’s existence (even though we have are born and died at the same moment of time you live reading this paragraph). Therefore, if we were not confined to our physical reality, we would know both the end from the beginning even though we still have not perceived the end and we still are determining it by our choices and actions.
Auggy: What do possible worlds do?
Tom: From my point of view they provide a providential advantage to God in planning and decreeing an optimal beginning for the world and for acting providentially in bringing that world to its fulfillment. If I know what might and might not happen, I can THEN plan accordingly. If I don’t know what might and might not happen, I’m at a disadvantage. And “what might and might not happen” is all I mean by ‘possible worlds’ for now.
The providential advantage gained by such knowledge can be worked out in several ways I suppose. A traditional theist, for example, who believes God is timeless, immutable, etc., will want to argue that God’s decrees are at least informed by a consideration of the possibilities.
Non-determinist Arminians and open theists will also agree that God’s providential acts in the world are informed by his knowledge of what the possibilities are. A traditional Arminian will likely argue that God is timelessly informed (so to speak) of all the possibilities and the way things could turn out and in this way God is able to prepare adequate responses to events before they actually happen; thus, the providential advantage.
Open theists will agree that God’s choices to act this or that way are informed by knowing all the possible outcomes, they just don’t see it all timelessly a done deal in God’s head.
Of course, the Bible describes God as knowing and giving consideration to possible worlds, however we may or may not understand them to figure providentially into God’s choices. God talks about the future in terms of what might and might not occur, i.e., in terms of possible worlds.
Tom