If God already knows my future. Does that not take away my free will?
Atheists will often bring up this claim stating that since Christians believe God is Omniscient and Omnipotent (which means all-knowing and all-powerful); does it not take away our free will?
In simple terms, since God already knows our actions, thoughts, and, has pre-ordained our future; are we not just robotic toys in this world?
These are all valid claims; however, not many have gone beyond this question to understand God’s eternal ways and motives.
To break this down, we will look at one scenario from the book of Genesis. Where Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit which God had already known they would do and, therefore were predestined to eat from it.
ARGUMENT 1
“Why did God make the wrong choice available in the first place?”
We should know that God always provides us with more opportunities for the right choice. God said they could eat from ‘any’ tree in the Garden, but there was only ‘one’ wrong choice Adam and Eve could make, and God still made it available.
God is always in favor of us doing good, and there are multiple good choices to make compared to the bad choices. The real question is why do we always choose to do the wrong thing?
ARGUMENT 2
Likewise, why does God still make the wrong choices available to us today?
Could God remove all wrong choices? Yes.
However, He makes those options still available because He wants us to choose Him based on love and not by force.
The essence of love cannot be fully expressed if one does not have a choice or an alternative. Love is seeing the wrong thing but caring enough about someone to do the right thing.
ARGUMENT 3
“If God knows everything about us, how does that give us free will since He would know all our choices and actions?”
Having foreknowledge about something or someone does not necessarily take away ones free will. Even humans can know or have foreknowledge of the free actions of each other.
If I gave you an option of having a pizza or a rat for dinner, you would most likely choose the pizza, and you would be doing so freely, and I would have done nothing to influence your action.
If we as humans can know much about each other, God can also have foreknowledge of the ways we would act freely but to a greater extent.
Christians believe that the God of the Bible is relational, and therefore by nature, He would know our character. We are all presented with choices in our lives, and while each person’s circumstances may be different, God still knows and understands each of us intimately.
ARGUMENT 4
“Why would God place a tree in the garden and then forbid Adam to eat from it?”
God gave Adam the freedom to choose.
If Adam did not have a choice, he would have been like a prisoner, and his obedience to God would have been hollow.
The distinction in the two types of trees provides an exercise of judgment, with rewards for choosing to obey and sad consequences for choosing to disobey.
When we look deeper into the issue, we can notice something deeper, and that is the human tendency to sin. Regardless of the choices in front of us, we should be asking ourselves why we love sin that separates us from God.
Although God has allowed for evil & sin to exist (temporarily), He did not just leave us alone to fend for yourselves. He alone provided the provision through which we must be saved at the cross of Christ. In this sense, God foreknew your sinful disobedience and, therefore, already had a plan in place for our redemption.
Today, if you are reading this, I hope you reflect on the most crucial choice ahead of you. Choose Christ or choose sin
Choose Christ or choose sin.
SEE SIMILAR QUESTIONS
