If predestination is
true,
then how can there be free will?
Email: If predestination is true, then how can there be
free will?
Response: In order to answer the question, we must first
define our terms. According to Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary.
Predestination is, "The act of decreeing or foreordaining events; the
decree of God by which he hath, from eternity, unchangeably appointed or
determined whatever comes to pass. It is used particularly in theology
to denote the preordination of men to everlasting happiness or misery."
Does this mean that since God predestines that people cannot make
choices?
Free will is the ability to make choices according to
your desire. Free will is of two theological viewpoints:
Compatibilist and Libertarian. Compatibilism is the position that a
person is only as free as his nature permits him to be free and that his
sinfulness prevents him from feely choosing God (1 Cor. 2:14;
Rom. 3:10-12;
Rom. 6:14-20). Libertarian free will is the position that an
unsaved sinner is still able to freely choose God in spite of his sinful
nature (John 3:16;
3:36).
God's predestination does not mean that we cannot
make free will choices. God predestines in and through our
choices because God is all knowing and all powerful. He knows what
we will do because he knows all things. He cannot not know all
things. So, whatever you choose to do out of your own free
volition is known. But his knowing doesn't mean you don't free
choose.
An illustration would be that I could arrange for
my child to choose ice cream over something else and not violate his
free will. For instance, I could put a bowl of chocolate ice cream and a
bowl of dirt and rocks in front of my child and I know exactly which one the
child will choose to eat. But my knowing does not violate my child's free will.
