If God knows everything, how can free will exist? ?

Question: If God knows everything, how can free will exist!? !?

I'm a little confused about Milton's argument in Paradise Lost!.

He says that God gave humans free will to give them independence, because otherwise it would not be a moral universe!. They would just be machines acting as God has programmed them too!.

Yet he also says that God knows everything that has happened and everything that will happen!.

So, if God knows that you are going to do something before you do it, how can your actions be free will!?

I heard someone say that it's because God just knows you so well that he can tell what you're going to do, but it's still your choice!.

But at the same time, your actions are already determined at the beginning of time, it's already confirmed what you will do!. So if your actions are already known before you are even born, is it really free will, or just the illusion of free will!?
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Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

I'm with you on this one gdude, my sister's and i had this same conversation last thanksgiving and we still haven't come up with the answer! Www@QuestionHome@Com

If God knows everything then free will can't exist!. If there is a God and he/she/it has a plan then we are not in control!. We may like to believe we are, but we really aren't!. Maybe free will exists but God doesn't!. You can't really have it both ways but some, like Milton, like to believe in God and free will anyways because both are very comforting concepts!. Www@QuestionHome@Com

Obviously, God knows everything there is no question about that!. On the topic of free will , you Absolutely have total control of your own destiny!. There is no way that anyone, even God can make you do anything!.
There is clear difference in knowing something from the stand point of a spiritual being!. If God wanted to bless you He would give you a choice to accept or walk away !. FREE WILLWww@QuestionHome@Com

God, being our father and having an eternal perspective does know the true intent of our hearts and what we will do!.

BUT we still have a choice whether to accept him or not!. Just because he KNOWS what we will do doesnt mean that he is MAKING us do it!. Even before we came to this earth we had a CHOICE on whether to follow His plan or satan's plan!. We are faced with CHOICES and we make decisions!. No one makes them for us!.

I probably didn't help but i hope i didWww@QuestionHome@Com

god knows what you will do because he created you and each of us are a part of him,but free will is your choice but God knows the consequences of every choice you make and will have a choice of making in the futureWww@QuestionHome@Com

The correct question should be:

If God knew everything, how could free will exist!?

Using the first conditional as you did demonstrates more likely that God exists, whereas the second conditional shows it is quite unlikely!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

Your actions are NOT determined at the beginning of time; and other people's actions or reactions will change your reactions sometimes!.
God does know us all very well; but He gave us free will so we can determine our own destinies [ hopefully with His guidance ]!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

!.!.!.god is a creation of man!.!.!.
!.!.!.man will make free will exist or he will enslave himself!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

I had the exact same problem when I read the Oedipus cycle!. It was Oedipus's fate to have children with his mother and kill his father, but even when trying to avoid it it happened!.

So between Fate, Free Will, and God, there is no possible way that humans can actually have control!. This also makes us question then, the role of religion in modern society, because if we are doomed then why does God even bother with us!?

Now, consider the idea of taking away God then contemplating Free Will without him!. There would be no need for free will because we would have already had it without God having created us, and religion as an implementing factor on society and humans as we know it would fall apart completely!.

Perhaps, my friend, there is a power out there that is greater than God himself, that powers humans!. Fate maybe!? Perhaps God has a fate!? Say for instance he knew everybody's fate but says that he gave us free will!.!.!. we could have the will in his standards but still know what is going to happen to us based on fate!.

However, do not quote me on this, but God never truly says to what extent our free will lies!. Maybe we have a limited free will based on emotion and slight action, but no matter what the outcome will be the same!.

Watch Time Machine and read Oedipus, it will get your head whirling!. There is no way for humans to tell if God is real, and there is no way to Prove that he isn't, and free will could be somthing based upon that!.

However, If God existed and we have free will, it would be a paradox unless our free will was limited!. It's almost impossible any way you look at it!.

