Is there some middling ground between the idea of prophecy and free will?

Question

By predetermining the future, prophecy seems to sap the life out of the idea of free will. If prophecy is a prediction of a plan going as it should, does that mean that the plan itself has the potential to fail (thereby allowing free will)? Alternately, if prophecy is an infallible guide to the future, is there any loophole that would allow free will?

So far, people are being too simple. If god is infallible and perfect, and prophecy stems from him, then we are essentially discussing predetermination. If everything is predetermined, then we do not have free will. However, if things are not predetermined, if prophecy is merely God's stated objectives for his plan, then it is implied that the plan can fail, and if it can fail, then it is not perfect, and, I would suggest, neither is God. So, if there is free will, how can it navigate all of the obstacles so that god is still perfect and his prophecies come true? I don't need religious beliefs, I need a logical arguement so that free will can skirt the obstacles and prove God's infallibility.

Answer 1

Picture the Creator as all knowing and all seeing, then imagine that there are two cars coming around a curve on a mountain at excessive speed. The Creator can see that collision coming but the drivers are unaware and heedless of any possible future harm. We can choose yes, but God being all seeing and all knowing sees our ultimate choices along with everything else.
We still have free will.

What the prophets utter is, almost without exception, misunderstood until after the fact. For instance, the prophecy about the antichrist. There is a little piece of knowledge that very few can see that is intimately connected to that prophecy. Since the spirit of the Antichrist has already come the piece of information is available but obscure. It is this: the meaning of Christ is Meschiach or Messiah which has never meant anything except anointed descendant of David who sits on the throne. If you are antichrist then you are against or do not understand that piece of information. IF Christ has returned will you recognize Him without that key piece of info? The answer is no, you will not. You will reject Him as 99.9 percent of people have without giving it much thought. 99.9 percent of people care little for the unadulterated truth. They must have a dog in the fight or be apathetic. They cannot volunteer themselves, because of the cost of it, to be pure of heart and dedicated to the truth no matter what it might turn out to be. The prophecy that there will only be a little handful who recognize Him and refuse to accept a corruption of His message is now playing itself out on the stage of the world under the noses of all in this age of information and yet the point is missed. His Message is ignored by our contemporaries just as the Messages of the past were ignored or caviled at by the people of the day. Eventually they are accepted but only after the clergy gets in there and does its special twisting of the meaning. Check out Baha'u'llah, bupc, uhj. Investigate the truth for yourself. Don't take anyones word for anything that important.

Answer 2

OK I am going to make a prophecy. You will go to bed sometime today/tonight.

Now you could 11pm, 12pm, ect. ect. My only clue is that on an average people sleep. So my prophesy will most likely come true, however it ends up being your decision when. This is the same with all prophecies. You can prospone them but not really stop some that have been set into motion a long time ago. Some prophesies are based off of free will. By knowing something about somebody you can pretty much guess what that person will do in a certian situation, thus being able to predict those things. Now lets take it one step further, you can understand the nature of man and know history to predict things. The fall of great nations can help in predicting the fall of present and future great nations.

Answer 3

I don't believe in prophecy as an infallible guide. The Bible teaches God gives us free will. We can follow His word or not, the decision is ours. Yes, He has a plan for us, but I think it is more spiritual than concrete or worldly. Choices determined our future.Our life is what we make it. God gives us a blank book when we are born, how we fill the pages depends on us. If we follow His word and have faith in Him this will predict our fate.

Answer 4

Okay, prophecy is a predetermination of the future. We have free will, and we are able to decide what choices we make and whether or not we will follow through with God's plan. For instance, Noah had a choice whether or not to obey God and build the ark when God foretold of the flood, Mary had a choice as to whether or not she would continue to carry the Son of God and risk losing her fiance and her family, Jesus had a choice as to whether or not He would go forth and be persecuted and die for us rather than save Himself, and the two witnesses foretold of in Revelation still have the choice to either follow through with it knowing their fate or to decline and live their lives as they were. However, God knows what choices we are going to make. He knows everything and knows all that will happen. Otherwise, prophecy wouldn't exist, would it? Everyone has a choice. Also, God is not limited with His prophecies. If someone refuses to follow through with it, then God can simply choose someone else. However, God makes it very clear what choices we will make.
I hope this helped answer your question.
God bless, and Merry Christmas!

Answer 5

Prophecies have been with us since time in the beginning. Yours and mine, and the rest of the humans on this planet, "all" have been given "free will", your thoughts,actions,words. When it comes to the future and what the "prophet's" have written, well always keep in mind, that we, as "humans", do not know "what time it is", therefore, you should always follow your "ideas" and allow your "free will" to be expressed. That is what Jesus did and you are a part of him - like Rev. Jessie Jackson, and his "I Had A Dream", speech, did you know that that speech was spoken from His Heart, and was of Free-Will, and was not written for him. So express your free well, and let all the idea's flow. Merry Christmas.

Answer 6

The compromise is indifference. Indifference is the basically course with out choose hidden below the pinions of resign and resistance. allowing extremely than recognition or protecting; letting bypass with out attachment. bypass with the bypass. believe isn't faith or conception. if you're surrendering or if you're accepting, you're making a decision. you may't resign that which isn't. The fake theory of ego identity won't be able to make a decision to offer up itself with out turning out to be yet another theory to implement it. Defiance and resistance also require an identity. authentic indifference is a cognizance that basically source is. Awakening is the outcome of inventive and prescient with out using the actual eyes. One small glimpse of eternity and all this foolishness drops with the help of itself accord. Is there a compromise in regard to 2 options of a topic? definite! Is there a compromise between the conception of no ego and source? No! because the question does not get up once you word basically source is! So also, if you're conscious then there is not any selection of resign or defiance. once you wakened this morning, did you pick to rouse? there is not any one to make certain in sleep until eventually you're in a state of cosmic knowledge. In non secular sleep a decision to offer up is likewise not a chance. once you're spiritually conscious you're detached because there's a cognizance that there is not any one to make certain, or the question does not get up because of this knowledge. there is indifference from what's seen (to locate with the help of the interest), and under no circumstances stumbled on. “basically source is” is a cognizance because not some thing else may be seen, which incorporates the fake self. the interest of the witnessing knowledge is source. Peace is cutting-edge in indifference, Asha

Answer 7

Prophecy is how God communicates with us. The word of God as spoken by His prophets. Simply put, the bible.

What you are talking about is communication from someone or some where else.

As long as we have choices (even only one), we have free will.

Life may have fix roads, but we decide which ones to take.

Answer 8

I'd say it works the other way around. Prophecies are all too often self-fulfilling. When you look at people who are causing and escalating global war, they all believe the end of the world is at hand.

Answer 9

God does indeed allow us to have free will, but he takes into account all our actions and inactions, both good and bad, while his plan and his will continue to become the new reality.

This way, you get to have unlimited personal freedom, and are held accountable for your actions, while God still gets to be God.

Answer 10

Sure.

Prophesy is predicting or foretelling consequences. All prophesies, including God's, were conditional. If you do this, then this will happen. Or, if you keep doing this, then so and so will happen.

Free will, is your ability to keep making the same mistakes and then paying the consequences that were predicted.

In between this is your "brain".