Does God have free will?

Question

"You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book!" [Psalm 139:16]

If God is omniscient, he knows the future. The only way this can be possible is if the entirely of history and future is running along a set path. If the fate of the entire universe is already mapped out, then God knows what he is going to do. If he knows what he is going to do, does he have the power to do something else? If so he is omnipotent but not omniscient, if not he is omniscient but not omnipotent. These appear to be mutually exclusive.

If he is an 'all good' and 'perfect' God, then he is also bound to do nothing but the action deemed to be 'best'. If he's 'perfectly just' he has no option but to perform the most 'just' action.

It seems that a god cannot logically be omniscient, perfect, just and utterly benevolent at the same time as having free will.

How would you escape this paradox?

I am referring to the Christian god, but all other "our one god knows and controls all" religions can join in too.

I have considered the 'many futures' approach, but the thing about utter omniscience is that, even if he knows of these potential futures, he also knows exactly which one is going to be the one chosen. It doesn't really change anything.

This is not an issue of him wanting to control everything. This is an issue of him having the ability. If he CAN see the future, whether or not he chooses to (although this brings up some more problems in itself - does he have the ability to take away his omnipotence and, if so, how would he get it back?), then this paradox still stands.

Answer 1

First, God does not have a free wll. There are things that He cannot do, and therefore does not have a totally free will. The Bible says, God cannot lie, cannot deny Himslef, cannot sin, etc.

2nd God is eternal, not past present and future, but He is the I AM. He sees history in its entirety, not in sequence. He does not know the future, He is in the future. Humans live in time, and sequence, not God, He created time and sequence for humans.

History is running along a set path, and that is the Will of God.
Daniel 4:34 "...the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever; For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom endures from generation to generation. 35 "All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, But He does according to His will in the host of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand Or say to Him, `What have You done?'

No He cannot do something else: God is immutable, He cannot change. That is one of the reasons I say that God does not have entirely a free will.

You are actually speaking of the problems that God faced with redemption. How to be merciful and still be just. That is why the only way He could do it was to pay the penalty for sin by the death of Jesus, His Perfect Son, to meet His justice, yet provide salvation for those who believe to meet His mercy. That was the action that He deemed best to meet all requirements.

The paradox? - he does not have a free will, and neither do humans.

Answer 2

Ah Yes! "Free Will". what is that stuff anyway? does it mean you can do what ever you want to at any given time and that your future is only what you project it to be? Sorry it don't mean that. It means that you either walk the pre-ordained path that has been put in place for your best interest, or you don't. If you are not in the perfect will or the permissive will of God then you are operating on an area that God does not go. It is a level of your own creation or self fullfilling destiny. The equasion that controls the Universe is that; " believing is equal to receiving." How much can you believe in your future without faith? You can say I am going to do this or that but you do not know the future. If you can stay focused enough to reach your projected destiny, then how do you maintain it after you get there? You must have faith to even see the Truth about anything, let alone the future. You can project and you can pay others to ride your train, but there is a place that you do not have control of no matter what, and that is the destiny of others. If whatever your creation is envolves other humans then you are in for a big surprise. The only control that anybody has over you or you have over anyone else is strickly volenteer submission to your will. If it bend them the wrong way they will no longer be on board.
The will that you have and the will of God for your life is suppose to line up for you to have the best possible ride. If you don't choose to put hightest in your car, it doesn't mean it wont run it just won't preform the way the manufacture intended.
If you have already comitted your life to Christ then the easiest way to live is, "Your will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." The your being God's will and not mans.
By the way God cannot lie because he is Soverine. That means that green is only green as long as He wants it to be. If He decides it is Blue, then Green becomes Blue. It won't happen because He is not the Author of confusion, satan and his creative power has that job.
Peace, Hot off the press

Answer 3

This is a great question because it shows youre a smart person and a lot of smart people think the same way.

This seemingly paradoxical thought has occured to me too.

And the only thing I can explain with is that there are two kinds of fate. The kind that changes through good prayers to ward off evil fate and/or through the actions of the person. And the kind that doesnt change: like the hour of death and birth for example.

Answer 4

I've asked this same question, and you have also realized the logical loop that this question brings. If they deny that God has free will, then he is free to become evil, and do other things that they wouldn't like to imagine. If he doesn't have free wil then why did he give it to us so that we can screw up everything like he knew we would and see us suffer? If he was perfect, then in order for us to be perfect, we could not have free will like him. Having a chose to do good or bad would be imperfect because the possiblity exist. You are very smart and I know that you will not be able to get any intelligent answers from the Christians because you've tied their beliefs into a knot. Good luck though.

Answer 5

It is quite possible--and probable--that God sees numerous versions of the future...and which version comes to pass is dependent on what people choose.

That is, it is possible--and probable--that the future, like the present, is fluid, not fixed.

This is how to escape the seeming paradox.

And paradoxes such as this one, remember, are perceived by creatures limited by time and space. So what may seem impossible or improbable to us may just be our dim vision.

Answer 6

God can be both omniscient and omnipotent as long as he understands completely all the consequences of all his actions. He would therefore know what the future would be in the wake of each decision he made.

Answer 7

God knows the future. That does not mean he can't change it. He set the path future was running on. He could do whatever He wants but He lets us have free will. What we are going to do with our free will He already knows, but does not change it, but maybe he does, we would never know because if he did change it everything would have a new past. Confusing but what i am trying to say is He DOES

Answer 8

I observed this play and that i bear in mind the "verdict" from the three "judges" discovered God to blame of breaking his covenant with Israel. They concluded that the God of Abraham had made a sparkling covenant and that their God became now no longer solely the God of Abraham and of Israel. to reply to your question, how might Hitler fare if he became in God's courtroom being judged via God's rules? If I have been area of the jury, i could be forced to usher in a verdict of to blame based on the fact he committed genocide (to the song on some 6.5 million human beings) and, on account which you point out the ten Commandments, broke all of them besides. despite the fact that, none persons are appropriate. all of us sin. it extremely is merely that some persons be attentive to it mutually as the rest are in denial. lack of awareness is not at all an excuse. Ever tried telling a site visitors cop which you probably did no longer be attentive to you have been in a 30 miles in keeping with hour constrained area once you have been clocked doing 40? Like, you probably did no longer see the line lighting fixtures or the advisory speed decrease indications previously you got here into the outfitted up area? which you have been in a hurry and your business enterprise became greater significant than the life of a guy or woman you ought to kill? the fact is we refuse to take accountability for our movements - in my opinion and mutually. on account that lack of awareness of the regulation is not at all a defensible excuse, in keeping with possibility we would desire to consistently be paying greater interest to God's rules previously we come across ourselves answering to God for our movements.

Answer 9

I agree with everything you just said. You got it... exactly.

And to the people who say "he just knows all of the POSSIBILITIES"... that would mean that he DOESN'T know which possibility will become reality. So either you concede that he DOESN'T know everything and merely knows all the possibilities or you admit that he DOES know everything INCLUDING which possibilities will become reality and that no one, not even himself, will ever do anything other than what he already knows will be done.

Answer 10

Sorry I don't see it as a paradox.

Unless of course you are projecting a human idea of what is just on to God.

We won't hold it against you, seems to be a lot of that going around these days.

Just consider the possibility that things look a lot different from God's perspective than they do from the tiny angle we see things from.

love and blessings Don