How can God be omniscient and give us free will? It's not logically possible. Some people say that God knows what will happen no matter what choice we make, but if He was truly omniscient shouldn't he know what choice we will pick? Being omniscient is not about knowing what could happen, it's about knowing what will happen.
I know what could be the weather tomorrow, does that make me omniscient? No, I would be omniscient if i knew the weather will be tomorrow without a doubt
2007-01-23 02:21:08 · 19 answers · asked by #15mwu 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
God foretells things all the time
2007-01-23 02:26:04 · update #1
So you're saying that we really don't have any free will? God's knows what's going to happen it means that we can't change what's going to happen anymore.
2007-01-23 02:28:17 · update #2
You need to study the Bible. You'll get you're answers there and you won't have to worry about following the answer you "think" is best.
2007-01-23 02:26:33 · answer #1 · answered by stephanie 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
God is omniscient.
However, He does not exercise that ability all the time.
You have a driver's liscence.
Does that mean you are always driving a car?
No. Just when you are obliged.
God's omniscience still allows us free will.
Example:
At the time of the flood, God knew there would be 2 groups.
Those who would be protected and those who would drown.
Each individual had a choice as to which group he would join.
As respects prophesying:
God 'foretells' the future only in the sense that He will make sure what He predicts will happen.
A prophecy is basically God saying: "here's what I'm going to make happen further down the time line."
2007-01-23 11:18:31 · answer #2 · answered by Uncle Thesis 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No one has supported Calvinism yet, so I'll try. Man sins. He has a sin nature. Even babies carry original sin. Everyone stands in need of a savior. Man is so sinful that he can't look to God for salvation. There's your free will. Any decision you want, same destination. The weather tomorrow is Hell. Easy enough for everyone to know what will happen "no matter what decision we make" if you understand it in that light.
Enter an omniscient God. He didn't have to save us. He could have left us in our own decisions. And yet, for some odd reason, He sent His Son to take our place on the cross. I'll call that love. Does he save everyone? Of course not. Has he predestined those who aren't His own, to Hell? Of course not, God doesn't cause anybody to sin. Is it fair? No. Surprise, surprise, God is God, he gives faith to those that he has elected from before the foundations of the world, loving them from eternity to eternity, and those who are uncomfortable with what the Bible really says, will call Calvinism a "robot" theology, and call God evil for not electing everyone, a finger pointed at God and three pointed back at themselves, guilty as charged and not even realizing it.
So yes, God's sovereignty and man's free will are logically possible, but you have to look at man -- yourself -- as who you really are before the Lord. Or you can find an Arminian who'll tell you something more comfortable.
2007-01-23 18:03:31 · answer #3 · answered by ccrider 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
actually omniscience has very little to do with weather. you could know when the cubs were going to win the world series but you would still not be omniscient. in fact, i believe you completely misunderstand the meaning of the word. it means to know everything absolutely. and if there is a god he would be omniscient. and we would still have free will. omniscience does NOT infringe upon free will. it simply means that God knows everything. not that he CONTROLS everything like a marionetteer controls his puppets. its like having a pet rat that you know all about. do you control it? no. you simply know when it will poop, eat, sleep and die. its as simple as that. it will take more than omniscience to disprove a god.
2007-01-23 10:27:45 · answer #4 · answered by triskaidekaphobia 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
actually he can
1) Calivinist / Augustianian answer, God is the cause of all things, your heart will freely choose to reject Him without His grace. With grace he will draw you with cords of love to accept Him. The heart is fallen. The cross is not a crutch but a stretcher and only God can change the heart in a saving way. God is at the center of salvation and grace in this view.
2) Arminian answer, God knows your heart and what you will do and choose. In this view the class of people who will believe are the elect - class election. The heart is desperately sick, but like a drwoning perosn can grab a life preserver thown to it... or .. reject it... the choice is more in man's hands in this view
the first two views would disagree and are the historical orthodox views One more modern view might see it your way
3) Openess theology answer is God is not omnisicient and used his amnipressent and all power to make things happen to turn out to his glory... in my opinion the worst choice but a newer view taken by some
another not so good view is
4) Palagianism. Man is basically good. Another version says we are here for a test to sort out the good and bad. This puts salvation squarely on the goodness of man and not on grace. The church historically rejected this and historically liberals gravitate toward it more and more... choices 3 and 4 are not Biblical in my opinion are a serious misunderstanding of grace but 4) arguably says nothing about the omnicience of God
2007-01-23 10:29:21 · answer #5 · answered by whirlingmerc 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
First of all, God can only know what course you are going to take IF THAT IS THE COURSE YOU CHOOSE TO TAKE.
