God's foreknowledge and free will

[Albion]

Are the leggos guilty for falling? Or is the problem with you, the creator, for trying to build a 50 foot tower with just one leggo stacked upon another on grass?

That assumes, doesn't it, that Adam and Eve were bound to fall? I see no reason for concluding that.

God created Adam and Eve fully formed. God instilled into them a certain level of morality. With ForeKnowlege, god knew, long before he ever created them, that they, having the level of morality that He instilled into them and using their god-given free will, would disobey.

Yes, we do have to assume that he knew the outcome.

On the other hand, perhaps you do not believe that god is omniscient or perhaps you believe that godly omniscience and free will are mutually exclusive.

But I see nothing in this statement that follows from the preceding.

 

[dysert]

Your cat was just as innocent as Adam & Eve.


Have you ever tried to build a structure with leggos? Just one loggo block on top of another. Like this...

On grass. Fifty feet high. We both know it will topple long before you get anywhere near 50 feet.

Are the leggos guilty for falling? Or is the problem with you, the creator, for trying to build a 50 foot tower with just one leggo stacked upon another on grass?

God created Adam and Eve fully formed. God instilled into them a certain level of morality. With ForeKnowlege, god knew, long before he ever created them, that they, having the level of morality that He instilled into them and using their god-given free will, would disobey.

On the other hand, perhaps you do not believe that god is omniscient or perhaps you believe that godly omniscience and free will are mutually exclusive.

Your Lego analogy fails. Lego blocks are not sentient beings. They are merely manipulated by their handler.

I'm inferring that you're under the impression that just because God knows something, that He's responsible for whatever happens. This is simply not true. Was it this thread where I suggested that folks read 1 Sam. 23:1-13? In this story we read that God told David that he'd be delivered into Saul's hand by the rulers of Keilah. Given that knowledge David fled Keilah, thereby escaping Saul. So God had this foreknowledge, shared it with David. David, of his own free will, acted on that information and escaped the situation.

In a similar way, Adam & Eve were told by God to not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil or else they'd die. The couple, of their own free will, acted on that information by rejecting God's command and we've been paying the consequences ever since.

God's not responsible for A&E's disobedience. He knew it was coming, but He didn't cause it. Their free-will choice was what was responsible.

 

[sparow]

I think I have the right forum thread for this one. Please move the thread if it belongs somewhere else.

Okay this will be a debate concerning God's foreknowledge of what will happen and if we have free will vs everything is predestined/determined.

God knows that in 50 years on a given Sunday you will go out and mow the grass. When that Sunday in 50 years comes along, you decide to watch football instead of mowing the grass.

Does this make God false? Did God know you would decide otherwise? Do you have free will to make this kind of decision? Does the scenario even apply to God's foreknowledge and our ability to have free-will or is everything determined already?

For me God would know you would not mow the yard when the time came. The question arises when does God know what the outcome will be? God always knew? God knew just before you decided? What questions does this raise about God being in control?

I don't believe God would be concerned about mowing lawn or watching football unless it had something to do with his business. God is not a magician that he can predict the future even though he would be aware of all the options and possibilities. God knows the future in as far as He engineers the future; if God knew you would mow the lawn in fifty years then it would happen. Man has free will and every day a man makes many choices from an infinite set of options; the net result is involved in determining salvation, rewards and stripes. Predestination is real but not at a personal level; the messages to the seven churches in Revelation show that salvation is not predestined to anyone. It is predestined that most will have access to the covenant of God (the first white horse whose rider has a bow); it is predestined that most will decline. Prophesy is predestination, history waiting to happen, Armageddon is predestination (the second white horse) as are the horrors just ahead. If you are seeing prophesy being fulfilled you can know God is in control and that you need to have your lamp full of oil.

 

[sparow]

For me it again raises the question, what is the point of prayer?

Not in the sense of communication, but when you are specifically praying for something to happen.

I still remember my first prayer; "God, what do you think you are doing?" 25 years later I am still receiving understanding of that matter.

Should we pray that Armageddon will no happen or should we pray that it should come soon?

From the internet:
Today God offers you a personal choice. He enthusiastically directs you to “choose life, that both you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). You don’t have to suffer for the sins of the nation.

