Peace Wakas
Wakas wrote:
Quotepeace Imraan,
Knowing what decision a person will make does not mean one forced that person to make that decision, just means they know that person really well. There is no accountability when one is forced. We have free-choice, we are not forced to do anything.
I do not think 6:101 implies that. It seems to be a rhetorical question and makes the audience think, e.g. either they accept the argument and say "yeh God does not have a mate he cant have a child" or they say "God does not need a mate to have a child, God is all-powerful" but if they accept the latter then an all-powerful being has no need of a child either.
I don't think that one can say that because I know someone really well,
I know what decision they will make. One can, however make an educated guess as to what decision they will make. Knowing with certainty what anyone will do means that they
will do that. One may not have forced them to to do it, but if it is certain that they will do it, it is a foregone conclusion. This would mean that they cannot decide differently from this foregone conclusion. This equates to forcing such a person to do something by virtue of the very fact that they cannot deviate from such a foregone conclusion.
For me, 6:101 is not rhetorical. God's choice to limit His intervention in our lives through any kind of miraculous act is not asserting that God is limited. If I can run faster than my 6 year old son, but choose to let him win the race; it does not follow that I am incapable of winning the race, just that I choose to give him the pleasure of winning the race.
For me, God placing such limitations upon Himself is proof of an All Powerful God. Such a God has no need to assert His capabilities to act miraculously in order to bring about an effect that had no cause within the human sphere. The consistency provided in our lives by the absence of miraculous intervention allows for proper results / effects to follow the initiating cause. It is for this reason that we can evaluate the truth of the message in that when we act according to the laws set out by God, using the guidance sent down through revelation, the results will be consistent.
That's my take on it anyway. There may be verses that I haven't come to grips with yet, but I cannot find it within myself to accept such things as miraculous. I or we, may just not understand how the laws governing these work yet.
Imraan