How can God know the choices that a free moral agent will make in the future given free will? Doesn't it refute genuine human freedom if God knows with certainty what actions an individual will take? I mean, if God knows with infallible certainty that I will ask my girlfriend to marry me at the end of the week, am I free to not ask her? Or is my "free choice" really an illusion?
2006-10-10 20:41:23 · 28 answers · asked by MBH 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Many of your choices actually are your choices. Ideas about God are theoretical. Choices are real. Pick one.
There are many things about many human lives that are not open to choice. Few of us would choose to be poor, but many of us are. Few of us would choose to die, but all of us do eventually. But don't let some of life's inevitabilities convince you that you never get to make any choices, because it actually takes some work and effort to fully claim your own right to choose. If you become convinced that your free will is an illusion, you will never make the effort to control the parts of your life that you CAN control. And that is called "giving up."
2006-10-10 20:59:45 · answer #1 · answered by anyone 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Did Eve have to take the fruit from the serpent? God had instructed her not to eat this....yet she did anyway. Did God know she would...yes....did/does God know/understand what would have happened if she had not...yes.
Your free will has nothing to do w/ God knowing or not knowing the outcome. I would say most people don't care what God thinks anyway right?
And while you have the free will to propose marriage to your GF... She has the free will to reject that proposal...then what? Your plans are then shot....Does God not know and understand all those possible scenarios? Is He any less omniscient because you think that a slave doesn't still have free will...he may be killed for his actions but still has free will.
God's ways are not ours and ours our not His....If we could fully understand and grasp the dimensions of God...would he be so?
2006-10-11 04:22:00 · answer #2 · answered by Cadman1965 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Allah knows what you will do because he is your creator. He knows what your thinking and free will will end up deciding but it is not forced on you. You are the one who made the choice still.
To give an example of the idea, I once was a teacher. Because I know my students well, I can tell before I look at their exam papers that x will flunck the test and y will score high and that this particular question will confuse this particular student and it happens. I did not force my knowledge of them on them and did not interfer with their free will or freedom to make decision but they end up acting upon to my knowledge.
Of course I am no God and I am not likening myself to Allah, God forbids. I am just trying to make the picture clearer to you. Thank you.
2006-10-11 04:00:18 · answer #3 · answered by daliaadel 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
If we really DO have 'free will', then an omniscient god is logically excluded. The logical fallacy lies in the premise that if god is omniscient, all outcomes are already known to god... everything that you think, decide and do... and everything that you WILL think, decide, and do.
For an omniscient being, all of existence over all of time is laid out as a tapestry before him... past, present and future, down to the smallest detail of material, of thought and of deed, and all is constantly in his awareness. There is no past, present and future from that perspective... there is only an eternal 'now'.
If that is the case, since god already knows everything that will happen, then everything is already decided... and as we go along through life, we are merely doing what has already been seen by god. Since god knows and sees everything that will happen, NOTHING that we think or do can be contrary to what god already sees and knows. We might THINK we have free will... but since we are merely acting out what god already sees and knows, this can be no more than an ILLUSION of free will.
2006-10-11 03:42:26 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Because God knows everything does not mean that we don't have agency. God knows what was, is, and will be--but because he sees our choices does not mean that we don't make them.
Consider watching an old home movie. You know that your mom is going to get up, put on her wet shoes, and slip off the side of the porch and fall into the kiddie pool. You have seen it happen on film, you know what the outcome is, but still, you are not controlling anything about the situation. You may wish she wouldn't put on the wet shoes, and yet she does. You may hope she doesn't slip off the porch, and yet she does. Because you know what happens as a result of her choice to put on the wet shoes doesn't mean she didn't choose to put on the shoes--and doesn't mean you can save her from slipping as a result of her choice.
2006-10-11 04:05:43 · answer #5 · answered by Gestalt 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
human being has two faculties which are different from animals.
one - imagination, two - ability to do whatever. (i think, we can say these two things together can be termed as 'free-will')
imagination is the tool with which human tries to understand the existence. (the concept of god is one such imagination) the imaination reaches its point of fulfillment - when it gets aligned with the existence.
human has thought behind every action. the so-called 'thought-less' actions also have unclear thoughts behind them. the imagination actually is behind the thoughts and action. if the imagination hasn't reached the point of fulfillment - then thoughts and actions will also be contrary to the order of existence. These kind of actions will not have any certainity about them.
There is freedom and certainity after imagination reaches the point of fulfillment. Man's free-will gets realized this way.
2006-10-11 03:51:59 · answer #6 · answered by Rakesh Gupta 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Free will is relative to the conditions you live in, but then again, we are not a generation forced to live in a state of war while under siege from the authorities and underground guerilla movements. I don't think Rwandans, Europeans during WWII, Rumanians, North Koreans, Sri Lankans and Indonesians have chosen that sad state of affairs.
2006-10-11 03:44:02 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it's sort of like this: A parent who knows his/her child very well can come to predict what sort of choices he/she will make under certain circumstances. The child still retains his/her choice, but if it is predictable, the parent is not likely to be very surprised.
No one knows what lies at the heart of our characters and nature like God knows us. God is able to see all of the choices we'll be making well into the future. Like a master chess player, he can predict all the moves that will be played well in advance.
2006-10-11 04:32:09 · answer #8 · answered by sweet_unicorn 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
HELLO!!!!!!!!
He made you therefore he knows you and what you are capable of. He gives every one free will, what you do with is up to u.
God watches over us, He is there for guidaince when we need him and even when we dont, the rest however is up to U.
Therefore if you want to ask your girlfriend to marry you at the end of the week go ahead, If U DON'T however it wont be the end of the world. Ok
2006-10-11 04:03:48 · answer #9 · answered by Doc M 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Creation of Man
It was clay and water with which God created Carl Sagan, the seed of living beings and among living beings, God created man. With an independent self, to put him in the test and to see, how he responds independently to the Commandments of The God, The Lord Almighty.
It was a perfect creation, with a perfect free discretion. God blessed him with a female to raise tribes and generations and to spread them on the earth and to address them always through The Lords messengers. God ordained for him and for his dependents a day of judgement and created heavens of his own choice and hells against his choice. So, O the Mankind! Always choose Gods will to be safe, because between God and you there is no one to affect the judgement of your Lord.
Listen to the Lord! All the tribes, generations and people. God blessed you with freedom of choice and captured you from the top of your head after your creation. God ordained death to declare the end of the test. Nothing is like this but the test ordained for you by your God, The All Able Lord.
Evil men and women always attempt to gain prosperity through negative decisions. That’s why; they commit sins and break the law__ of course, all wrong. The book of their deeds is the record of their life___ and is nothing but evil and evilish (devilish) acts. These men and women will gain nothing but loss here and hereafter.
Righteous men and women always attempt to gain prosperity through positive decisions. That’s why they commit good deeds, follow all kind of laws of humanity and are not a hindrance for anyone. The book of their deeds is the record of their life___ by the will of the Lord___ good deeds. These men and women will gain prosperity by the will of the God__ Our Lord, here and hereafter.
God created everything, the whole universe and then created ‘you’ and gave you the knowledge of good and bad. So do good, because God wants you to do good to meet the good of God.
2006-10-11 03:54:34 · answer #10 · answered by ibn adam 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