“How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!” but you do not save?” (American King James Version×, New International Version).

“Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted” (American King James Version×).

“Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own” (American King James Version×).

 

[Calvinist Dark Lord]

I think I have the right forum thread for this one. Please move the thread if it belongs somewhere else.

Okay this will be a debate concerning God's foreknowledge of what will happen and if we have free will vs everything is predestined/determined.

God knows that in 50 years on a given Sunday you will go out and mow the grass. When that Sunday in 50 years comes along, you decide to watch football instead of mowing the grass.

Does this make God false? Did God know you would decide otherwise? Do you have free will to make this kind of decision? Does the scenario even apply to God's foreknowledge and our ability to have free-will or is everything determined already?

For me God would know you would not mow the yard when the time came. The question arises when does God know what the outcome will be? God always knew? God knew just before you decided? What questions does this raise about God being in control?

First define your terms: Foreknowledge? Free Will? Just what do you mean by that?

 

[ecco]

That assumes, doesn't it, that Adam and Eve were bound to fall? I see no reason for concluding that.
Yes, we do have to assume that he knew the outcome.

I'll try again:

Given:

• God is omnipotent - He could have created Adam & Eve in any way He wanted.
• God is omniscient - as you stated "we do have to assume that he knew the outcome"
• Godly Omniscience and Human Free Will are not mutually exclusive

Then:

• Eternal God spent most of eternity before He created the universe
• God created the Universe in exactly the manner He chose to (either 14 billion years ago or 6000 years ago with light, etc in transit as the YECs claim)
• God created Adam & Eve in exactly the manner He chose to - with, among things, specific levels of morals.
• God ForeKnew, given all the above, that Adam and Eve would disobey Him.

It isn't a question of whether "Adam and Eve were bound to fall". What matters is that God ForeKnew that they would. If He had instilled a higher level of morals, Adam and Eve would not have fallen. It is clear that it was God's plan that they would fall.

Just as you and I know that you cannot build a fifty foot high single stack of leggos on grass. We also know that one can build a high stack of leggos if it is placed on a sound foundation, given support and built in a more stable shape.

It was HIS plan. HE ForeKnew the outcome.

 

[ecco]

God's not responsible for A&E's disobedience. He knew it was coming, but He didn't cause it. Their free-will choice was what was responsible.

Their Free Will choice was based on the level of morality God instilled into them when He created them. So, yes, He is responsible. It all went according to His plan.

See Post #26 above.

 

[Albion]

I'll try again: God ForeKnew, given all the above, that Adam and Eve would disobey Him.

Yes. I've agreed that this is the case.

It isn't a question of whether "Adam and Eve were bound to fall". What matters is that God ForeKnew that they would. If He had instilled a higher level of morals, Adam and Eve would not have fallen. It is clear that it was God's plan that they would fall.

That's illogical. All that we can say is that he knew they would.

You cannot say that he didn't instill in them a sufficient level of morals, whatever that's supposed to mean. All you seem to be saying is that God could have made it intellectually impossible for them to have disobeyed God, which, had he done this, would amount to making them be without the ability to sin. And that would amount to making just another animal species. Genesis makes a big point of the fact that this was NOT the case.

It was HIS plan. HE ForeKnew the outcome.

To know the future is not to predetermine it. It's not.

 

[dysert]

It isn't a question of whether "Adam and Eve were bound to fall". What matters is that God ForeKnew that they would. If He had instilled a higher level of morals, Adam and Eve would not have fallen. It is clear that it was God's plan that they would fall.

I'll try again:

You are making an assumption here: "If He had instilled a higher level of morals, Adam and Eve would not have fallen." I disagree with that assumption. I believe that God created the best free-will humans possible. Even at that, their free will superseded their desire to obey God.

And it is certainly *not* "clear" that it was God's plan that they would fall. As James 1:14 says, "But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed." It's not God's fault when anyone falls, we own that responsibility.

 

[Albion]

.

 

[Albion]

I'll try again:

You are making an assumption here: "If He had instilled a higher level of morals, Adam and Eve would not have fallen." I disagree with that assumption. I believe that God created the best free-will humans possible. Even at that, their free will superseded their desire to obey God.

