Free Will or Predestination?

Yes, the age old question…

I’ll start by saying… I believe the answer is that they don’t have to contradict one another. And I believe that with a more robust understanding of both, they are surprisingly compatible. But we will need to construct each separately first then fuse these new concepts back together at the end.

FREE WILL:

Free will exists and I can prove it by saying right now you have a choice, keep reading and out your left hand up or reading with your right hand in a chopping motion or just stop reading, or 10000 other alternatives. Likely, no twist of fates will occur… the timelines will not diverge… no consequence to be had other than that you can be sure you made a choice. Likely, you’ll even struggle a bit with the choice to avoid “falling into fates hands.” But no matter how much you twist your brain to decide if you did or not… deep down, self-awareness, an experimentally true knowledge will exist that you and only you chose.

I don’t want to diminish this important statement only providing a single anecdotal point, so I’ll also present some Biblical backup here: see this blog for more info.

So… let’s hold that thought and move to…

DESTINY/PREDESTINATION:

Predestination as a concept tends to be understood as Destiny. Said another way, the idea that what will do with your free will is (and always has been) known to God before you make it. Which then means… was it really a free will choice?

The most logical argument I’ve heard is by someone who said “If I missed a football game live, but know the final score… then watch it on repeat… while I know how it will end, I don’t know why it will end that way or what decisions will be made. And therefore, the players on the field are actively making their unique decisions with free will, but that I’m seeing time from a different perspective, doesn’t change their free will and agency in that moment. So, if God is outside of time and space, he knows what they’re destined to do in the same way.”

But… I think that argument is flawed because if God knows all, his perspective is that of knowing the core and each decision, sub decision and every extrapolated decision beyond, too.

So… let’s dig deeper:

Rethinking eternity:

When most people speak of God being eternal, they speak of him as atemporal. Meaning he exists “outside of time” as if every second that ever existed or ever will exist he is present in his own “now.”

And while that’s the most accepted view of an eternal God… it never “fully” makes sense… so I’m left trying to find real world examples of eternal that I CAN understand.

So I give you this: “concepts are eternal.”

They are true and present now, in all times previous and future even when nothing else remains to exist.

The concepts of Laws of motion exist and are true with or without matter. Killing for pleasure as a concept is wrong with or without people, and as true before time and will be true after time. Mathematical truths were true before matter and will be true when there is nothing left to count.

Here’s the important part: while concepts are eternal and omnipresent, they are only actionable, kinetic, influential, or affective IN the moment they are acted upon, and in the situations that require them.

We already know that God is not a “thing” with temporary existing matter. We have always learned that God is beyond our understanding.

So, it wouldn’t be a leap to say that God’s eternal nature is that he “is.” And his quality/nature of ”being” itself is therefore as eternal and omnipresent as any concept or law would be (which were initially created by him and why they are eternal at all… but I digress.) and therefore he is actionable, kinetic, influential, or affective IN the moment… and even more so when he os acted upon. (I skipped “in the situations which require him, because he is required in all situations for reality itself to confuse to exist)

So, where I differ from most, is that, I believe his eternal existence, presence, intention, action and interaction is temporal and follows the flow of the universe itself (and all things in it) as it unfolds.

(Sidenote: I won’t argue that he does this in forward direction only, because there seems to be indication that reverse time may exist… and if God is creation itself, I believe him to be present and active in any and all directions time is capable of being affected.)

So, if we can now hold that thought of God as temporal and unfolding WITH events as they happen, we can start to put these two concepts together.

CONNECTING DOTS:

I think it’s easier to imagine as an analogy. Imagine life as an almost infinitely wide and long chess board. (Maybe even 3D chess if we need the complication)

God has set the rules of engagement for the board (through the creation of an ordered universe). And because of free will, each player is responsible for his/her own moves. Full free will to move as desired by ALL players however, means the decisions of all other players will have intense, multilateral impacts to every part of the game at both micro and macro scales… and perpetually. Waves upon waves of constant change and flex.

But God, being the creator of the rules and math and probability itself can sense all shifts simultaneously, both perfectly now and with confidence moving forward.

Now, we hear God has a plan for us…but what does that mean?

Related Tangent: When I was younger, the idea of “God’s Plans” was a sticking point because if he has “plans” and THIS bad stuff is part of the plan… that’s not too nice. Only recently did it occur to me that “plan” doesn’t have to mean pre-mapped stepping stones I would have to take to reach his end… but instead (like real plans) “plans” change and can reroute, the same way GPS does when miss a turn.

Which brings me back to the chess board… just as the Bible has always taught us, God has a plan for each player to take them to their greatest possibilities. (Assuming they follow faithfully). He will do so by guiding them throughout their lives through inspiration and insight, through divine revelation both explicit and implicit… as if whispering in their ear, consulting with them over each move. But, again. Each player is still responsible for the choices they make.

With each move of the player, taking all other players moves into account and any other variables, God’s guidance will shift and be altered to constantly realign with the board’s realities

Now, this may seem harsh, but a God of order must follow his own rules… so with enough free will poor moves by the player the “plan” may have to change drastically… but take heart… because he will still continue to plan for “the best” for you. (Ephesians 1:11)

A NEW LOOK AT (PRE) DESTINATION:

So we know God is the creator of the game and the rules, that there is free will and that God is present in (not responsible for) each guiding step.

So the only question outstanding is “does he know where you/it everything will end up?”

Yes… at each step just before you do, if not only just before you do it.

I think sometimes the challenge of unraveling existing definitions is that small details matter.

Whether he knew before my conception which casket I would choose or whether he knew the week before is of little (or no) consequence.

That he is present in each decision, that he is omni-present in the entirety of all things as they unfold and is therefore able to offer me guidance and insight based on complexities I couldn’t even begin to fathom… is of ALL the consequence in the world.

THE CONCLUSION

Understanding that we live in an ordered universe, full of humans who DO have free will, means there will be chaos. The paths will not be straight. The journeys will not be without perils. But at EACH point along the way, God knows where you are, how you got there, and why you got there. He also knows at each point what may come next, and how to get you to your next hugest peak and ultimate highest peak… assuming. You are faithful and follow his instruction.