Does God know who would go to hell and heaven?

[brandon_ross]

I have been thinking about these questions for the past 2 years and I still cant find an answer… Please help me… Firstly, “Does God know who is going to hell and heaven?”… Secondly, "If yes, do we still have free will?, since whatever our action is… we will still fall to hell.

 

[julietteamdg]

Hi!

1. God is all powerful and all knowing, so yes, since the moment He creates us He knows our ultimate destiny.
2. We have free will still because we can choose to follow God or not, it’s our decision ultimately. Him knowing what will happen doesn’t mean He put us there. Remember, God is above time, since He created time, therefore time has no effect on Him. To Him, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day.

 

[pohandes]

Firstly, “Does God know who is going to hell and heaven?”… Secondly, "If yes, do we still have free will?, since whatever our action is… we will still fall to hell.

First: Yes he knows.

Second: yes we have free will, because he knows who is going to hell and heaven, by his own FREE WILL

 

[PeterT]

Why would God create a human being knowing that the person is destined for Hell? That’s something that a loving God would ever want to create.

God creates all of us predestined to do create things for Him if we choose to say yes to him. We have complete free will to either do what He wants us to do or not do it.

And if God already knew some of us were predestined for Hell, why would God spend even a second of His time trying to get those “predestined” for Hell to repent? Wouldn’t that simply be an act of futility and even possibly insincerity?

 

[pohandes]

Why would God create a human being knowing that the person is destined for Hell? That’s something that a loving God would ever want to create.

If God do not create bad persons, we can’t recognize the goodness of good persons.

why would God spend even a second of His time trying to get those “predestined” for Hell to repent?

It is not fair to punish you, because of what you did not do.

Wouldn’t that simply be an act of futility and even possibly insincerity?

Of course not.

 

[brown_bear]

To the many reflections add if you want this sentence of St Augustine:

«Si comprehendis, non est Deus»

That is: if you think you have understood everything about God, it certainly was not God

 

[MNathaniel]

Yes, God knows whether you’re going to hell or heaven, because from His perspective (beyond time itself) you already have.

You still have free will to choose where you go though, from within time. The fact that God observes your choices doesn’t take away from you the fact that you’re making the choices.

 

[otjm]

The way you ask the question is wrong, because it sounds as if God is in time. God is not in time, so things don’t “surprise” him, He knows all of history including what has not yet occurred all at once.

 

[Roguish]

Firstly, “Does God know who is going to hell and heaven?”

@brandon_ross

I would say: what does it matter? We can sit around and philosophize about whether God knows or does not know whether you’re going to hell or heaven. And we may come up with an answer. But regardless of whether God knows or doesn’t, what’s for sure is that you don’t know – and won’t know. So whatever the answer, you will still have to live your life not knowing whether you’re predestined (if that’s what you are) for hell or for heaven.

do we still have free will?

Unfortunately, yes, we do have free will. As long as you think and imagine, you are capable of setting your own goals, so you are capable of doing something other than God’s Will, and that is precisely man’s predicament. The religious man’s aim is to relinquish his own will so that he conforms once again to God’s Will alone, as he did prior to the Fall.

And if God somehow knows how you will use your free will, so be it. It changes nothing for your experience of life, because you don’t know (yet) how you will use your free will – and that’s quite enough to call it free. The philosophical obsession with what God knows, is therefore not nearly as interesting as it seems, nor does it provide reason for either despair (“I’ll go to hell anyway”) or presumption (“I’ll go to heaven anyway”) – because you don’t know that even if God does. And even if there is predestination, then that predestination will still come about according to God’s Laws, which inescapably make your destiny follow your chosen (intentional) actions.

 

[Vico]

Why would God create a human being knowing that the person is destined for Hell? That’s something that a loving God would ever want to create.

God creates all of us predestined to do create things for Him if we choose to say yes to him. We have complete free will to either do what He wants us to do or not do it.

And if God already knew some of us were predestined for Hell, why would God spend even a second of His time trying to get those “predestined” for Hell to repent? Wouldn’t that simply be an act of futility and even possibly insincerity?

There must be free will to express charity and thereby, when it is the final state, attain heaven with the Beatific Vision. Because there is free will some may choose malice instead and therefore there is also condemnation.

The grace of the Holy Trinity is a requirement for salvation, so it is offered and sufficient, but if there is finally no free will cooperation with that grace, then the person would be condemned because of it. If there is final free will cooperation with that grace, then the person is saved and is a partial cause of their eternal happiness.

 

[Billy_Buescher]

Why would God create a human being knowing that the person is destined for Hell? That’s something that a loving God would ever want to create.

To what I understand, God and His love is different that what we human love.
God loves us before we do any thing good or bad.

We, humans, love what we see in a person, good and bad. When we choose a wife, we look at the good and bad, then we decide to love her and vise versa.

 

[Gorgias]

Secondly, "If yes, do we still have free will?, since whatever our action is… we will still fall to hell.

No, that’s not true. It’s not “whatever my action is, it’ll result in hell”. Rather, it’s “if I act virtuously and die in a state of grace, I’ll end up in heaven” and “if I act viciously and die outside of a state of grace, I’ll end up in hell.” The action – freely chosen – determines the outcome.

It’s your actions, and not God’s knowledge of your actions, which determines your eternal destination.

 

[Tenzin]

Look into predestination and double predestination which are two separate doctrines. Hint catholic teaching does not follow double predestination. I encourage you to read the CCC and its footnotes.

1037 God predestines no one to go to hell;618 for this, a willful turning away from God (a mortal sin) is necessary, and persistence in it until the end. In the Eucharistic liturgy and in the daily prayers of her faithful, the Church implores the mercy of God, who does not want “any to perish, but all to come to repentance”:619
Father, accept this offering
from your whole family.
Grant us your peace in this life,
save us from final damnation,
and count us among those you have chosen.620

600 To God, all moments of time are present in their immediacy. When therefore he establishes his eternal plan of “predestination”, he includes in it each person’s free response to his grace: "In this city, in fact, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place."395 For the sake of accomplishing his plan of salvation, God permitted the acts that flowed from their blindness.396
“He died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures”

 

[Dan_Defender]

Yes He does. The book of life has the names of those going to Heaven.
‘and all who dwell on earth will worship the beast, every one whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that was slain.’ - Rev 13:8

 

[brandon_ross]

Thanks alot… This has to be the right answer… Thanks again