And it is certainly *not* "clear" that it was God's plan that they would fall. As James 1:14 says, "But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed." It's not God's fault when anyone falls, we own that responsibility.

You're right. Not only does knowing the future not automatically or necessarily mean predetermining events, but "higher level of morality" doesn't make sense. Something is either moral or it's not. All that is being referred to is the intellectual ability to choose to do right rather than wrong. That could have been precluded by God had he wanted a robot instead of a human, but it's obvious that he didn't create one in Adam or Eve.

 

[Tree of Life]

I think I have the right forum thread for this one. Please move the thread if it belongs somewhere else.

Okay this will be a debate concerning God's foreknowledge of what will happen and if we have free will vs everything is predestined/determined.

God knows that in 50 years on a given Sunday you will go out and mow the grass. When that Sunday in 50 years comes along, you decide to watch football instead of mowing the grass.

Does this make God false? Did God know you would decide otherwise? Do you have free will to make this kind of decision? Does the scenario even apply to God's foreknowledge and our ability to have free-will or is everything determined already?

For me God would know you would not mow the yard when the time came. The question arises when does God know what the outcome will be? God always knew? God knew just before you decided? What questions does this raise about God being in control?

The Bible teaches that God has already ordained whatever will come to pass. The Bible also teaches that mankind, in normal circumstances, is basically free. When talking about "freedom" on this level, we're talking about a compatiblist notion of freedom. If a person is free, he or she is able to do what he or she wants to do. That's all that's meant by freedom of will.

 

[ecco]

To know the future is not to predetermine it. It's not.

I agree.

It isn't a question of whether "Adam and Eve were bound to fall". What matters is that God ForeKnew that they would. If He had instilled a higher level of morals, Adam and Eve would not have fallen. It is clear that it was God's plan that they would fall.

That's illogical. All that we can say is that he knew they would.

You cannot say that he didn't instill in them a sufficient level of morals, whatever that's supposed to mean. All you seem to be saying is that God could have made it intellectually impossible for them to have disobeyed God, which, had he done this, would amount to making them be without the ability to sin. And that would amount to making just another animal species. Genesis makes a big point of the fact that this was NOT the case.

We, as humans, try to instill a sense of morality into our children. Some do a better job than others. With our best efforts, some children will turn out better than others.

Also, I did not allude to preventing Adam & Eve from having the ability to sin. I have just been talking to the act of disobeying God's prime directive (Don't eat the fruit).

Who instilled a sense of morality into Adam & Eve? God did. God is omnipotent. God was very precise in the level of morality he instilled into them. God ForeKnew what the result would be. And then He blamed them and cursed all of mankind.

I realize you do not want to accept this. You prefer to attribute SIN to Adam & Eve. The alternative, that mankind's SIN was part of God's plan, must be unacceptable to you.

 

[Albion]

We, as humans, try to instill a sense of morality into our children. Some do a better job than others. With our best efforts, some children will turn out better than others.

True, but this doesn't seem to be what you were saying with "a higher level of morals."

Also, I did not allude to preventing Adam & Eve from having the ability to sin. I have just been talking to the act of disobeying God's prime directive (Don't eat the fruit).

...which is to defy god's explicit instruction, doing which is what we call a 'sin.'

Who instilled a sense of morality into Adam & Eve? God did. God is omnipotent. God was very precise in the level of morality he instilled into them. God ForeKnew what the result would be. And then He blamed them and cursed all of mankind.

OK.

I realize you do not want to accept this.

Of course I accept it. What I don't accept is the apparent conclusion that God pre-programmed Adam and Eve to fall.

 

[ecco]

I'll try again:

You are making an assumption here: "If He had instilled a higher level of morals, Adam and Eve would not have fallen." I disagree with that assumption. I believe that God created the best free-will humans possible. Even at that, their free will superseded their desire to obey God.

No assumption at all. Remember, we try to instill a sense of morality into our children by talk and example. Omnipotent God can be far more precise.

Consider this godly thought process:
Considered Action - Instill level J of morality.
ForeKnowledge - Adam and Eve disobey me regarding the fruit and lead such sinful lives that they kill all their offspring.

