How can the two exist?

Question

So someone sked a smiliar question, but i didnt really see any answers that satisfied me. So, one thing I hear Christians say a lot is that "God has a plan for us," but I remember a bible story about how God gave humans free will. How can to two coexist in the same reality? If we have free will, shouldnt we also have the power over our own destiny? But that would imply not even God can control where we end up.

Answer 1

Google Calvinism and Reformed Theology.
I would answer all this more directly but this is a very bad medium to do so in that it is quite complicated.

That will answer your confusion.

Answer 2

well...I know that this is just my opinion, not fact so I am neither wrong nor right, but I feel that the two can exist. God does have a plan for us, but he wants us to find it on our own by making the right choices. If he/she/it were to divulge the plan to us we would never have to try at anything. Giving us free will says you can find the path and learn lessons along the way, or you can disregard everything and follow your own. We do have the power over our own destiny because if God were the only one with the power, we would all live in his shadow and worship him and there would be no sinners and everything would be perfect but since the world is imperfect and people are as well, we need to find our destined path on our own. Just my thoughts.

Answer 3

Very interesting question! I am not a "Christian" but I am spiritual (non-denominational). I was raised Catholic then followed the Baptist faith for awhile until I came to terms with my own set of beliefs. Anyway, here's the thing, how can you argue with someone that says God has a plan for us, when we cannot see the future, so that even with free will, no matter what we end up doing we can say, it's all part of God's plan. That is one reason I don't follow a formal "religion" because there are so many paradoxes (I believe that is the appropriate term I am looking for).

In any "religion", nothing can be proven unequivocally so it is all about faith anyway. I believe that God has a plan for each of us, something deep seated in our souls, but because we have free will, we may veer terribly off course as we go through life making decisions for ourselves. However, I believe that God puts people or things in our paths to put us back on course, whether or not we choose to listen to our intuition is another matter. Our intuition is that internal guide that if we all learned to listen to it and follow it then we would likely be doing what we were meant to do in this life...there's the extra thing that I believe...if we haven't learned what we were intended to learn, or missed our calling in this life, we come back in another life to try again. Again it is all a matter of faith really.

Answer 4

Honestly, they can't truly co-exist as omniscience cancels out free will.

Let me give you an example. For the moment let's say that I can see the future, I see your future life and how it will turn out and this includes what you will eat for lunch tomorrow.

I then write this down on a piece of paper, put it in an envelope and tell you not to open it until you've finished your lunch. I don't tell you what it contains but I know that you will have a tuna salad sandwich and I've written this down on the paper.

You follow my instructions, eat your sandwich, open your envelope and see that what I told you was true.

However, supposing you exercise free will and don't follow my instructions. You open the envelope, see what I wrote and decide to have a ham sandwich instead. Now I saw you eating a tuna sandwich in my vision which is why I wrote it down. But you didn't, you had a ham sandwich instead.

Some can argue that we have free will even though their god has a plan for us, but that's only because it's written like that in the bible. If they really thought about it for a minute they'd realise that this was impossible.

Answer 5

I've often wondered this myself and I would guess that while we have a plan for where we'll end up in the end, we're given the free will to take whichever road we want to get us there.

It's like this: If I'm traveling from the Beach of North Carolina to New York.....I can take several different routes to get my there each with their own toll roads, blocks from construction or even taking me through different states. It is my choice as to how I want to get there (train, plane, car, hitchike, whatever) but I know that ultimately, I will end up in New York.

Does this make any sense at all? I hope so. If you do ever find the right answer, be sure to let me know.

Answer 6

It's another oxymoron! When it comes to Christianity, your life is better off not seeking the answers because one can believe anything he chooses to believe.

Another example would be that the Bible says that the mankind is created in the image of God, the most perfect existence in the universe. Yet, we are full of jealousy, hate, pride, greed, envy, and lust, just to name a few.

At the end, the Christianity, along with other religions (except a few), is merely a human attempt to answer the unanswerables in life because life itself has ups and downs.

I will present a real story.

I have about 13 years of experience as a nurse. As soon as a co-worker with 4 years of experience found out my salary, he requested the same amount of salary to our boss because he deserves the salary. He's a Christian. Not to mention that he knows as much as I do, or any others with 10+ years of experience.

Another common Christian saying is that "they are humans too" or "we never say we are perfect" after they do the wrong.

Answer 7

They do both exist. God does have a plan for each of us. Whether we follow His plan for us is free will. If we follow Him and His plan for us, then the plan unfolds. If we reject Him and therefore His plan for us, then the plan will not unfold. God planned for mankind to live forever in Paradise, but because Adam and Eve ruined the plan God had for them, the plan did not unfold. It's like if you as a parent have a plan for your child to go to college, get married etc and your child goes their own way, thus rejecting your plan, then the plan you had for them never unfolds. Free will existed all along also. Hope this helps clarify how the two can exist. And besides, God's original plan for mankind will come about when Jesus comes and sets up His Kingdom on this earth that He renews. God bless

Answer 8

dude,Nice question but how great is He, and how little are we?

Free will has its limits, we can only exercise our free will within our own 'sphere of influence' (if we're lucky). Like little ants, they can turn here and there but to us, its like, 'hm, ok', but we know where the ant is headed, towards the sugar. The ants has free will, and we know where it's headed. But it can turn here and there and chat and wahtever, but to us, its clear where the ant is going.

Does that make sense?

Free will has been examined by the saints and sages of Vedic India and in the end, it's all about who we associate with - that's pretty much the extent of our free will once everything's taken into account - things like mental impressions, our desires, etc., etc.

And amongst poeple there are basically two kinds: Godly and Godless.

Answer 9

God allows us to live as we wish but when we have a big decision to make, God lets us know which he wants go with. When we say God has a plan for us we mean that God will carry us through to making good decisions and showing us good opportunities, what it really means "The Lord will provide." so basically, "God has a plan for us" means that God will show you what do to if you let him. I hope you understand this.

Answer 10

Don't you know that you have your own power for destiny? and a free will to chose the right or wrong?If you want to go to school and earn a degree , you can do it if you have the means and that is your life destiny. Can you understand it.
jtm