I'm really struggling with this whole "free will" deal. Can't anyone help me?

Question

I've asked two questions to get to the bottom of this and I'm getting back the same self-contradictory answers from many people.

Ultimately, is god omniscient? That is, does he know all things at all times and what each of us will do and when?

Or do we have free will? Because if we can make choices over which god has no control, then god is not omniscient. You can't be a bit omniscient, like you can't be a bit pregnant or a bit dead. You either are or you aren't.

But if god IS omniscient, then all our decisions are HIS responsibility. Our transgressions were known to him at the beginning of time, and thus so was where we spend eternity. This means that in some cases we might as well not have been born - God had tied up our fates long ago. The sickest of serial killers was always part of god's plan. We cannot choose.

Help me guys. We cannot have both an omniscient god and free will. We just can't. Which are you willing to give up? Can you explain it to all of us?
_

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Au5lX_8DzgqvAr4iGHgZvpDsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20070912061118AAApmhf

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AiUh1ubDWi5VQp7qmFjy99Hsy6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20070912084244AAMOZLa

(I had to ask the first one three times before it made it to the board.)

Answer 1

I don't remember if I already answered this but here's how it was explained to me.

You're at a fork in the road. Do you go left or right? God already knows that you are ultimately going to go right but he doesn't whisper in your ear the direction to chose. He sits back and watches you figure out for yourself the pros and cons of either direction and lets you chose to go right.

He does have the power to force your will but chooses not to.

Answer 2

Great question and nicely reasoned out in your comments. Yes I did star it.

This free will stuff is the problem and not the omniscient of God. Too many individuals who want to make themselves as God or refuse to accept the simple defined definitions in the dictionary dreamed up this foolish free will doctrine. Mt friend not5hing in life is free and no one has a will except for an eternally existence that can and never will change3 except in one single area in one single item. Thus only God has the free will and in the area of death to himself Jesus had a free will for he did no inherit the death from Mr. Adam.

Mankind has a free option in which he must choose whether there is a God or not, etc and that is only an expressed desire but it is not a will. A will requires eternal enforcement.

Want to go deeper, email me and I will do it OK.

Answer 3

Free will is an illusion. It's how we explain our behavior and the behavior of others because our minds are far too feeble to understand the full complexity of causality. We exist in a causal universe, where one event causes another event to happen. I think everyone can agree on that. The laws of causality don't stop and pause for our recommendations. And the concept of an omniscient God makes absolutely no sense at all. Some people just want to make themselves feel better by believing that someone is looking out for them who knows better than they do.

Answer 4

Omnicience is simply the state of infinite knowledge.

Think of it this way. God is outside of our concept of time. He created it, so therefore He cannot be subject to it.

Being outside of time, God can "peek in" anywhere he wants. So, he knows what is going to happen to us before we arrive at the point where he has already seen.

Now understand, God has already "peeked" everywhere in time. He already knows the outcome. This knowledge of things to come means He knows that while we are struggling now, the final result is well worth it. We find this to be true even in our very lives. We go through some hardship, only to find our when it is over that we grew up, learned some things, and are better people for it in the long run.

I think of our lives here on earth as part of a huge novel or story. God, the author, knows all the plots and subplots, but we (the actors) do not.

God has crafted a plan of events, and then set us free to improvise along the way. I am sure that from time to time, God steps in and does things for His people, providing these things do not interfere with or alter the main plot. We do experience "miracles" from time to time.

I am also sure that God does things to further the plot at appropriate times. Sending Jesus at the correct time to make the proper impact on society would be an example. Sending Jesus back to gather his redeemed ones is an event we are still looking forward to.

But, in our day to day lives, God leaves us to our own doings, unless we ask for His help. Not because God cannot use His great power, but he restrains Himself from doing so. By interfering, we would not grow and mature properly.

Satan, on the other hand, twiddles around with us as he wishes. Well, mostly. Satan is only allowed to do so much.
But that is the plan. We need to grow up and mature beyond the need for personal gain and creature comforts if we are to gain the final reward.

Answer 5

You know what I often wonder whether the world is simply a science experiment for "God". like maybe he just created the world (through whatever means you want to believe) and let it go so he could see what happened. And if that was the case then the human existence would really just be a small speck on the timeline of what happened. And if THAT is the case then does it truly matter? because then we would simply be a small speck on a small "petri dish" for a length of time that for us is many many years but for "God" is simply moments.

Then also if the above were to be correct then "God" would not be omnipresent and we would have "free will" although I dont know if it means anything for us to have free will when we are so small.

Answer 6

Religious or not - the question of free will vs. a deterministic universe is extremely difficult to resolve. Much of modern science talks about probability so there are many, many events in the universe that can not be predicted except as statistical trends.

As far as humans go - the only way I can think of to test free will is with a time machine. Watch someone make a decision - say Cheerios for breakfast. Then go back in time a few minutes, met the person, and convince them to have Coco Puffs. If they follow your advice then there is free will.

As far as religion is concerned. If there is no free will then it MAKES ABSOLUTELY NO DIFFERENCE what we do because it is all in gods hands. So go rape, pillage or plunder - it's all about god.

Personally, however, I won't worry about it too much. Pretend that there is free will and go have a nice life.

Answer 7

I do not have any problem with god being omniscient and people having "free will". Omniscience only means all knowing. God knows what I am going to do all the time, but I have the final say. He has no control over my action.

Answer 8

G_D does not control our every aspect of life, nor is it written down as such. Many take terms out of context from the Bible often and blow up others to fit their needs.

Simple example is the passage about money. Most go around saying money is the root of all evil. But it is not so. The passage reads, the "love" of money is the root of all evil. When one leaves parts out or adds to them, the meanings are changed.

G_D created all and gave us free will. He knows what will happen as He is the creator. He does not control us, we control ourselves. But since He is G_D and created it all, He too has the vision to see the end of it. Hence the Alpha and Omega comment He makes.

Imagine it like this. You are a dude w/ a time machine. Your son is born. Then you jump in your time machine and set the dates for his birthday every year and you zip off to the future to see him grow and mature. At say 75 your son dies and you see this from your time machine. Now you zip back to the present day and tell your wife. I am the Alpha and Omega of our son, for I have seen him born and seen him die and I know all that he does in between. You did not make him do anything in between birth n death, you just observed it instead. Same w/ G_D.

Make sense?

Answer 9

It's all about choice Hon. Although The Creator has orchestrated the program, we have a choice as to what to do and how to proceed. It's all about learning. There is no such thing as pure good or pure evil, only choice. Once we make a choice, we have to be willing to live with the results of that choice and therby learn. Once the program is over, no one gets left behind but everyone has learned something. Contact me if you need more explanation.

Answer 10

Look at it this way. how much do you think a person would sincerely love you if you made them love you? We are still our own person but we can still make our own decisions.You can't MAKE any one do anything they don't want to do, that is were free will comes in. God knows everything, he knows who will except him and who won't, he knows how many hairs on each and everyone of our heads, he knows what your thinking before you do. Our decisions are our own responsibility not his. Do you have kids? If you do you should know what I am talking about if not ask someone that does. Parents allot of time know what there kids are up to.Bottom line it is our decion.