Considered Action - Instill level L of morality. (with option 1)
ForeKnowledge - Adam and Eve disobey me regarding the fruit. I'll blame them and condemn all mankind to sin.

Considered Action - Instill level L of morality. (with option 2)
ForeKnowledge - Adam and Eve disobey me regarding the fruit. I'll take the rap and not condemn mankind.


Considered Action - Instill level O of morality.
ForeKnowledge - Adam and Eve obey me regarding the fruit and lead reasonably decent lives and try to pass their sense of morality to their offspring.

Considered Action - Instill level P of morality.
ForeKnowledge - Adam and Eve obey me regarding the fruit and lead exemplary lives. -Boring-

HE willfully and with complete ForeKnowledge, chose L with option 1.

 

[Albion]

It's all very interesting, but your estimate of what's moral, what's not moral, or about supposed "levels" of morality is just a personal opinion. And it's now evident that you are talking, with your "options," about the morality or lack of it on the part of GOD, not Adam and Eve. If, as most Christians do, we try to see the matter through the guidance of the Bible, it's quite a different matter.

 

[twin1954]

I think I have the right forum thread for this one. Please move the thread if it belongs somewhere else.

Okay this will be a debate concerning God's foreknowledge of what will happen and if we have free will vs everything is predestined/determined.

God knows that in 50 years on a given Sunday you will go out and mow the grass. When that Sunday in 50 years comes along, you decide to watch football instead of mowing the grass.

Does this make God false? Did God know you would decide otherwise? Do you have free will to make this kind of decision? Does the scenario even apply to God's foreknowledge and our ability to have free-will or is everything determined already?

For me God would know you would not mow the yard when the time came. The question arises when does God know what the outcome will be? God always knew? God knew just before you decided? What questions does this raise about God being in control?

First of all you must understand that the word foreknowledge is never used in the Scriptures in connection with things it is always used in connection with people. God foreknows people. Moreover the same word that is translated foreknow is also translated foreordained.

God's foreknowledge is not about things, that is prescience not foreknowledge, but an intimate relationship with people that He determined to be intimate with before He spoke this world into existence.

Predestination is also concerning people not things. He predestines people, He foreordains things.

Now consider that the foreordination of God, the determining beforehand of all that comes to pass, is essential to His being God. If He didn't determine before what will happen in every circumstance down to the minutest detail He is little more than a man. If He looks down through time and knows what will happen and then determines to react in a certain way when it does He is not worthy to be trusted for He must change since He, just like a man, must learn from His knowledge. If He can change He can't be trusted. If He learns then He isn't omniscient.

Another thing that must be taken into account is the fact that the Bible never says that God has a plan it says that He has a purpose. God has purposed to bring this world to an expected end for the glory of His name and the good of His people. He has determined, purposed if you will, everything that happens in order to accomplish His purpose. If He didn't then man would be able to thwart Him and He would be constantly reacting to what man does, which puts man in the drivers seat instead of God.

Now man does have a will and he makes choices but he does it exactly as God has determined for him to do. God controls all the influences in our lives [who we are born to, where we are born, who influences us in our lives etc.] that shape us into who we are and the choices we make. He, as well, controls the circumstances in every situation so that we do exactly as we desire and exactly as He has determined for us to do. So we are not robots who have no will of our own nor are we puppets who are directed by a string. We are created a little lower than the angels with a will that is under the sovereign will of God who rules all things for the glory of His name and the good of His people.


Some one asked then why pray? Prayer isn't to twist God's arm, which is what free-will theology must come down to, or to inform Him of something that He doesn't know. Prayer is for us not for God. It keeps us dependent on Him. True prayer isn't asking for things (Does He not already know what we need?) but to thank Him for His goodness and to praise Him for His wondrous grace and mercy. Prayer lays hold of His promise and rests in it. Prayer is the cry of the heart to a loving Father.

Man does have a will but it certainly isn't free. Man's will is bound by man's nature. Man's nature, since the Fall, is evil and sin. We makes choices but we will always choose that which is our best interest. Even the seemingly good things that we do we do for the wrong reasons. We do them in order to gain something for ourselves whether it be praise from others, a good feeling about ourselves or some other thing it always serves us and our desires.

