Do Christians have free will?

Question

*Please read the whole question before answering*
My understanding of christianity is that god is all knowing and all powerful, and that he exists without the constraints of our time.... everywhere/always. So essentially, at the moment you are created, he/she knows your conclusion. So essentially, he/she creates you knowing whether you will go to heaven or hell because he/she sees your entire life at one moment... this also raises other questions but we'll stick with this one for now.

sigh... the question is not being addressed
let me rephrase:
If the creator has knowledge of the result, then it sees every decision as already made (with only one option). Free-will is the right to choose, but if there is only one option to every decision (time-paradox) then there is no free will. If you look at a history book and see decisions and their actions... then those people no longer have free will because the decision is made, therefore we no longer have decisions because "god" has checked our history book.

Thanks A. Mercer for understanding the question.

Answer 1

It is a philosphical paradox. If man has free will then god cannot know his fate, therefore god is not all knowing. However, if god is all knowing then he knows mans fate which means the fate is set which means man does not have free will.

You can only have one or the other. Not both.

Answer 2

Yes, He knows the end of the matter from the beginning. That doesn't rule out free will though. it is somewhat absurd to think that free will is no longer there when someone else knows what that person will choose. If I know what my son will choose to do before he does it, he is still free to choose as long as I don't force him one way or another. the very fact that i know does not negate his ability to choose. I just offered my son a cookie and I knew he would say yes, but he was still free to choose. And I dont think a mercer understood the question better than anyone else, they only gave you the answer you wanted to hear.

Answer 3

This is a tricky question for Arminians, but to the Calvinist this is a fairly easy question to answer. Yes, we do have free will, but not in the way that you think. It is nothing to be desired if we do not have the capability to look to God for salvation, due to the original sin of Adam which has tainted the entire human race. We can have all the free will we want this way, but none of it will gain us entry into heaven. This allows God as well as us to "know your conclusion" as you stated -- everybody from Adam forward worthy of destruction!

If we do not have the ability to choose, then God must do the choosing. And again you're right, he can do this without any constraint of time, i.e. predestination and choosing his own "from eternity to eternity" as I've heard it put.

So, this puts God in charge of his universe, as he should be, and through our own fault and our own sin nature, we are guilty as charged, and not knowing or caring about Heaven except for his grace.

Answer 4

You are asking how God's omniscience allows man's will to exist. To tell you the truth, I don't know. There have been many speculations about it written, but we don't know for sure. Frankly, I don't have a problem with that. It is well-known that somebody with greater understanding than I can understand things I cannot. With God, we're dealing with somebody with INFINITE understanding. Humility demands that I allow God to understand things that I cannot.

However, by escaping into materialism, you don't get rid of the problem. This is the dirty laundry I never hear materialists discussing. How, given a mechanistic universe plus chance, could we ever have free will? Isn't everything predetermined such that you could figure out what I'm having for dinner tonight given the initial configuration of atoms and a lot of free time? You can throw in chance, but that still doesn't give me any power of free will.

There is one critical difference: with God we're dealing with something more intelligent than you or I; with the mechanistic universe, you're not. That seems to me to be a much greater problem for atheists and other materialists than it does for theists.

Answer 5

Phrased as you put it, it is an illistration of the debate within True Christian circles... that will be setteled in The End by God... the simple answer is not so complicated... for now the evidence is that mankind dose indeed have free will... look how many have, of their own free will, rejected God. If God exercized his ability to controle he could just compel them to obay...but he dose not.

Answer 6

Will? Quite tricky and problematic. Most parents have great hopes for their children but we all know that what our parents have in mind for us is not what we do even while living under their roof; in-fact we seem to adamantly resist it to the point of rebellion if pressured. We also know that when the going gets tough most of us run to mummy and daddy - its safe and they'll always have us back. God is a loving parent who watches us with compassion as we rebel but is always ready to reassure us when we ask and stop demanding.

Answer 7

Only God's Very Elect, don't have free-will.
Acts 9:15 But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel:

Answer 8

Knowing the decisions you will make before you make them isn't the same as making them for you. If I knew beforehand that you would eat a chicken salad for lunch, that doesn't take away your right to order anything on the menu. You still make your own choices.

Answer 9

yes, God created people to have a free will

God knows if u will believe in Him and go to Heaven or u will deny Him so u will go to Hell
He knows what is ur decissions u will take, but u r the one who is taken them, and God for sure don't want u to do so.
its up to u to chose loving God or not

Answer 10

Yes. I know where you want to go with this and it can get complicated. Everyone has free will to accept or reject Him. God does know our decision ahead of time, but He still leaves it up to us to make it.