ChristianWAB:
Though probably a weird analogy, I always likened it to the guy that grabs his video camera to films the goings on at a family get together. The family goes on about its conversations and games and laughs and spilled food and whatnot and, by day’s end, the man’s got a tape that he can watch whenever he feels like it.
He was there and he’s since seen the tape, so he knows everything that happened that day on the camera. He knows that Aunt Mildred spilled her macaroni salad on her dress, etc, but he didn’t MAKE her spill it. The tape represents a strip of time that has a clear beginning and a clear end but, because he does not reside INSIDE the tape, he can see what happens. He exists outside of the tape, much like God exists outside of time *(…since He had no beginning and will have no end). *
The man knows that, by midday, Aunt Mildred will spill that macaroni salad. He knows that his mother-in-law will have an argument with his father. He knows that the children will play Marco Polo in the pool before the sun sets. If during the party, somebody asked the camera man for help in setting up the grill, he helped.
God obviously has more power because He can dive into the thread of time in which we exist to help those who ASK for help because, in our free will, we CHOSE to ask for His help. God could do a TON of things to make us do what He wants us to do, but then He’d be taking away our free will. I think the reason why God doesn’t take that away from us is because He wants to know who will love Him out of the genuine desires of their hearts as opposed to
“loving” Him out of coercion or because they feel like they HAVE to love Him.
I know. I know. It’s a thoroughly NON-CATHOLIC response, so please treat it as such. It’s just my crazy analogy that I use to better understand how we can have free will, yet know that God knows our futures.
I don’t consider what you wrote a “non Catholic response” at all. Actually, I have explain it similarly myself. I don’t think your post directly addressed the question, but I liked it.
This is another way that I explain, to myself and other, what you did above. I explain it like this: God is outside of time. He exists in eternity and views time all at once. For example, let’s say that time is a ruler. At the beginning of the first inch is when Adam and Eve lived. Then, around the 4th inch is when Noah lived; the 6th inch is the time of Abraham; and the 8th inch is Jesus’ day. We are somewhere near the end of the ruler.
Just as we can view the ruler from above and see all of the inches at once, so God views time in the same way - all at once - since God exists outside of time. To God the past and the future exist in the present.
Since God is all knowing, he obviously knows what choices we will make, and He knows if we will be saved or not. If God did not know this, there would be a defect in His knowlege: His knowledge would not be infinite, and thus God would not be all-knowing.
God creates us; He tells us what to do; speaks to us through our conscience, but allows us to choose. Those who obey God will be saved and will glorify His goodness and mercy for ever. Those who fail to obey will also glorify God for all eternity, but, like the fallen angels, they will glorify His infinite justice!
We need to remember that, although God is loving and merciful, He is also a just judge who will severely punish those who disobey Him. His justice is not nullified by His mercy; rather it is overcome by His mercy when man repents. If man does not repent and amend His life, he will never meet the “loving and merciful” God, but only a just judge. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”.
