Critically assess the problems for believers who say that God is omniscient.

God being omniscient is the idea that He is all knowing. Many Christian thinkers believe in this claim, such as Schliermacher who compares the knowledge of God with the knowledge humans have of close friends. It is more like a reliable guess . A key element of omniscience is the relationship God has with time. Two contrasting viewpoints are that God is eternal and that God is everlasting. The eternal standpoint is that God is atemporal, existing outside of time. This is supported by Boethius, who explains it as God viewing all events simultaneously, as if He is watching the opening titles and the credits of a movie at the same time. However, a prominent issue with this viewpoint is the incomplete triad. It is difficult to accept that an all knowing God can also be all loving (omnibenevolent). If God is aware of tragedies that will occur and lets them happen without intervening, his all - loving nature is challenged. Furthermore, it presents a problem for a personal God, as it seems unlikely He can interact with humans and respond to their prayers if there is no before or after in his view of the world.
The contrasting view is of an everlasting which means He is sempiternal so He lasts forever but is on the same timeline as humanity. Swinburne interprets God in this way, claiming He must be on the same timeline in order to have relationships with humans. He also notes how in the bible, God exists within time. However, a problem with this view is that it contradicts Anselm's definition of God which is that He is 'a being that which nothing greater can be conceived.' If God is on the same timeline as humans, this would imply He is bound by time. As a result, God cannot be all knowing as He cannot know the future.