Further, Jehovah is all powerful. Therefore it is logical that he has the power to refrain from using his omniscience if he so chooses to do so. Just because he CAN know something in advance doesn't mean he is required to.
2007-01-23 10:43:16 · answer #6 · answered by Abdijah 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why do you think the fact that He knows what you are going to decide rules out your ability to freely decide? It is quite logically possible. And yes, omniscient means knowing more than the possibility but with absolute surety. He knows the end from the beginning. Before things are brought forth He knows their end. AND from a friend..."
As Christians, our wills have been "freed up" but we still are limited by a
variety of factors, such as the world, the flesh and the devil. Even the Apostle
Paul admits that when he sins it is not him sinning but it is sin working through
him (Rom. 7:17). Paul is not making an excuse here, he is simply making a statement
of fact regarding the essence of our wills as believers. In other words, our spirit man
is made in the image of God but our flesh is still "of the world." As a Christian we
can "walk in the Spirit" and put to death the deeds of the flesh, or we can choose
to walk in the flesh, thus grieving the Holy Spirit and suppressing the desires of our
true self (our spirit).
Since we do have a will (though limited) and our choices that we make with
that will are completely our responsibility (since we made that effort to succumb
to whatever drew us to that behavior--e.g., James 1:14) we are in fact the ones who
plot out our sanctification (becoming like Christ in this life). This truth stands
independent from the fact that God knows what choices you are going to make and
gives you the freedom to decide those choices. His knowledge of your choices are
irrelevant to the question of, "does a person have a free will even though God
knows the outcome of my choices?" (In theology we would call this a “category distinction”).
In this case, the categories of our knowledge and God’s knowledge are independent as it
relates to our ability to choose a behavior.
Since He is absolutely holy (ontologically and morally) and we are not--there is
no contradiction in his prescience of our chosen behaviors.
"
2007-01-23 10:26:29 · answer #7 · answered by james p 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If you go by what is written in the Christians bible there is no freewill. The very word freewill is NOT in the new testament at all! What is there is PREDESTINATION! It is refered to over and over again!
Romans 8:29 - 30
Romans 9:21 - 23
Ephesians 1:4 - 5
Revelation 13:8
Revelation 17:8
Dispite all this Christians swill insist there God gave them freewill! The truth is this God views them as his SLAVE!
1 Corinthians 6:20
1 Corinthians 7:23 ONLY A SLAVE CAN BE BOUGHT!! SOMEONE WITH FREEWILL CAN NOT BE BOUGHT!!!
HOW MUCH EVIDANCE MUST BE SHOWN FROM THE BIBLE ITSELF BEFORE PEOPLE ADMIT THIS GOD IS PURE EVIL?????
2007-01-23 10:37:29 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Oh, we have free will. God knows what we will do though. And yes, He knows all the options, all possibilities, etc.
An interesting note about His omniscience: When it comes to His prophecies, He hasn't merely told us of what will happen, but of what MUST happen.
It's a real mind boggler to us to think of an all knowing God, but that's just one of His attributes.
2007-01-23 10:29:02 · answer #9 · answered by Jed 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
God knows what WILL happen but He does not affect the outcome - He lets you make your choices on your own but He already knows what those choices are going to be without influencing you to choose
2007-01-23 10:25:35 · answer #10 · answered by servant FM 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
God's omniscience is the knowledge of all actualities as actualities, and all possibilities as possibilities, but he does not know the future as a settled fact, because it does not exist yet.
Edit: You should try to read some of the philosophical literature on divine foreknowledge. William Hasker's "God, Time, and Knowledge," for example.
2007-01-23 10:24:00 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