2006-07-16 10:07:30 · 7 answers · asked by John Mc 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
This is complicated because we have human brains.
God knows everything (is omniscient) about the past, present, and future.
But although He (or She) knows what is going to happen, He lets us make our own decisions and live with the consequences.
This gift of free will does not diminish God but makes God greater.
With love in Christ.
2006-07-19 18:37:43 · answer #1 · answered by imacatholic2 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You get to decide what your fate will be and what decisions you make. God doesn't have control over that. However, God does know everything everyone everywhere does before they do it. God is everywhere and all-knowing. It's like he's read your life story before it happens or he's seen the movie before it happens. You don't have to know how God does these things to believe in him. Part of being a Christian is having faith in the higher power which is God that you can't see, but believe is there. Humans have proved that certain things in the Bible are true. You can do some research, but you'll know when the time comes for you to know all this.
2006-07-16 17:28:51 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
God has not foreordained everything that will come to pass. He has designed his universe so that things happen without his direct intervention. Especially where sentient beings are concerned -- he has built in free will. For in his Word he has revealed:
"...but time and chance happens to them [us] all" (Ecclesiastes 9:11).
But, yes, he is still God, all powerful (he can bring about anything he desires), all knowing (he knows all that there is to know, yet he does not know the future). What he proposes to happen, will happen, with none able to stop him. What he proposes, he can reveal as prophecy; and that seems like God knows the future, but it is not.
2006-07-16 17:16:22 · answer #3 · answered by BC 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
john mc,
the question assumes that "knowing the future" is a quality that must be involved with being God - why? you see, knowing what will happen and predetermining what will happen are two very different points of view - God can know, but does that means God has to have planned it? could God "know" because God can see all possible outcomes at once? and in that, God is not planing the future, just knowing the future?
2006-07-16 17:14:33 · answer #4 · answered by John O'Keefe 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've thought about this a lot. Yes, God knows everything. But he also gives us free will. So what I think is that he has a plan that he will follow and that he knows what is going to happen - but it's based on our decision. The best and easiest example I can think of is salvation. He knows what will happen if we accept Jesus or if we don't - but it's our decision - and his plan will work out accordingly.
2006-07-16 17:16:29 · answer #5 · answered by tootie_ta 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He has either caused or allowed and accounted for everything that comes to pass. God never ordains that people commit sin for example, but He allows it except when it would hinder his plan for his creation. That's probably why we have never had a nuclear war.
2006-07-16 17:51:30 · answer #6 · answered by Martin S 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, if god is omniscient (all-knowing), then the answer is yes. He knows everything that will ever happen, and the future is therefore predetermined.
If he isn't omniscient, then the answer is no. But what kind of god isn't omniscient?
2006-07-16 17:12:35 · answer #7 · answered by extton 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