If free will is so prevalent, then why do oracles work?

Chanah wrote:So, knowledge is an absolute, but you don't know if there are any absolutes? Absolutely!

That's okay. I don't deal in a lot of certainties myself.

Many of the Greeks could be called nut cases. Stoicism went from the Cypriot Jews to the Greeks, at least as far as I can trace it - and given the linguistic difference, there was bound to be some serious error in transmission. But they weren't all raving loonies. Regrettably, the Greek apprehension of the concept eventually brought us evils like western corporate law. (Yes, it took quite a few twists and turns along the way to get there.)

Stanze, no, I don't believe incarnating by choice is anything to do with the disasters and tragedies that happen. It may be my own limitation, but I cannot conceive of a deity so utterly malevolent that it gives us what we deserve in the world. And while I believe there are evil people, I don't believe all, or even most of us, are so hateful that we'd set this up in some pre-meditated, pre-life way - the mind boggles. Assuming we even have souls or exist in any way beforehand. The idea of getting what one deserves in the world is too horrifying to me.