Omniscience and free will

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We know that God is omniscient and knows our destiny, and every choice we are going to make, therefore, he will also know whether we are going to heaven or hell. If he knows our future before our birth, why are those who are going to hell, sent into the world in the first place?

 

[Spencerian]

We know that God is omniscient and knows our destiny, and every choice we are going to make, therefore, he will also know whether we are going to heaven or hell. If he knows our future before our birth, why are those who are going to hell, sent into the world in the first place?

Hi.

This is a very popular question on the Forums.

God does not exist in space and time. Omniscience allows Him to see past, present and future all at once. Yet He does not determine your fate. You do.

Your free will is still in place as a being stuck in the stream of time. While God will always know what you are going to do ultimately, you always have the power to change the outcome before the end.

The Catholic Church does not believe in the Calvinist fatalism that God has pre-destined you to heaven or hell. That flies in the face of having the will to choose anything.

The Catechism might give a bit more detail here. I’m sure there’s a Forum thread that speaks of this, although an apologist’s answer would be best here.

 

[warpspeedpetey]

We know that God is omniscient and knows our destiny, and every choice we are going to make, therefore, he will also know whether we are going to heaven or hell. If he knows our future before our birth, why are those who are going to hell, sent into the world in the first place?

this is a common question. the answer is that there is no such thing as ‘time’. the theoretical physicist Julian Barbour discusses this, here.

youtube.com/watch_popup?v=WKsNraFxPwk#t=19

time doesnt exist, only change does. with no ‘time’ it is difficult to imagine, but all change must occur simultaneously.

ergo

youre free will choice and G-ds knowing of it, all occur simultaneously. so G-d didnt know what your choice was before hand, simply because there was no before.

 

[LilyM]

God knows that I am going to get bitten by mosquitos next time I visit my family who live in the tropics, as do I (I always do, after all). Yet He creates them anyway. Why? Because they serve more functions than those that relate to me.

Even I know that, for example, those mosquitos exist to provide food for other creatures, spread disease (which is part of His divine plan for controlling the populations of animals if not humans). Possibly they serve other functions that I know not of.

Same with the people who God knows will end up in Hell. Clearly their existence serves a purpose - maybe they were brought into the world to be a means by which other people are made holy, by providing a salutary lesson on how not to live or something.

Also, in spite of their sins, they probably do good in various ways that are essential to God’s plan - a doctor who is a sinner might yet save lives, a parent who is a sinner yet brings more life into the world and so on.