If God exists outside of time......Then he knows everything. He planed everything and we have no free will?

Question

Creation… You fail to see the paradox. If god is all powerful he would know exactly what our action will be at the very moment of "creation" this would not be freewill. Only way to go around this paradox is to admit God is not all powerful.

Answer 1

You have to sympathise with all these theists desperately trying to explain away one of many insuperable problems with their beliefs. Yes, of course if there was a god who created the universe and he was 'outside time' then we would just be the characters in his novel, speaking his words and playing out his plot. He would be responsible for everything we do in the same way that an author is responsible for everything that goes on in his books.

Naturally it's all hypothetical because gods are logically impossible.

Answer 2

Knowledge of humans actions even prior knowledge, and freewill do not stand at odds with each other for a variety of reasons. To disentangle what's going on would require more room that I care to take or that you would care to read(!) but in essence it is because knowledge of human actions is practical reason rather than theoretical reason.

We need an example. Many, maybe most, parents have had the following experience (sibs sometimes have this experience, too). A mother or father often knows what a child will do in a certain situation even before the child does. This is true knowledge: justified, true belief. Does the fact that mom knows what will happen deny "free will" to a child? Most people would say "No." Yes, mother does know what her child will do, and yes the child does have free will. The two are not incompatible in the sense that possession of one manifestly does not deny the other.

So, if god exists, and if god were to possess perfect knowledge of human actions there is no necessary incompatibility.

HTH

Charles

Answer 3

That's exactly right, if we are going to take free will for ourselves, we must take omniscience from God in order to do so. And therefore he doesn't know everything, and any plans that he made have at best a foggy outcome. And we have to redefine foreknowledge and predestination to fit our power over God, so now he has to love the entire world rather than his own that he chooses. Not only that, the Almighty must become schizophrenic, since the unregenerate get to feel wrath after death rather than all that love that was supposed to be there for them up until that point. So it was all a test in the first place, or maybe just an offer.

Free will is bad theology, but we can still just call it a mystery.

Answer 4

First let me share my feelings about God, My father. He loves me more than I love my own children. I can.t imagine a love that great. Okay to answer your question . He knows all. Our fate is listed in The Book Of Life . But as a very smart woman explained to me we can shorten or lengthen our days. After Adam and Eve we have two paths an easy and hard. Sometimes we don't never choose to get off the hard one. I live each day knowing that God loves me no matter what. But I can disobey and do things that I know are wrong and change my destiny. My conscience is my guide. And as long as I have one I'm on the right path.

Answer 5

Humans think they are the most intelligent in the Universe, that's why they don't understand God.

If people just recognize and admit that they don't understand 1/1,000,000,000,000th of all there is to know about God and the Universe then they would begin to have some wisdom.

God put it all in the bible and it just takes a little humility and patience to accept it.
Everything you NEED to know is in there.

Everything you WANT to know will come only through millions and millions of years of existence, which is possible.... Psalm 37:29

Answer 6

He knows everything only because he has the ability to look forward and backward through time. Just because he can see the future this doesn't mean that he is making you do anything not of your own free will. It only means that he can see the choices that you are going to make. God doesn't intervene in thee lives of men/women unless asked too. The devil cannot make you do anything you do not wish to do he can only offer you choices. There is no good and evil only right and wrong. God gives you a set of rules and it is up to you to choose to do the right thing or the wrong thing. These choice determine how you will be treated in the afterlife. The only person who must be bored to death with this whole scenario would be God because he knows everything your going to do because he can see it in advance. Too know everything must really suck.

Answer 7

Could it be He planned our free will, and then counted on it?
In a hockey game, an excellent player, or team captain can count exactly on what his opponent will do, and anticipate it so he can get the puck away from him (or avoid him if he already has the puck).
Same thing, even more so, in a chess game. This does not deny the free will of the other. The other is not being coerced at all.
Now if you put God as the chess player or hockey player, inwhich his knowledge is absolutely perfect, and there you are.

Answer 8

I can look at the 7-day forecast for my local weather and tell you if there is a probability of rain next Tuesday, but that’s not the same thing as controlling the weather. In fact, I could look at the clouds rolling in and decide to chance that that it really won’t rain and decide against taking my umbrella.

Knowing the outcome is not the same thing as manipulating or controlling the outcome.

We have a choice as to how we will respond to any possible outcome. Free will.

Answer 9

Very true. I am an atheist, but if I was a christian, I would be a Calvinist. If god is omnipotent and omniscient, then my course in life was planned long before I came into existance. Therefore, there would be no reason to really worry, either way, there would be nothing I could do to change the path i was on.

Answer 10

If God wanted robots, he would have made them. Instead, He made the human race to worship Him. Like any good Father, He left instructions (the Bible) on how to live, worship, obtain eternal life, and several other things. He also set before us life and death then gave us instructions to "choose life."

Many will do what's best for themselves, serve themselves and find an explanation for everything themselves(science). This is the easiest path to take, but it is the INCORRECT path. Many will read the Bible and find out that Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him.

God told us to choose life and Jesus Christ is 'the Life'

I hope this helps :)