freewillI have read arguments (will try to find source for citation) that free will is essentially incompatible with the “all-knowing” part of an almighty being. It boils down to: if a (wo)man is free to choose what to do [in whatever situation], then by definition, god does not know what (s)he will choose to do and that makes the deity not almighty. On the other hand, if the deity does have that knowledge then it isn’t really that much of a free will. I find that argument really compelling. Anyone hear of any logical refutations?
There is no good logical refutation. Another similar question is, ‘If god is omnipotent, can he create a rock big enough that he can’t move it?’
Actually its the opposite:
Free will solves the problem of evil, so, if you have an omnipotent god, then you have to have free will to be logically consistent (or you can have an evil god, but they usually don’t swing that way).
Free will is actually a religious argument (Originally. They were trying to answer your question when they invented it, ironically), so it’s certainly not inconsistent with the idea of an omnipotent deity. Actually Daniel Dennet wrote a book trying to salvage free will in the absence of god because there are good reasons (physical determinism) to think that the lack of god makes free will impossible!
I can't think of any logical points against it personally. You can find a good source on that question here.
Thomas Aquinas was also good at pointing out contraditions or flaws in the concept of god, as you can find in this Wikipedia article.
The question of Free Will and Determinism are classic philosophical issues. The omniscience aspect is only icing on the cake and a minor tangent to the principal question of whether Free Will is an illusion.
The Pragmatist approach to Free Will is summed up well by William James' thought, who said that "he believed in free will on "ethical grounds," [and] he did not believe that there was evidence for it on scientific grounds, nor did his own introspections support it" (Wikipedia summary of James).
As to the debate over Determinism and omniscience, insofar as there is not a proof of the existence of omniscience (only conjecture and assertion) as an extant quality anything could have, there is nothing to debate.
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