I believe in the concept of free will...at least, I'd like to. If God knows everything, from the moment we created the earth to the day the earth diminishes, then he obviously knows what will happen to each and every individual he created before we were ever born. With that said, how do we still have free will if our lives were already 'planned' out beforehand? How do we still have that free will if we are doing what we were intended to do from the very beginning?
2007-09-01 05:48:44 · 26 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Because God knows what you are going to do doesn't mean He made you do it. If you have a two year old, you may know how he/she is going to act or react in a particular circumstance with a high degree of certainty. That doesn't mean you made them do it.
2007-09-01 05:58:56 · answer #1 · answered by wefmeister 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It's all about the difference between living within the spacetime continuum and living outside of it. When you are outside of it, you can see everything that happens, and who does what. Then it's a 'simple' matter of nudging here and there to get the desired outcome. The birth of Christ was such a nudge.
That said, sometimes God locks us into our decisions once we have made them. When Pharoh chose not to let the israelites go, God hardened his heart about halfway through the plagues. That was necessary because a change of heart at that point would have caused a major rift in God's Plan. But generally, there is no need for such extreme measures. Still, those who harden their own hearts against God are taking a terrible risk. They could get far more than they bargained for.
BTW, God DOES have a plan for everyone, and He DOES want everyone to be saved. But you can't blame Him if YOU don't FOLLOW that Plan. Free Will CAN be a *****.
2007-09-01 06:04:06 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It does not say our lives are planned out. It says, in so many words, that time does not exist except for this world.
If time does not exist, outside this world, then where in history is God right now? Is He talking to Moses or is He talking to our grandchildren?
We are finite. He is infinite. What we see is what we know to be time and events. What He sees is the whole picture, all the time.
He laid the foundations of this world. At that time, at the foundation, He also set into motion, certain laws that will not change on this earth. There is the law of gravity, the law of reciprocity, etc.
Do you fight the law of gravity? or do you accept it as part of this life?
The same for the law of reciprocity. It is the author of 'what goes around, comes around'. A sin commited against your neighbor, will be commited against you. It is a law just as gravity is a law and cannot be stopped, long enough for any one individual to get passed a problem.
What is played out on this world, gravitates around the laws of the universe, set into motion along with the earths rotation. Between the walls of those laws of the universe, we have free will.
If we were totally free, it would mean we are totally in control with all of our faculties. That would mean, we already know all things. Our mortal existence is designed to prevent us from knowing all things, in order to keep us here on this world and living our these mortal lives.
You did not create it, you don't control it, you have no say about it.
2007-09-01 06:01:02 · answer #3 · answered by judysbookshop 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It sounds to me that you are blaming God for every decision you make that brings about misfortune. The reason you seem to be doing that is because , since God gave us a free will, and He knows what is going to happen, you think He is making us choose the things He has mapped out for us. Here is the thing. God knows what is going to happen. So, you make the decision to get drunk and then drive and total the car and you end up in the hospital , all busted up. It's almost like because God knew you were going to make that choice, that He made you make that choice , because you are doing what he intended. Here is the difference.
God gave you a free will. If you make a choice concerning something in your life, God knew you would make that choice, but he DID NOT MAKE YOU OR FORCE YOU TO MAKE THAT CHOICE. You made it all on your own. If you make a poor choice, even though God knew you would make it, it's not His fault you made it. If He intervened on all our choices, our free will would be taken from us.
2007-09-01 07:14:41 · answer #4 · answered by The Count 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Your life is not planned beforehand, God is not some maquiavelic puppeteer having fun with people's decisions. You have to make your life productive and valuable, you have the choice to live the life you want, if you decide to waste your life, that is your free will, it is not at all written, you can at any point change your life and every decision you make affects the outcome of it.
2007-09-01 06:00:37 · answer #5 · answered by Freedom 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
A lot of the problem you pose exists because we are constraned to time and God is not. He exist outside of time because He created it along with everything else.
We now experience in time what He pre-ordained. We are actually experiencing His shaping of our lives. You can choose to yield to the pressure of His working in your life or you can resist it.
Isaiah 64:8
But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand.
Romans 9:21
Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
A person apart from God does not have any free will at all. They will always only choose what they want for their own ends while one who is free in Christ is truly free to choose does in fact have the desire and ability to choose to deny their own desires and place God and others first before themselves.
2007-09-01 05:58:12 · answer #6 · answered by Michael B 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I live my life as a free person, making good and bad decision as my life passes by but I keep in mind that everything I do is recorded on to my Soul. When I die, God or God's agents can read my Soul and make their decision on where to send me - to heaven, hell or back to the lovely planet Earth.
I do believe in free will but I don't believe God knows everything until I die.
2007-09-01 06:25:40 · answer #7 · answered by yogi 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I had that question many years ago and it is one of the things which has led me to my current philosophies on life. I sincerely believe that if you believe in an omnipotent deity then one does not have free will because their choices are known before hand. Also, a truly benevolent deity would not predestine adverse choices in a persons life as a test of faith or belief. As I believe in free will, I do not believe in a deity.
Now in saying that I'm not trying to bring you to my beliefs, merely explaining my own decisions. Your path to what you believe is your own.
2007-09-01 05:58:09 · answer #8 · answered by genaddt 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Even though God already knows your destiny, you still have the freewill to accept or reject the truth of God, or, accept or reject the lie of Satan. That is why your name is either in the book of life, or it isn't. Virtually all (except the incorrigibly wicked) of humanity will come to their repentance, in this age or the next, and through God's perfect plan, will eventually receive eternal life and inherit the Kingdom of God.
2007-09-01 06:26:34 · answer #9 · answered by TIAT 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I personally don't believe 'God knows everything.' This is because humankind don't even know who God is! Somehow I cannot believe he knows what will happen to us 1000 yrs from now. So as far as free will is concerned, we have it and God doesn't necessarily know what is in the future. My opinion.
2007-09-01 06:00:50 · answer #10 · answered by Sick Puppy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