Is God omniscient OR did he give mankind free will?

Question

2+2 cannot equal 4 & 5. It's 1 or the other. Share your wisdom.

An omniscient god who created all things cannot give free will to his creations. Every thought and every action of his creations will always be 100% predetermined by him. The only way "God" could grant free will is if he had NO knowledge of the future thoughts and actions of his creations. Then, of course, he wouldn't be omniscient.

I understand how folks try to get around this one, "Just because God knows your every thought and action before the come to fruition doesn't mean you can't change them."

But this approach is a logical fallacy. It contradicts itself. If anyone had the power to chicane an omniscient god, that god would no longer be omniscient.

Remember, an omniscient god knows all things, past, present, and future. In other words, your every thought and action are known by your creator before you're even brought into reality ...from the beginning of time.

Then we have the "God outside of time" angle, an argument contrived to address the disturbing question above (I didn't come up with it, its been around for ages).

Problem # 1: The Bible, "God's perfect word", is linear. The universe was created in 6 days.

Problem # 2: Though the timeless God approach confuses future thoughts and actions with past, it doesn't change the simple fact that an omniscient god still knows all thoughts and actions of his creations before they are conceived.

Free will granted by an omniscient god is still a logical fallacy.

Answer 1

Sorry I'm agnostic but this is a false dichotomy. Why can't a omniscent God be capable of giving man free will? Just because God can predict the future and the choices WE decide to make, doesn't mean we lack free will. Let's say I have a supernatural ability to predict what you will order for dinner, that doesn't take away from your free will and choice to decide to select that particular dish.
Also in another note, we have some genetic determinant characteristics as do animals (ie. special breeding habits, other innate living habits, etc.), but that doesn't mean we don't have free will to decide, evaluate or make choices (ie. making moral choices).
I like your avatar!

EDIT: In response to your reply, I can't see a logical contradiction.
Let's say a physician tells her patient, "You can amputate your leg which is infected with gangrene or you can decide not to undergo this medical procedure."
The physician has spent enough time with the patient to understand his personality, his economical situation and such things. She can predict that he will decide not to take the surgery, but he makes the choice not her.

This person can't trick or chicane the physician. We have the freedom to decide what to do - we've made some choice and we continue to make some. Just because an omniscent God knows what you will decide beforehand what decision you will make doesn't make your decision unfree.
We can't deceive or chicane God because He can predict how we will act or decide, but this doesn't follow that our decisions unfreely made. We could have taken an alternate path (good or bad) then the one we elected but we chose not to.
If I have ESP, does this mean you don't have free will because I know what decisions you will make and you can't deceive me? How does prediction take away from free will?

Answer 2

Actually, the answer is "all of the above".

As God exists independent of space and time, Christian scholars believe that for God, all moments are "now".

We, as humans, are bound by space and time. Time is linear, with a past, present and future.

Interestingly enough, physicists are coming to the understanding that time doesn't really work the way we've always assumed it does, and some have gone so far as to say that the concepts of past, present and future are largely illusionary.

So, God doesn't so much predict your choice, but simply sees you make it.

This would also answer the point that some folks make, asking how God could possibly hear all the prayers being made at the same time.

Since God isn't bound by space and time, the question becomes meaningless. God has all of eternity to answer each and every prayer.

So, to answer your question. Yes, you have the free will to make any choices you wish. God sees those choices as part of His "now".

Additionally, when you see someone look at an unopened letter, and pray that it's good news, that prayer is perfectly valid.

There are some interesting bits written about some of these theories of time, and you might start with Prof. Hawking's "A Brief History of Time".

And from the Christian perspective, you might read book IV, chap 3 of C. S. Lewis' book "Mere Christianity". Professor Lewis said all of that far better than I just did, and he did so back in 1943.

Answer 3

Both. But being omniscient really isn't relevant to the question. What matters is God's view of time and space from His position outside of time and space. He views the fullness of time, and all events that occur in time, continuously and eternally. This would include events which, from our limited viewpoint in linear time, are in the future. However, God has no future, no present, no past, since these are time-weighted concepts and God is outside of time. Since God views the fullness of time, and has seen it from all eternity, He sees all the choices I make in my entire life. He doesn't see them "before I make them", because the term "before" is irrelevant outside of time. He simply sees them. He also sees all the choices my descendants in the 50th Century will make. However, it should be obvious that someone simply viewing me making a choice, either from a viewpoint within linear time, or from a viewpoint outside of time, doesn't affect the freedom of my choice. I have free will. I decide. I choose. God views me doing so, and doesn't intervene.

Answer 4

He knows all that is but we are free to choose our future next steps. What has not happened, is not; so it is not knowable. Mind you, you can have a good guess if you know everything that is.
Man's freewill does not equal God's knowledge so your equation is erroneous; and neither can be quantified. Infinity + or - infinity is a closer equation :-)

Answer 5

beats the hell outta me, it says both in the bible so to rationalize this mythology it must mean that we have freewill but god knows what we are going to do before we do i guess.