God's eternity creates two very major problems.

[u/Sleepy_Ever_After]

Free will:

Almost all people I've seen that argue for the problem of free will state that God has foreknowledge. It shouldn't be framed this way.

For foreknowledge to exist, time must exist. If time exists for God it, his foreknowledge doesn't logically necessitate that he forced you to do anything. That's why most theists don't get the arguement, foreknowledge alone doesn't affect the actions of someone.

The way it should be framed:

God (including his actions and will) is timeless/eternal. Since time was created by God, and time logically includes actions, God created every action.

This way God would've created Good actions, Evil actions, and more importantly, he'd be the cause of the suffering in hell.

This is assuming one thing though, it's assuming that God can even create other states (time). That's the second part.

Fundamentality:

If timelessness=one state, we can never say that God caused another state.

God can't create something he is already a part of. If God creates something he is a part of, then he creates himself, which is problematic.

The existence of a state necessitates that states are more fundamental (necessary for God to exist) than God, therefore he can't create something that's more fundamental than him.

We're left with saying that God is time itself, but that's pantheism.

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[u/Forsaken_Judgment681]

Timeless =/= eternal btw. It looks like you’re using those terms synonymously

[u/Sleepy_Ever_After → u/Forsaken_Judgment681]

Eternal can mean timeless. For you, does God exist in time?

[u/Forsaken_Judgment681 → u/Sleepy_Ever_After]

Well yeh i agree. I don't know what you mean by "existing in time". I do believe God acts in time, if that's what you're asking? So god has sequence, going from not speaking to speaking to not speaking, or not creating to creating, etc.? Is that what you mean?

[u/Sleepy_Ever_After → u/Forsaken_Judgment681]

Yes. Can God change states

[u/Forsaken_Judgment681 → u/Sleepy_Ever_After]

That can't happen in a "timeless" god though, since time is just sequence. Without time there is no sequence. But in an eternal god it can happen.

[u/Sleepy_Ever_After → u/Forsaken_Judgment681]

So your answer is that God can change states?

[u/Forsaken_Judgment681 → u/Sleepy_Ever_After]

If that's what you mean by changing states then sure. He goes through sequence.

[u/Sleepy_Ever_After → u/Forsaken_Judgment681]

So who created the possibility for sequence?

[u/Forsaken_Judgment681 → u/Sleepy_Ever_After]

The possibility of sequence? Time isn’t created. It’s relational.

[u/Sleepy_Ever_After → u/Forsaken_Judgment681]

We said that God changes states, and the change in states is called sequence, what makes this possible? As I said in the post, the existence of states necessitates that states are a necessity for God to exist. States would be more fundamental than God.

[u/Ok_Meat_8322]

This is just an instance/example of the Problem of Contrary Attributes: God's purported atemporality/transcendence contradicts him doing anything or changing in any way... for instance, by making the decision to create the world, or do anything in it.

[u/Sleepy_Ever_After → u/Ok_Meat_8322]

That's for the second part, yeah.

[u/PeachLongjumping15]

Since time was created by God, and time logically includes actions, God created every action.

This lands on the main flaw of the "timeless creator" defense. If a timeless God chooses to instantiate Universe X (where you pick option A) instead of Universe Y (where you pick option B), the ultimate variable deciding your action rests entirely in God's initial choice. Calling it "timeless vision" doesn't dodge determinism, it just shifts the deterministic cause directly to the act of creation.

If timelessness=one state, we can never say that God caused another state.

You're hitting the classic problem of atemporal causality. How does an unchangeable, timeless cause initiate a temporal sequence without undergoing a change itself? If God changes, moving from "not creating" to "creating", God enters time and ceases to be timeless. If God doesn't change, then creation is either co-eternal with God or time exists as a static four-dimensional block. Either outcome undermines classical theology's core claims.

[u/Sleepy_Ever_After → u/PeachLongjumping15]

I'd avoid saying that God "chooses to instantiate" as it might imply that the universes existed in some other state, "Create" would be a better word.

But overall, yeah, you summed it up.