How can we possibly believe in free will since Christians believe in His Omniscience God knows everything we’ll do in advance and we also believe He has a plan for our lives before we’re born? So where is the free will?
God has perfect foreknowledge. This means He knows the end from the beginning and thus He knows what everyone will do in the future and what any individual will do in any given situation. God has a complete plan for everyone’s life. He knew how He wanted the universe to end before He created it and so He had a plan for every action needed to reach that end before the foundation of the world.
If God wants a particular thing to happen, He knows who will choose to do it, when they will choose to do it, and under what circumstances they will choose to do it. However, just because God already knows what choices we will make this in no way removes our free will.
You see God is outside our space time continuum. He is ever always in the now of eternity. And in this bubble, we call reality we are the ones making the choices.
One example might be to think about our own foreknowledge of History. We know how World War One ends. If we could go back in time to July of 1914 the fact that we already know how the War will end would not force anyone to do anything. Our knowing that the assassination of the heir to the throne of Austria would knock over the first domino ending only with the Treaty of Versailles wouldn’t stop Gavrilo Princip from shooting Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
God created us with free choice. That’s why He told Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of the trees in the center of the garden. He told them not to do it, but He wouldn’t have said “Don’t do it,” if they couldn’t do it if they chose to. Free choice means not only that we can choose to ignore God’s commands it also means we can freely choose to confess with our lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God has raised Him from the dead and so be saved.
It all hinges on free choice. God is looking for children who choose to love and follow Him, not robots who have no choice.
God’s knowing what we will freely choose doesn’t mean that we are in any way forced to make that choice. You can choose to believe this or not.
Author: Robert Owens
Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, Global Studies, and Religion. He is the Historian of the Future @ http://drrobertowens.com © 2019 Contact Dr. Owens [email protected] Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook or Twitter @ Drrobertowens or visit Dr. Owens Amazon Page / Edited by Dr. Rosalie Owens
