Question:
If God is omniscient, did He know the outcome of your life before the Creation? If He did...?
Pull My Finger
2010-09-09 13:16:09 UTC
could your life have turned out any other way, or did it have to turn out the way God knew it would?

I mean, if God knows that making a certain universe will cause your life to turn out a certain way, doesn't He have a causal role in the outcome of your life if He makes that universe?
Fifteen answers:
Allen
2010-09-09 13:19:04 UTC
This is why freewill and omniscient can't co-exist logically.



This also removes any need to be on earth, for he could have just sorted us into hell/heaven from before we were created, because he knows the outcome.



This also makes the flood, and any other story a moot point, because he wouldn't have bothered to mess up the first time with humans.



etc etc etc.



Knowing ALL details of the future is on one of the very reasons God as omniscient doesn't work. (Not the god of the bible at any rate.)



--atheist
Acorn
2010-09-09 20:18:19 UTC
You're making some presumptions about God's omniscience that aren't theologically sound.



For example, your question implies that the future is a kind of entity that can be known. It isn't. It's just a construct we use to talk about our expectations. It's not a place you can peek into with a crystal ball or enough omniscience.



God can't know something that doesn't exist. He knows our minds, and He knows what we expect to happen, but until we make our choices via our free will, there is nothing in the future to know.



So I think my life could have turned out in an infinite number of ways. All God can know is my choices.



God does have a causal role in the outcome of my life, because He created it: life, the universe, all of it. But the kind of universe He created is full of nothing but choices, and outside of creating it, where my life goes is my decision.



(Yes, God is omniscient. It doesn't limit or deny His omniscience to say that He doesn't know something that doesn't exist.)

.

.

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"Jon M: So, unlike many other religious people, you're saying that prophecy is utter bull. Like God couldn't say that He will eventually triumph over evil or something, because He doesn't know the future and can't make claims like that.



Did I get that right?"



You did not.



I didn't say that and I don't believe that. God can make plans. You don't need to see into a sci-fi kind of future to make plans. If God planned to do something at a certain point in our linear time, and told Elijah (e.g.) about it, that would look like telling the future from a human point of view. But from God's pov, it's just planning ahead.
2010-09-09 20:19:24 UTC
Yes, but if I am evil I am evil. There is no excuse, I cannot say "why made me thus?"



I can repent however.



Edit: What I mean by the statement that I can repent, is that as long as I live there is still hope. You don't know the future, only God does. So, what does it matter? It is not as if God hides the fact that He knows the future from us.



Proverbs 16:4

The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
imrod
2010-09-09 20:19:36 UTC
First, if he does have a causal role, he is God and it is his creation.



But, you don't understand Christian theology. It says that God is transcendent over time. Theologians describe to God as an eternal now. His vantage point sees time, past present and future, like standing on a mountain above a city. We're living out in the streets. We experience a day at a time. We still have to live life in time.
2010-09-09 21:31:10 UTC
this is a catch-22 that religious people cannot answer. either god is omniscient and there is no free-will or he isn't and there is. those are the only options, for believers.



-wrong again, no chance. if he knows what choices we'll make, then there is no free-will and we're just doing what we're destined to do.
MortalGuardian
2010-09-09 20:53:13 UTC
I believe that God is indeed omniscient. You have to recall that we are mortal beings, and our mind are finite. There is only so much that human beings can understand, the fact that we are God's crowning achievement notwithstanding. We are fairly intelligent- at least some of us are, in any event- but some things transcend the limits of human comprehension.



One possibility is that God has access to knowledge of the future. Think of it like a metal office cabinet. He can look there at any moment and see what the outcome of any event will be. What if, for the sake of argument, God chooses not to see it?



I subscribe to the free will hypothesis. Ergo, I believe that we are in control of our lives, and we make decisions of our own volition. For example, it is a choice to believe in God or reject God. Being that we have free will, it may be that the future, at least in terms of the outcome of human affairs, may not be set in stone. Perhaps the future is being altered at every moment through complex choices. Perhaps human beings are capricious by nature, and our choices cannot be determined in advance. Human decisions are often complex, although they can sometimes be somewhat predictable. Rationality and logic do not always triumph, and we often make decisions predicated upon emotion. Perhaps the future is nebulous, at least in terms of human free agency. You know that, for example, the road in front of your house can take you to town. But is that the only means to get to town? There are other routes you may take, but still end up at your destination. So in this regard, I believe that God can indeed prophesy about future events. Perhaps some things are inevitable. It is a moot argument to try and imagine what God thinks. I certainly cannot do it. I doubt even gifted men like Stephen Hawking can, either. We are not gods.



