If God knows everything you do before you do it then does free will exist?

Answer 1

It would seem that way wouldn't it? Although, to be truly omnipotent - God must know what you're going to do before you do it. Many would argue that the two can both exist, that being God knowing what we will do and us still having free will, but it is very hard to get past.

I suggest you do some research into Deism, because that belief system gives a broader view of God existing but not having such an influence in our lives. So, it could be that God is powerful and a creator - but he still doesn't have such an influence in our lives. It's more of the view that God created the universe and then sat back and left it alone. I think it is a great alternative to someone with a concern about free will like yourself.

Deism discussed on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism

Answer 2

This is not a perfect analogy, but perhaps it will help.

Imagine standing in an office, five stories up, and you look out your window. You have a corner office (how nice for you!) and a clear view of the intersection below.

You see two cars approaching the intersection and quickly surmise that the one car is going to crash into another car if one of the cars doesn't slow down and obey the traffic light.

You know before it happens that it is going to happen. That knowledge does not prevent the accident nor take away the free will of the errant driver who decided to run the light.

Although the ultimate crash is the fault of the errant driver's decision to run the light, the driver of the other car has to suffer the consequences of free will as well.

Free will and its exercises not only affect the individual, but those in association as well.

Answer 3

I believe that God does know everything we do and I believe that we still have free will.

I define free will as the ability to weigh the consequences of an action and make a decision. Just because someone might be able to know what you decide before you decided it, doesn't mean that you have no free will to make the choice.

Answer 4

If God infallibly knows that S will perform A before S performs A, then S cannot be free in any libertarian sense of the word. This is why Christian theologians have argued that God does not really have forevision. Rather, God supposedly beholds the future in his timeless present. So theologians of this persuasion argue that God does not foreknow anything, metaphysically speaking. Talk of God forekowing human acts is simply a human way of expressing God's intuitive timeless knowledge.

Answer 5

Say you go to your window every morning at the same time and you see a man brushing his teeth in the window across the street. Eventually, after several days, you can tell that at this point in the man's morning routine he will go and brush his teeth. You have knowledge and know what he is going to do yet you are not, in any means, taking away his free choice to brush his teeth or not. I know that this is far from a perfect analogy, but what I am trying to get at is the fact that it is possible to know that someone is going to do something while being completely removed from the choice to do it or not.

Knowing that someone is going to do something does not take away the free will of the person. You simply know what they choose to do with their free will. You have no knowledge of any other choices because they did not happen, but they were possible before a choice was made. You may know that a man is going to brush his teeth, but your knowing did not force him to do it. You simply know what he chose.

Answer 6

As per Schoedengers Theory, all possibilities exist at one time. Therefore, all the choices you will make, you will make in every possible way. When you choose to walk left, you have also choosen to walk right, and have stepped into many different novels at once. Therefore, if there is a god, then he would indeed know all of the choices you will make, since you will make all of the choices possible. Paradox? Yes. And so?

Answer 7

I have asked the same question, and i believe it a little different. We do have free will that God had given to us, but rather God knows what is possible for us; all of the different paths we could take, but the choice is ours to choose which path.

Answer 8

Free will exists because it exists for YOU. The fact that free will for you doesn't exist for someone else doesn't make it free will. If you walk down the street and find two identical gold bricks but you can only pick one up, your decision is FREE. Just because someone else knew which brick you would pick up doesn't make your actions any less free to you.

Answer 9

What is god? Who is god?

Is there a force? What is life?

In the context of any given environment that you reside in you always have some choice that you can make thus, on that level freewill does exist.

Everything may be "known" but free will is taken into account/consideration, it is "incorporated in" moreover..... it's a strange thing.

This is merely an opinion.

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Answer 10

God's knowing doesn't mean that He interferes in our independence. He doesn't want to curtail our independence because that would prevent the possibility of a loving relationship. Love is the basis of all enjoyment and the Lord is the supreme enjoyer. Therefore, He desires to enjoy loving relationships with all His parts and parcels, the living beings. The purpose of life is re-establish our forgotten loving relationship with the Lord. But the Lord doesn't force us to do this because in that situation there would be no question of real love.