This is a pretty deep question?

Question

Ok, if God knows what we are going to do before we do it, do we have free will. But, I heard we do. If you can somehow explain this to me I will vote them the best answer/

Answer 1

The fact that God can know everything does not mean that we are "pre-destined"...there is a Scripture in the Bible that tells us that the number of people who will come to love and obey and server God is an open number. It is based upon what we choose to do with the knowledge or lack of it that we gain or don't...

Notice it says: " a great crowd, which no man was able to number"... ....it is an open ended number, not a set number!

Revelation 7:9-17 "After these things I saw, and, look! a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes; and there were palm branches in their hands. 10 And they keep on crying with a loud voice, saying: “Salvation [we owe] to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell upon their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying: “Amen! The blessing and the glory and the wisdom and the thanksgiving and the honor and the power and the strength [be] to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

13 And in response one of the elders said to me: “These who are dressed in the white robes, who are they and where did they come from?” 14 So right away I said to him: “My lord, you are the one that knows.” And he said to me: “These are the ones that come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 That is why they are before the throne of God; and they are rendering him sacred service day and night in his temple; and the One seated on the throne will spread his tent over them. 16 They will hunger no more nor thirst anymore, neither will the sun beat down upon them nor any scorching heat, 17 because the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, will shepherd them, and will guide them to fountains of waters of life. And God will wipe out every tear from their eyes.”

We have free will, we are not pre-destined. God's Word is not a contradiction, but our assumptions or misled interpretations can be.

1 John 4:1: " Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired expression, but test the inspired expressions to see whether they originate with God, because many false prophets have gone forth into the world."

John 17:3: "This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ."

God gave us the information we need to make the right choices, but it is our choice as to whether we want to seek and learn and then apply it to our lives...basically we can choose life or death, but the choice is ours to make. Just remember that in every choice we make there is a consequence...either good or bad. It is still up to us.

Answer 2

If we accept the premise of the question--that God exists and is omniscient--we cannot have free will. The only other option is that God knows what we will choose to do and allows us to go ahead regardless of whether he approves. But that doesn't really make any sense.

Free will has always been questionable, but I regard it as unimportant. It doesn't matter whether you are actually making the decisions that you think you are making or if you are simply on autopilot.

Live your life according to logical moral standards, because we can never know what is right or wrong and we can only do what creates the most perfect society. We do not need a magic book to tell us that stealing, killing, lying, cheating, raping, etc creates a chaotic and unlivable society. That is common sense. Also, many things that magic books call evil and immoral--homosexuality, masturbation, free thought, education, respecting women, not owning slaves--are of no disadvantage to society at large and are actually quite beneficial.

but what do I know? I'm the Antichrist (according to 2 Jn 1:7). Hope this helped.

Answer 3

Yes we have free will. God knows what we are going to do, but we choose. He does not make the decision for us.
An example would be using an infant. You know that the baby will eventually walk. You don't know when but you know that he/she will. It is the baby's choice to walk when the time comes. Some babies walk at 9 months and some walk at 1 year.
We don't know everything like God does, but some things we are pretty certain of, even though there is always a possibility that what we are pretty certain of may not come to pass. I hope I have helped you with your question. Be blessed!

Answer 4

Free will and God's omniscience are not the same thing. He knows what we will choose, but he does not control what we choose. Think if like he is a psychic. He can't affect our decisions, but he can look into the future and see what we decide. I understand the confusion, because it does seem to be that way. God didn't set up a plan and then execute, making all the moves. Rather, he supposedly set things in motion and we get to decide our fate. He just happens to know ahead of time, sorta like premonition, what we will end up choosing.

Answer 5

God's ability to foresee the future does not lessen the ability of someone's free will. Take someone you know real well, a friend, a family member, whatever. If you know this person will respond in a certain manner under certain circumstances does that mean that that person did not operate under free will? Your ability to predict their behavior makes you no more God or a great prognasticator than your knowledge limited that individual's ability to think freely and act freely. God does not change or control our behavior, it simply means God is God and knows all.

Answer 6

God knows what we are going to do, but we don't until we have to make a choice. The choice is ours, thus we have free will. We always know the right thing to do, right? There is something inside of us that tells us, our conscience. Christians refer to their conscience as the Holy Ghost. Once a person is saved, the Holy Ghost dwells within them until they die. The closer a person is to God, the stronger the influence the Holy GHost has on our lives. Just because God knows all the answers doesn't mean we don't have free will.

Answer 7

God gave us the best gift he could because he is selfless he gave us free will. However he does allow for things to happen and therefore wants us to choose the right path, him, if we do not than we will have a harder time learning. Yes he does know what will happen before and that is the mystery of God.

Answer 8

If I offer my 7 year old a choice of Brussels sprouts, or rocky road ice cream, I know he will choose the ice cream. I don't have to take away his free will to know the outcome. The answer is just obvious to me.

For God I suppose our whole lives are this easily predicted. Knowing the outcome doesn't change the fact that we make the decisions in our lives.

Answer 9

Well, I'm not gonna get best answer here, because there isn't one. The question of how to reconcile free will with predestination has spilled more beer than most - some of it mine, sad to say. But follow the link if you're interested in framing the question.

Personally, a more important question for me is why I do something stupid when I know in advance that it's going to turn out badly. (Lemme tell ya about my ex-girlfriends sometime.)

Answer 10

I don't believe that God knows specifically what each individual will do before he or she does it. I believe he knows us....and might be able to make an assumption based on that knowledge but not to specifics. You are correct that free will would have no meaning if everything was already decided. Then, what would be the point of doing anything to please or displease God.

And, if he knew everything ahead of time, would he have made Adam and Eve able to be deceived by Satan? Or for that matter, wouldn't he have known that Lucifer was going to turn against him? As I said, I believe he knows us...but not everything we will do.