If God knows everything and that includes the future, then wouldn't he have known?

Ah, but any correction would have infringed upon the whole free will thing. Free will is about choice, and humans have the choice to do evil, so bad things happen. Biblically speaking, the world exists as a proving ground to see if there are any souls capable of following God without ever being forced to. Were the world perfect, there'd be no point to it, and all souls would be in heaven. There'd be nothing to prove. So the world "is good" because it allows for evil, not in spite of it.

good points. I am not an atheist, nor do I ever seek to bash Christianity as a whole; I merely take issue with poorly-behaved Christians because of the disproportionate influence they tend to wield.

I think it is a good thing that Christians can asks these questions; too often we see many things taken as unquestionable within the club.

I think that positing any omniscient, omnipotent, interventionist and benevolent single-god poses inherent logistical problems. I'd like to see the issue debated intelligently rather than people automatically reacting negatively.

Of course, removing the interventionist aspect is the easiest, but it kinda makes participation in a religion for such a being problematic. The "why do bad things happen to good people/good things happen to bad people" dilemma remains an obstacle whenever an interventionist single-god is posited.

peace.

This is the exact same question I have been asking for years. You can even take it one step further and wonder why did god create Lucifer if he would have known that Lucifer would rebel against him. Also your concept of free will is a little flawed. Man was not originally created with free will. God never intended us to have free will. It was only after the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil was eaten that free will came into play. How can you have free will with no concept of right and wrong?? You can't. You cannot have the free will to choose between right and wrong if you have no concept or understanding of right and wrong. God explicitly told Adam and Eve not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, so god never intended us to have free will. However since Adam and Eve had no concept of right and wrong, and no concept of death, how could he have expected them to realize the consequence of their actions? He set them up for failure on purpose. Also you stated that it was irresponsible of god to continue with his creations once he realized there were flaws. I will take this a step further and ask you how is it possible that a PERFECT creator make something with flaws in it? Would not an all powerful omnipotent and omniscient god not only be incapable of making a mistake, but if he had indeed intended for his creations to be perfect would it not be impossible for them to be anything other than perfect? The only explanation that can exist is that either god does not in fact exist, or that god is not all powerful, all knowing and perfect. The only other option is that god did this on purpose and is a sadistic creator who enjoys watching the misery he has created and is in fact the evil one, and Satan is the good one for rising up against an egomaniacal and tyrannical creator. Either way, I prefer to believe that god does not exist, because the concept of an inept creator, or an evil creator are just too much to handle, lol.

NO...Just as creation is a free act so is Atonement. He could have atoned by a quite different way.

Creation is inherently imperfect too !! The creature is limited and cannot even sustain its own being, as Paul says, quoting a Pagan :

In Him we live and move and have our being.

And the free will thing is the worst of your errors. God created out of love. He wanted it to stay good but He loved it nonetheless (Sounds like you would have shelved the whole damn thing -- Thank God, you aren't God ) so He perdures in the reason He created, Love.

Your reading of Genesis is very bad.

The Pentateuch as Narrative

by John Sailhamer.

Naturally speaking the fall of the angels would have happened BEFORE creation so perfection can't be the aim AND it probably happened because God revealed to the angels the plan of Incarnation and the response was "Damn, we have higher natures than they will, Why not incarnate as an Angel ?" -- So your data and reasoning are scary wrong.

When God created the Heavens and the Earth, he did know beforehand the downfall of mankind. But that is why he sent the Savior of the World, to take upon our sins. Thru him we found our redeemption.

Yes He knew all the flaws of humanity beforehand - that is precisely why we needed our Savior Jesus CHrist - otherwise we would be eternally lost. HE is that bridge between our flawed selves and the perfection required to live in God's presence again.... THAT is the epitome of His grace, mercy & love..... It's all part of the Plan

Great question.

there are a couple i would ask that stem off of yours.

if go was all powerful why would he have to rest?

if God was all knowing why would he make me knowing i would not believe then send me to hell? would that not mean he created me just so i would go to hell for eternity? how is that an all Loving God?

Since you believe in Him, you already know He knew.

So we have drama going on, and God is proud of His children who overcome. Who stay faithful even when death is on the line.

God wanted to see it happen, and so it is.

If humans were flawless and without the possibility of sin, we would be sheep. If humans were flawless, how would they prove their faithfulness to God?

Its all a big experiment to God. Its all planned and this is how he is letting it play out.