daism eventually evolved to insist on a perfectly good God. The Judeo-Christian concept of God as Omniscient needs to be defined more clearly. In Webster's dictionary, omniscient is listed as "having total knowledge; knowing everything" (Shick, 1997). There is a better way of understands God's omniscience: supporting both the understanding of God as being all knowing, and at the same time affirming human free will. Consider an illustration. I walk out of the house in the morning to go to work. There are many choices for me to make: time to leave, direction to go, speed at which I will drive, what I will listen to on the radio, how I will respond to traffic jams, etc. God does not plan out my day for me, but rather knows every possible choice (I repeat: God knows every possible choice) I might make on each of these. For instance, God knows that I might take one of many back road routes, or the highway. God knows that I might travel 30 MPH, or go as fast as 75 MPH, depending on the route I chose, the time I leave, how much of a hurry I am in. God knows that if I drive relaxed and am not in a hurry I will likely drive more slowly and more carefully, but if I'm running late I might go faster and take more risks. But even knowing all of these possibilities (which makes God more powerful and all-knowing than tying God to knowing only one set of choices) God is open to the moment that I exercise my free will and make a choice. And in the moment of my decision, God either rejoices or grieves and already knew the emotion that would go along with my action. At times I will make the incorrect choice, and I am responsible for it. If I swerve at the wrong moment and accident results, and someone dies or is severely injured, it is the human choices mine and others that are responsible, not God. An evil thing has happened. But God's omniscience was much greater than my knowledge, and God knew there were better options for me, but out of ...
