They’re the same God, and there are plenty of examples of mercy in the OT. there is no hatred there…sounds more like bad theological teaching.

Just my two cents.

Those are some of the meatiest questions religion and philosophy act, and there’s certainly no consensus among scholars, men of the cloth, and the average believer. How does one confront the paradox of believing in an all-knowing God with the belief of Free Will? If God knows how things will end, why set it up in the first place, etc.

As someone who believes in Christianity, I myself cannot reconcile the Gods of the Old and New Testament. They are simply not compatible if you believe the Holy Bible to be an inspired manuscript dictated by God and printed by men that are enacting His will. A God of vengeance and hate and plagues and harsh laws transforms into a God of peace, forgiveness and personal spiritual relationships? If He could see how everything turns out, being omniscience, how could He change so drastically when He didn’t need to wait for the coming of Jesus to see how things would come to be?

The truth of the message that Jesus brought, the truth of redemptive sacrifice, is powerful in and of itself, but doesn’t hold up to the image presented to the ancient Hebrews.

Heh, a whole can of worms, those questions.

What I saw with Winn, especially in repeated viewings, was that she was becoming very good at lying to herself and building up this belief in a fiction that absolved her of all responsibility… even at the very end, where I think she acted out of a sense of being betrayed more than of doing the right thing… the role she ended up playing in the endgame was sort of a less likeable Gollum.

I do entirely agree. Perhaps it is correct that Winn was evil regardless of her faith.

[I can only then deduce that the reason why the Prophets didn't communicate with was because she was already evil? I.e. It's her decision and not just because "the Devil made me do it"!]

The general point, which perhaps I didn’t make clear. There are two possibility here. The Prophets know what the sequence of future event will be; but can either do nothing about it OR have influenced various events in time towards their unknowing goals.

I also note the Biblical parallels here. A God of harmony only existed in the very beginning, Satan broke with god, creating good and evil. God and Satan influences people towards or against belief. In the end God, finally punishes and eliminates Satan (and all of his corrupted followers) forever (hence eliminating evil for ever.) Harmony again exists as it did in the beginning (rapture).

The basic question is…

Does God (Prophets) already know the outcome even if it is in the presumed unknowable future? OR
Does Satan (Parwraiths) have the real possibility of winning that God cannot predict or stop?
If God wants to win, does he have to use or influences others to stack the odds in his favour?

While there are certainly exceptions, both of these groups are very much part of the real experience people of all faiths have. Its very refreshing to see that authenticity given secular entertainment’s usual penchant for showing religion as evil/stupid/worthless with no caveats.

As for manipulation, when given the chance to be directly manipulative the Prophets were usually shown to be very aloof and give incomprehensibly riddles that seemed to point in both directions. And regardless of how much manipulation they may have actually attempted, it was clear that they were not all-knowing or all-seeing. (Don’t understand linear time. Can’t predict Ferengi response to mind-washing. Didn’t expect Winn to flood the station with radiation. Etc, etc, etc.) In fact, the only thing they seem to have actually planned out ahead of time mildly successfully was the birth of Sisko, which, as pointed out, was in a Deus Ex Machina episode. At every other turn, they seem purplexed, if not outright surprised, by the turn of events.

*I have incidentally read and seen the transcripts of the Scopes trial and have also read the book by Clarence Darrow “The Story of My Life”

Perhaps the greatest strength with DS9 is that some episodes question peoples beliefs and norms beyond just the storyline.

Where I disagree with you is that the Prophets already knew the outcome of storyline — the meaning of the line “time is not linear.” It is suggested IMO that they could influence anything in our past or future that can be twisted somehow (beyond our understanding), where Sisko could return anywhere in time.

As for “Even Sisko’s destiny as desired by the Prophets was not “as scripted”, with the marriage and child he ended up having despite their wishes.” Interesting point. However, this could be also construed this was a manipulation too, mostly to hasten the story’s conclusion.

(I ticked the Liked button because you point is also valid. This “unknowing” makes the attraction to watching the DS9 series again and again – getting something out of this each time.)