How do Christians reconcile God's 'omnipotence' / 'omniscience' with free-will?

Question

In Christianity, it is often stated that God is omnipotent (all powerful) or omniscient (all knowing). If this is true, God knows everything that is happening now and everything that will happen in the future. If God knows what will happen in the future, then we cannot make decisions or perform any actions that will change his pre-ordained destiny. Therefore, it seems to me that, in Christianity at least, free-will is inconsistent with the dogma of omnipotence / omniscience. Can anyone enlighten me how this glaring paradox is resolved?

Answer 1

They don't, they ignore it, that's how they get rid of all their problems. I don't think the majority of theists here understand that omniscience and free will are mutually exclusive.

Answer 2

Why do people think that because God knows what we'll do, that He should make our choices for us? Wouldn't that make free will moote? He lets us make our own mistakes, we then learn consequences for our actions. If he "fixed" everything, what would be the point of free will? It's not a paradox at all, you just don't comprehend the concept of free will. Who says there aren't several different scenarios that could play out depending on our choices? He knew you'd be an athiest, running around trying your hardest to convince us how you're right and we're all wrong, yet He lets you play your little game. Do you wish He'd not allow you to do it? Or that He'd make you believe? The thing is, He knows the ourcome, we don't, that doesn't invalidate the fact that we make our own decisions, and leads to our own particular destinies.

Answer 3

Some believe God isn't all powerful and all knowing, just Most powerful and Most knowing. I wish I remembered the source for that, it was an interesting read. Sorry if this isn't helpful.
One thing which has always made me think is that we are supposedly created in his image, so I assume our thought processes are similar. I know if I created beings I'd want them to have free will just for the sake of entertainment. God would get bored if we reacted mechanically. Also good and evil don't exist without free will. Even if God doesn't exist, I find the theoretical things interesting. But yes, this is probably too long. Again, hope it helps.

Answer 4

There's a goldfish living in a small glass bowl.
Every week a huge creature comes along and scoops out most of the water and replaces it with fresh.
The goldfish knows that it happens but cannot explain it within the terms of his experience.
So he laughs at any thought that crosses his mind about the issue if it contains more elements than just glass, water, food, goldfish or giants.
To him the idea of a world out there is plainly ridiculous.
A place where there is almost endless water? FOOLISH!
Water in taps? HAHA!
Creatures breathing AIR? How silly!

He knows his world must be the ONLY form of existance and reality because he considers himself to be all important.

Here on earth, now, with time running in one direction and all the laws of the universe constant, of course no person could know all at the same time as allowing everyone else to truly make it up as they went.

But then, we're no more complex than goldfish in a bowl.
And God is no mere person.
The realisation of these is often the first step on the road to humility, and perhaps truth.

Answer 5

This 'glaring paradox' only holds up when you think of God as being bound by time. He isn't. He looks at the past, present, and future as one. We have the choice to be what we want, or, rather, the choice to exist how we want; with God, or without him. The fac that God already knows our decision before we evn make them doesn't lessen the fact that we can choose.

Answer 6

I believe, that just because God KNOWS what will happen, it doesnt equate to pre-destination.

For example, I KNOW my 5 year old given the choice between vegetables and choclate will take chocolate hands down every single time, yet I can give him the choice. I know what he will do, what he will choose, and what the outcom will be to that choice, yet I am still free to let him choose.

Same with God, for instance, under the Salvation plan. He has given us a choice, to choose Christ or reject him. He can give us this choice as often as he likes. He may know that someone will never accept him, know the outcome of it, and yet still give the choice, free will.

All knowing does not equal pre-destination.

Answer 7

It says God is all knowing, not all forcing. God knows what will happen. He knows what can happen. But he lets us choose our own path. God hasn't fixed our specific futures, he has just set things up so that a certain set of circumstances caused by the adversary can be corrected for our benefit. He won't overrule our free will, but ike any loving father he will try to help us so that we can be set free of the suffering. So, no contradiction.

Answer 8

God has given man a free will, much like His own. Our free will is the most important element of our make-up, because within that will lies the power to choose: to choose to follow what God desires us to do or follow what our own thoughts and emotions are telling us.


This is the subject at hand and what we have begun to explore over the past couple of months. It's a critical topic because our will is the master of all of our faculties and upon it everything else depends. Our will controls our reason, our intellect, our emotions and all our abilities. In other words, our will is the "gateway" through which all things must pass and the bridge over which our faith must travel.


Now, the reason our will is so very important to God is that our will - our choice - is what allows Him to accomplish His will through us. Now, of course, God can do as He pleases; however, in order for Him to use us as He desires, we must cooperate with Him. God has not set Himself up as our Divine Dictator, but rather as our loving Discipler, and thus He has given us the free choice to either follow Him and do as He asks or deny Him and do as we please. This is a choice we must make not once a day, but constantly all day long. In other words, the Lord wants us to render back to Him that which we have so long claimed as our own - namely, our own will.


Life, therefore, is really just a series of ongoing choices. For the non-believer, it's a daily choice between good and evil; for the believer, it's a moment-by-moment choice to either follow the Lord and say, like Jesus, "Not my will, but Thine" (Matthew 26:39), or to follow what we want, think and feel.

Answer 9

Christian leaders are taught the difference between man and animal and that man wants to be an animal. When they become dis-alusioned they let us do what we want(be animals) as long as we serve their purposes, not realizing that they also become animals by doing this. The resolution is knowing that after you receive revelation your duty-bound to share it or you will not be given more of the same. There really are levels of awareness and mankind cannot limit them, only enjoy the fruits of them. That the Jewish Savior was found at the main Temple at the age of 12 doing what God wants all of us to do, should be enough evidence.

Answer 10

Imagine standing on the roof a ten-story building. A parade is going to start in the street below. It forms, it begins, and it travels the parade rout length and then disperses. All this happened in your view.
This is the way OUR GOD sees us! Before our birth HE knows the complete and whole story! But HE also orchestrated our "parade rout" before we were even born. That is called PREDESTINATION. Before we were even born HE knew everything.
Romans 8: 30. Ephesians 1: 5. Ephesians 1: 11.

Answer 11

Simple - just because God knows something is going to happen doesn't mean He will prevent it. It is only by our free will and ability to choose evil that He can reveal the depths of His love.