Free Will and Biblical Prophecy: Are They Mutually Exclusive?

Then you have nothing to talk to me about. I am saying "If someone can actually see the future..." and then moving forward. I have been doing this all along. I have stated so over and over again.If you are going to stop at "such a thing is impossible," that's fine, but then you don't get to talk about any following conclusions. How can you say this? You just said that seeing the future was impossible. How can you make any conclusions at all if you say it's impossible in the first place?And, of course, it's only compromised if we use your definition of free will (General) that free will is the ability to choose between available alternatives. It most certainly is not compromised if we define free will (In Principle) to be "the ability to get what you want from the situation presented given no interference from any external being." Only if we use your definition (General) of free will.If we use a different definition (In Principle), this most certainly does not occur.

Yes. Well, as in it's the only scenario I'm discussing. Carl certainly could choose the other ones (it's his free choice, afterall) but this is the only one I'm looking at. I'm assuming that the other possibilities are rather boring to look at because we would both agree that free will exists and there would not be much to discuss.The whole point of this defense of mine is that people have been telling me that free will no longer exists at certain points. I don't see why that is necessarily so. So I provided an example (the one we're talking about) where I think free will still exists (Carl makes his decisions on his own) and everyone else tells me that it does not (Odin sees the one path of the future, therefore "no alternatives").

This isn't what I'm talking about.Carl defines his future.
Odin cannot know Carl's future before Carl has defined it.
Odin can, however, know the future that Carl eventually defines. That is, as long as we imagine an Odin who can see the future.In a sort of "Carl speeds ahead in time, makes all his decisions, but doesn't even know about it yet" sort of way. Just like how you described the string analogy as Perspective 2.If you do not care to accept this axiom, this "what if" statement, then you cannot talk about the following conclusions.Perhaps the imagination required to think of such a scenario is too... against the cause-and-effect reality we're used to for me to explain such a thing. I fully admit I very well may have failed at such a task. It most absolutely is not, however, circular.It doesn't really matter, though. You can continue to misrepresent the things I'm saying and call it circular if you'd like.It is obvious that you do not want to accept my definitions. Since it was my idea, I make the definitions. If you don't want to accept my definitions... then I will take this as meaning that you do not want to discuss my idea. Feel free to continue discussing whatever idea it is you keep ascribing to me.

In a way... yes.More like this:If Odin turns out to be wrong... then Odin can't really "see the future", and it's not the scenario I'm attempting to discuss at all. Since I am quite explicitly talking about a scenario where Odin can see the actual future.If the future changes... then Odin can "see the future" and therefore see the changes... again, Odin knows exactly what Carl ends up choosing via Carl's own power.In an overall, general sense, I am attempting to go with 3 stages:1 - A non-interfering being who can see the future does not destroy free will.
-I say free will exists In Principle, even though General free will no longer exists.
2 - An interfering being who can see the future may tell the future to an individual and it's possible that the individual freely doesn't change their minds anyway.
-I say free will exists In Principle
3 - Exact same scenario as 2, but add the label "immutable prophecy" to what has happened.
-I say free will exists In PrincipleBasically, I'm saying that if a being would freely choose something... and then someone "restricts" them to sticking with that choice... even though they'ed stick with that choice with the knowledge of the restriction anyway... then the still have free will.Strictly definition-wise, I can see how "immutable prophecy" is diametrically opposed to "free will." However, given such a unique situation above, I can see how it is possible for an "immutable prophecy" to not (in a practical sense) alter the free-will decision... in which case you could say that free will still exists with the immutable prophecy.

I see what you're saying here.And I must agree.That is... let's make Odin similar to the Christian God now and give him the ability to also "view possible futures due to intervention by Odin."Now, Odin can see the non-interference future.
Odin can also see all the possible Odin-interference futures that could be created by interfering in whatever sense he decides on.In a sense, you could say that such an Odin interfering in any way removes everyone's free will since now Odin has "chosen" the precise future that gives the outcomes he is looking for.Carl's decisions are still up to Carl as far as Carl is concerned, but this "overview shift" implemented by this newly-empowered Odin would remove free will, even In Principle... according to me, anyway.Given this, it means that the only way for immutable prophecy and free will (In Principle) to co-exist would be for Odin to never have this new-ability to forsee the possible Odin-interference futures.Therefore, Odin wouldn't be able to know if his prophecy is going to result in Carl choosing the exact same thing again.Therefore... it is still possible for Immutable Prophecy to co-exist with Free Will (In Principle).
-Odin must not be able to forsee the future due to his own interference
-Carl's personal decision must be to stay in line with the prophecy, even once given the new information of the prophecy
So this means that it would have to happen "by chance" and there would be no way to know if it actually happened or not.So... the situation may theoretically exist, but pretty much uselessly so.I agree that if Odin gains the abilities such as the Christian God, then there is no way for Immutable Prophecy, regular prophecy, or even any other sort of interference (non-prophetic perhaps) to exist along with free will. With such abilities, the god must absoutely refrain from any and all interference in order to allow free will to exist.

I think this is best at this point, I'll do the same. My argument is a simple "if this, then that" scenario.The "if this" part certainly does contain imaginary talk of seeing the future.I fully admit that such a thing cannot exist along with the basic assumptions of cause-and-effect logic. The entire point of the "if this" section of my arguement is to grant these unrealistic ideas so that they can then be used to see what sort of conclusions could follow.If anyone is unwilling to accept the "if this" part of my scenario, then I entirely understand why they would also not accept the "then this" part as well.