Such was not the case for the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to do His Fathers will and though He is God Himself He became a servant. He served His Father and He served His people. He did that which no man could accomplish, brought in an everlasting righteousness that God would accept and reward. He didn't do it for Himself, for He is already righteous being God, but He did it as the Surety and Substitute of His people.

 

[twin1954]

It's all very interesting, but your estimate of what's moral, what's not moral, or about supposed "levels" of morality is just a personal opinion. And it's now evident that you are talking, with your "options," about the morality or lack of it on the part of GOD, not Adam and Eve. If, as most Christians do, we try to see the matter through the guidance of the Bible, it's quite a different matter.

Consider this fact: God created Adam a man who was given sovereignty over all His creation. God brought all the animals to Adam and he named them. Adam was no infant or imbecile. He was a brilliant man created with a mind and understanding that we simply do not have today. Sin has degenerated creation. When Adam sinned in the Garden he knew exactly what he was doing. Eve was deceived but the bible clearly tells us that Adam wasn't.

Adam walked with God and communed with God in such a way as has not been known in the Earth since. When Eve brought him the fruit Adam knew the penalty and that she must die. He chose to die with her. They two had become one flesh and were intimately united as husband and wife. What a picture of Christ and His people.

 

[lesliedellow]

God's omniscience means that he must have had complete knowledge of the universe's history before he even created it.

God's omnipotence means that, in principle, he could create whatever universe he liked, with whatever history he liked.

Therefore, when he created this universe, he must have done so in the knowledge, and with the intention, that it should have precisely the history it will have. Which is just another way of saying that God preordains everything.

 

[Bob Crowley]

The business of predestination / free will has some personal import for me, and not because I used to be a Presbyterian, which is based on Calvin's teachings. I'm now Catholic, and the topic is hardly raised.

To my mind, God sees the past, present and future spread out like a map. Within that map we make our decisions, but He watches us make them. That's not the same thing as forcing us to make the decisions. If I hide in a cupboard, and watch a burglar take stuff out of my room, I may have seen the whole thing. But in no way did I force him to do so.

But I'm going to give a strange personal example, which I've related on Catholic Answers Forums, which like this one, is based in the USA (I presume). That has a bearing on my story.

The pastor I had in my Presbyterian days, one Rev. Robert Missenden, was a wise old bird. He was also prophetic, if discouraging. I found that if he thought something would happen, it happened.

But there was one prediction he made that was right over the top.

We were talking in his office probably circa 1990 or 1991, as he died in January 1992. I knew him for about 9 years all up, but I'm pretty sure this prediction was late in the day.

The prediction was "I think you'll be doing a cleaning job for a short time. You won't like it much, and you won't do it for long, but I think the Lord will just want you to hear about a ghost." Then he added "I think you've seen this ghost before".

Now I knew by that time how accurate he was, but I thought it was silly, so I basically ignored it.

Incidentally he also predicted I'd lose the government job I then had (which is relevant, as I would never have been doing cleaning if I hadn't). That happened in 1995.

He also predicted he thought I'd become Catholic (which is also relevant or I would never have even thought of having a mass said for the "ghost". That happened circa 1996 or 1997.

So that was two more of his predictions which came true, even though he'd been dead for a few years.

But in early 2006 I was doing a cleaning job for a short time (about four months). I didn't like it much for various reasons, and I heard about a ghost!

I was being shown around an old store in Ipswich (west of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia) on my first night there (Friday night every week as it happened), then occupied by a company called Crazy Clarks (a discount store). The cleaning contract was mainly with Crazy Clarks and another company called Repco.

As he was showing me round, the young bloke showing me the job suddenly remarked, "This place is haunted!" I did a bit of a double take and said "What?" He went on to say that he thought a former manager had committed suicide upstairs in the 1890's. I later spoke to the staff there and they thought it was downstairs in the 1960's. They were probably correct.

Anyway the young bloke was scared of being there at night. He said one night, ALL the stock on one complete set of shelves just jumped up and landed on the floor. At other times he could push this very heavy buffer with one little finger (and it was heavy all right - one of my dislikes about the job was trying to get this thing back in the van after the job. You could easily have done your back in if you weren't careful). Something was pushing it with him....

