I have heard people make the comment God is in total control?

Question

I know that he can have total control,but if he has total control,how can we have free will?I think he just intervenes when we ask him.Is that right?

Answer 1

I think that this is a complex question that we humans will never fully understand.

I assume that a partial explanation is that God already knows what choices that you will make, and he adjusts circumstances in advance accordingly so that you cannot do too much damage to yourself, or his plan.

Answer 2

You confuse God with being in total control vs WILLING to be in total control. God has FREE WILL also, my dear... and even though He COULD totally control everything/one/etc. in the universe and beyond... He does not WANT TO!!! He intervenes in the course of human history when He feels it is the right thing to do, not when we ask Him. We cannot ask Him, "Please God, strike all muslims dead" and He will do it simply because we ask Him. It would not be the right thing to do, and there are some things which are IMPOSSIBLE for God to do... yes, that's right... there ARE SOME impossible things to God... He CANNOT lie... He CANNOT deny Himself... and He CANNOT do anything which is not RIGHT.

What a wonderful God we have that has such love and constraint as to ALWAYS do the RIGHT thing even if HE can "do" something about it. He could FORCE us all to believe, but He gives is the freedom of choice to love Him. Don't you think that's pretty wonderful?

Answer 3

It is not a fact that we have complete free will. We have limited free will, but God has complete free will. We can make a choice, but we cannot always choose the outcome of that choice. It is God who has contol over the outcome. For instance, we can choose to steal. Of course, a theif also chooses to get away with it, but that is not always the outcome. Sometimes a theif will get caught, go to jail, have to pay restitution, etc. Was that also his choice?

Because God knows everything, He knows every possible choice that can be made, and He has arranged every possible consequence for every possible choice. This means that every choice you make has a pre-determined set of consequences attached to it. We don't always know what all of the consequences will be, but God does, and those consequences are arranged for our benefit. So, we can study a choice such as theft, and we can see for ourselves that sometimes the consequences include loss of freedom, disrepute, abandonment by family and friends, etc. Therefore, we may choose NOT to steal, and that choice also has a set of consequences attached to it.

This cycle of actions and consequences is known as Karma. This is familiar to some people in the biblical phrase, "You reap what you sow". A modern phrase that sums this up is, "What goes around, comes around".

This entire system was designed by God, and so we realize by this understanding that God is ultimately the controller, and we are the controlled. We can do what we want, within the defined parameters of our condition. Our choices are limited. We can make choices that extend our lives, but we do not have the choice to remain in these bodies forever. We can choose to make our body very strong, but we cannot choose to fly like a bird. If we had free will, every child would be flying around in the sky.

Answer 4

You said: "God intervenes when we ask him". I can't fathom a supreme being - Creator of the Universe - caring whether I get a parking space or not. In fact there's almost a certain arrogance to the notion that he's at our beck and call, or even knows we exist. Whether He exists is just as questionable.

I once heard the survivors of a colony of ants that had been partially obliterated by a cow's foot seriously debating the intention of the gods towards their civilization
— Don Marquis

The idea of an incarnation of God is absurd: why should the human race think itself so superior to bees, ants, and elephants as to be put in this unique relation to its maker? . . Christians are like a council of frogs in a marsh or a synod of worms on a dung-hill croaking and squeaking “for our sakes was the world created.”
— Julian The Apostate

Man is a marvelous curiosity...he thinks he is the Creator's pet...he even believes the Creator loves him; has passion for him; sits up nights to admire him; yes and watch over him and keep him out of trouble. He prays to him and thinks he listens. Isn't it a quaint idea."
– Mark Twain

The idea that He would take his attention away from the universe in order to give me a bicycle with three speeds is just so unlikely I can't go along with it.
— Quentin Crisp, (1908-1999)

This doctrine of the material efficacy of prayer reduces the Creator to a cosmic bellhop of a not very bright or reliable kind.
— Herbert J. Muller

Pray, v. To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a single petitioner, confessedly unworthy.
— Ambrose Bierce

Christians say that – without exception – their God answers all of their prayers; it's just that He sometimes says "yes" and other times "no," "maybe," or "wait." Of course the same could be said of the rain-god,"Bob."
— Rev. Donald Morgan

People who rely most on God rely least on themselves.
— Lemuel K. Washburn

The person much inclined to ask God's assistance, learns to repose on the hope of its obtainment, instead of actively seeking the good desired by his own labour.
— Emma Martin, (1812-1851)

Christians! shake off the supineness which your priests have created in you; dare to think for yourselves, nor suppose your God can be pleased with the sacrifice of your reason. The bended knee is not the attitude for study. Read the Bible with the eye of criticism nor of faith. Suspend your devotions, and reflect on the reception of your past petitions. Ask no more till they are granted.
— Emma Martin, (1812-1851)

Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie, Which we ascribe to heaven.
— William Shakespeare

The hands that help are better far than the lips that pray.
— Robert G. Ingersoll

I prayed for twenty years but received no answer until I prayed with my legs.
— Frederick Douglass, escaped slave

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you," that would suffice.
— Meister Eckhart

Answer 5

If God has total control right now I sure don't want to be around if he has a bad day!

Answer 6

God is in Total Control. According to the thesis, God is in and through everything. You may have Free Will, but it is The Will of God by Default...because...YOU ARE GOD...


ORDO ab CHAO

Answer 7

God gave the authority to man. When Adam ate from the tree of life, he gave the authority to satan. Jesus died and went to hell and got the authority back. He gave it back to man. We are in control for the most part. It says repeatedly how you have to come to God, even though he knows what you want and need. You are in control of your own outcomes in life. If you don't completely understand what I'm saying, please feel free to email me and I will gladly try to break it down more.

Answer 8

I agree with you, pumpkin. God gave us free will, thus giving us control. That is how we manage to mess up so royally sometimes, but we do know the joy of self actualization.

Answer 9

We do have free will but God has the total power to outcome of our descions.

Answer 10

www.kcm.org look up prophecies..it might say something in that??? as well sign up for elijahlist.org for fequent mails of deep wisdom.and prophecies.
YES..GOD rise up a government and lower a government
and he will tell your heart WHO to vote in..but..if not.
i strongly believes..if we disobey GOD..in our voting..our sufrering..will be real..that why it is important for every body to vote!
we wil be judge for not voting..as well voting wrong people in office.
certain people..who honor HIM..he control them..for they LOVE HIM..more then love their lives of disobdience which bring sufrering..rom satan action.
sin separate man from GOd. pride stubbornaness does that..speaking frm experience here.