Faith Fridays: Omniscient God, His Plan and Freewill

Hello!

Welcome to another Faith Fridays post!

Last week, I discussed my views on the problem of pain.

 One of my key tenants in that discussion was that God gave mankind freewill.

As I observed, some people hold that freewill is actually superfluous because God is all-knowing, and therefore knows what we will choose before we choose it.

If God knew what we were going to choose before we did, then it's true, we wouldn't have freewill.

Remember, free will doesn't come in half-measures--we either have it or we don't.

I believe we have total free will--in this context, that means that God does not know what we are going to choose before we choose it.

I also believe that God is omniscient (all-knowing).

The question is, how do these two characteristics exist simultaneously?

Well, it comes down to definitions.

Freewill we've already defined, so let's look at what it means (in my opinion) for God to be all-knowing in this context.

Honestly, saying the definition of omniscient is that God knows what we are going to do before we do is actually quite limiting.

In my mind, being truly omniscient means knowing every possible choice that there is to be made in every situation we come across.

Omniscience further means knowing every possible result from every possible choice.

And then to know every possible choice that comes from every possible result from every possible choice.

And so on and so forth, exponentially.

The human brain can't wrap around that much knowledge (or at least this human's brain can't!).

And that, to me, is the true definition of omniscience--knowledge so far-reaching and interdependent that only God himself can truly comprehend it.

Now, on a related note, how does this jive with God's Plan?

Most people seem to believe that God has a Plan for their lives, and that things that happen to them, or impulses they get, are part of His Plan.

I do think that God has what I call the Ideal Plan.

In other words, there's an idea path for our lives to take, if we make the appropriate decisions that lead us down that path.

However, many times, we don't.

Let's look at an example that is all too relevant in today's world.

A 15 year old girl and her 16 year old boyfriend are at her house alone.

They're watching a movie.

Maybe they're in love, maybe they think they're in love, maybe they think everyone else is doing it.

They start making out and there comes a point when they decide to have sex.

They.  Decide.

In the heat of the moment, both decide to forgo the condom conversation.

They.  Decide.

A couple of months go by.  The girl finds out she's pregnant.

She decides to keep the baby.  The boy decides to walk away.

She.  Decides.

He.  Decides.

Did God know that this string of events was going to occur?

Omniscient God (as defined above) knew it was a possibility.

Was it God's Plan for a 15 year old girl to become a single mother?

No.

That girl (and the boy) made a series of decisions that led them to those circumstances in their lives.

Saying it was God's Plan is simply a way to remove their responsibility in the situation.

Now, was it a path that God knew they could walk down?

Yes.  After all, He is omniscient.

I believe that God wants what's best for those He has created.

He knows what the "best" is, and what we need to do to get there.

But many times, we exercise our freewill to travel a different path than the ideal.

Omniscient God knows all the possible decisions we might make and the paths we might tread, so these decisions don't take Him by surprise.

Ultimately, it is up to us to exercise our freewill and hopefully make the best choices in each situation to lead us down the best path for us.