I think that you are connecting God's omniscience with the nullification of free will. But I have yet to see anyone demonstrate precisely how God's knowledge would interfere with choices we make. Perhaps God knows how we will choose, but it has no bearing on the choice. The accord still belongs to the sovereign individual.



Think of this analogy. God is probably in a higher realm of dimensionality. He can see time in a different fashion than we can see it. He can see the entire past and future at his own leisure. We experience some sort of temporal linear reality, and since we are trapped in three physical dimensions, we cannot extricate ourselves to the vantage point of God. Like a video cassette, God has the capability to rewind or fast forward the tape, and he can see the ramifications of future events. Be that as it may, his capability has no connection at all to human volition. God has the privilege of seeing what will be (or perhaps what MAY be), but our free agency remains very much intact.
2010-09-09 20:20:52 UTC
My father's explanation of God's Omniscience:



God knows everybody's future, but if a person has the blood of Jesus in his heart, God will change His mind about their future.



Exodus 12:13 'The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.



That means whoever is determined by God to go to hell, when they apply the blood of Jesus, God will pass by. That's God's grace. Without this grace, everybody cannot go to heaven. That's God's will.



My explanation:



The judgment is based on the heart:



https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20100907122040AAc2uTE&r=w#Gcx4GzDrOTMHQ3JOXh1V



The judgment occurs after death (Hebrews 9:27).



Revelation 17:8 (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+17:8&version=NASB ) refers to people living in the time of Antichrist.



jpark43

Oneness Calvinist



@No Chance Without Jesus



That is setting a limit on God. He controls everything (James 4:12). To deny Him His authority like this is astonishing.



Evidently, the teaching of free will is inherently evil, and it supplants God's authority and is essentially the lie of Satan, the very same lie he used to tempt Eve (Genesis 3:5)!
Frizby
2010-09-09 20:20:32 UTC
Good point, but the way it goes is kind of like watching a movie a second time, basically you know the outcome of the movie but you cant change it because the movie is already made..
wefmeister
2010-09-09 20:22:47 UTC
God created a Universe with men who have free will and the ability to determine their own destiny. One way to seal your fate is to suppose that you can stand in judgment of God and and condemn Him to justify yourself. Your efforts are misplaced if you were as rigorous in examining yourself as you are God, you would humble yourself in dust in ashed and beg his mercy and find it, because He gracious beyond your wildest imagination.

All you need to do is find out what God requires of you and do it. And He requires that you repent - turn from your ways and your ideas - and believe the Gospel.

Then you won't have to figure out which came first - the chicken or the egg.



http://4laws.com/laws/english/flash/
straightshooter
2010-09-09 20:21:02 UTC
If God is all knowing, then it's impossible for us to have free will. All our choices we think we have aren't really choices; God already knows what choices we will make. How is that free will? We would only have the illusion of free will.



Also, God would know if you are going to heaven or hell before you're even born.
?
2010-09-09 20:29:30 UTC
If God can't tell the future, why did he divulge it to some of his prophets in the bible?



Imrod,



... Your line of bullsh*t answered absolutely nothing. You basically said God doesn't experience time, he just sees it. If he can see time that means he knows how his creations will end up.
Wundt
2010-09-09 20:20:26 UTC
This is a major flaw with Christianity, free will, and an omniscient god.



If god knows your future, then your future is predetermined, so you only have the appearance of free will because god already knows what will happen to you and what you decide to do. So, any worship of god is a waste of time because you are saved or damned the moment you are conceived.
Computer Glow
2010-09-09 20:17:09 UTC
He knew everything since forever. Whatever changes happen He already knew. =)
2010-09-09 20:20:59 UTC
Knowing what choices we will make, does not change the fact that WE make them.



God does not control our lives, we do.
gutbucket
2010-09-09 20:18:44 UTC
Yes, but that's just another reason why no "god" could possibly exist.


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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