I'm really sorry, I think I just rambled for ten minutes!.!.!. ^_^ Big, big topic!.!.!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

This is the argument I make all the time!
Its just the illusion of free will!. If god created us knowing that we were going to 'choose' to make choices that would send us to hell, why would he do it!? Is he just playing with us!?
And as well as all knowing he is said to be all loving!. How can that fit into the picture!?
He created Adam and Eve, KNOWING that they were going to fail, and have to start over!. He creating The world knowing that it would fail, and Noah would have to take two of each creatures!. Where the babies that bad that they had to be killed by the flood!? Why didn't he just create the world starting with noah on a boat with 2 of each animals!? It seems it would save a lot of suffering!.
There are just a few points, but i think you answered yourself with your question!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

There is a profound level of truth in Einstein's quote, "God does not play dice with the Universe!."

Although God may be "all-knowing", He chooses to allow humans free will to see if they can muster up enough self control to uplift themselves!. So, when you commit to any action, as if working out a VERY complex equation, God provides you with the appropriate results, whether good or bad!. Hence, the Law of Karma: what goes around comes around!.

Tying in the quote in the beginning of my answer, I would like to say that God has set up the laws of physics in this world, and as an all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-present Being, must follow His own rules to!. He chooses to in fact!. Hence, gravity is fueled by not His WILL, but His ENERGY!. also, evolution is fueled by not His WILL, but also by His ENERGY!.

God's "Will" is that man uplifts himself into a saintly character, and utilizes God's ENERGY to fulfill that!. The ultimate decision is up to you!. This is why God allows bad things like terrorism to happen; they're outcomes of human actions!. It is up to the moral and civilized people to go and uplift the world!.

When you have dinner on your plate and you sprinkle some salt on it, you say that the food is SALTY, not that the salt is "foody", although there is so little salt!. In the same way, GOOD people, although few, are responsible for changing the world by setting the example for what is right!. Man is naturally attracted to greatness, and likes to emulate what is good!.

In conclusion, an all-knowing God does know ALL the consequence of EVERY possible choice that you can make, but doesn't commit to any one path until YOU make that actual choice!.

If you have any other questions, feel free to contact me at my yahoo email address!. =)Www@QuestionHome@Com

I follow Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior!. And I know that HE was God in the flesh!. And as such he was both totally Man and totally God!.

As a man he chose to follow God's will for his life and that was to die for all of our sins!.

Man is not God that we know what is in God's mind for the actions we do!. This is not an illusion but a fact of creation!. No matter what we do we choose our own path!. We will be judged by God for the choices we make for or against God's will!.

When man is in a court of law he is judged by the actions he has done against his fellow man!. It was the crime he choose to do that got him there to be tried!.

If we say why did God make us so that we choose against him we are still in trouble!? Why!?

Because God sent his son Jesus Christ on the cross to set all men free of any crime against God!. And our limited mortal choice is to believe or not to believe!.

We cannot say God did nothing for us when he did everything for us on the cross to get us to heaven and to be with him

In the end it is still our free will that makes a choice!.

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He does know what you're going to do, but if we didn't have free will, he wouldn't let us do the things we normally want to!. Like the bad stuff!.!.!.

So it's not exactly that he knows what we're going to do, but he does know what we're going to choose!.

So when we're born, we aren't programmed to do everything that will inevitably happen, we still choose, and you can tell it's choice by the consequences we face!. Even if those consequences are also known, they aren't planned!.

It's not like the sims, where you choose for yourself what you want them to choose!. God just is aware of what we're going to choose, which is all up to us!. He just knows in the end, when we can't decide which piece of pie to eat on thanksgiving, that we'll end up eating both!.

We're still completely in control!.

Did any of that make sense!?

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Free will does exist!. First, you have to understand and believe God is a Trinity!. One God in three persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit!.) The divine persons do not share the one divinity among themselves but each of them is God, whole and entire!. The Father knows all about you!. The Son does not!. This is the arrangement they have!. God created man a rational being, conferring on him the dignity of a person who can initiate and control his own actions!. God willed that man should be left in the hand of his own counsel, so that he might of his own accord, seek his Creator!. Do you understand!?Www@QuestionHome@Com