He might have been scared, but I sort of got positive vibes when I was there, as though the suicidal "ghost" wanted me to do something. One night when I was there, and the shop had been locked for some time, a bloke walked out from the last row of shelves, smiled at me, and walked back again. I didn't see him again, and he wasn't one of the remaining couple of managers, nor was he a customer.

Well it took me some time to do anything. That was 2006. But around 2008 I finally got around to phoning the resident priest at Ipswich (I live 40kms away), and told him about it. He said "leave it to me." But I had this uneasy feeling he hadn't done anything, as I was just a voice on the phone with a strange story to tell. And this feeling nagged me a bit. The Catholic Church in question was St. Mary's, Ipswich.

This is where Catholic Answers Forums comes in. One day in 2010 I was on Catholic Answers Forums, when I happened to notice a Fr. Michael Grac(e) as a recent poster, with Australia mentioned as his location. Note that he was the only Australian priest I'd seen on the forum at that point.
Out of the 1300 or so parishes in Australia at that time, guess which parish he was located in? St. Mary's, Ipswich! Pure coincidence of course! He only graduated from seminary in 2009, and was associate priest in 2010.

I even checked the church's website, and sure enough, there was his name on the billboard.

So via a personal email system through the Catholic Forum, I contacted him and told him the story from 2006. He emailed me back saying he really would say a mass for the suicidal manager, and to leave it at that. This time I felt more reassured, and basically just left it alone.

However fairly early last year (2015) I happened to be at one of the three churches in our parish, in a small town called Jimboomba. While I was there I got this nagging sense to purchase a copy of the Catholic Leader, our local Catholic rag. And there on page 5 or 6 was Fr. Michael Grace again, but this time he was shown at a wine and cheese evening in support of a right to life movement, at the Catholic Church in Wilston, Brisbane.

This raised my eyebrows, as when the old Presbyterian pastor made the original prediction, he did so at Wilston Presbyterian Church, a few hundred meters from the Catholic Church where Fr. Grace was now domiciled.

So I sent him another email via his church website, pointing out his close proximity to the church where the pastor had made the original prediction.

A couple of days later I got an email back saying "Just to raise the spookiness level another notch, Jimboomba was my home parish before I went into seminary!".

So this prediction followed me from losing my job in 1995, becoming Catholic in 1996 or 97, a cleaning job in 2006 where I heard about a ghost, to an Australian priest on an American based forum, to the same Church in proximity to the "ghost", to another Catholic Church close to where the pastor made the original prediction, with a link back to the church where I picked up the Leader.

Then there was the bit about "seeing this ghost before".

When I was about 15 circa 1970 (Geez, I'm getting old), my father and I would sometimes go camping at a locality called Legume, just over the border in New South Wales. To get there we'd go via Ipswich, Warwick and Killarney. These days there's a bypass to Warwich, but back then it didn't exist, and we had to go through Ipswich. There is another possible route, but it takes a lot longer.

I remember one trip when we were on our way home. As we were driving down the main road in Ipswich (Brisbane Street), I saw this bloke standing on the footpath with a briefcase in his hand. He looked really resigned and frustrated. There was hardly anybody else around as it was probably a Sunday or public holiday. I looked at him and he looked at me. As we passed him I looked back for some unknown reason. He sort of shrugged, turned, and then walked through a shop door. Trouble was the door was shut at the time.

It gave me the heebie geebies and I wondered if I was seeing things. I did my best to forget it, but then there was the episode with the old pastor.

Now I'd never told the pastor about this event, but somehow he just "knew". And the only way he could see the future "ghost" even was if God was telling him. The devil can't see the future - he can put two and two together better than we can, but he can't see the future like God can. God won't let him. A well known Catholic exorcist gave me that information.

So ... God told the old pastor about the ghost. It took about 15 years before the event started to happen. I made a lot of decisions in that time, but I still found myself doing a cleaning job for a short time, didn't like it much, and hearing about a ghost. The priest was moved from Ipswich to the Cathedral and later to Wilston by indepenent authority (the Archbishop), but he found himself in close proximity to the church where the prediction was originally made.

Coincidence? Like hell!

God sees the future like a map. We make our decisions within that map, but He doesn't force us to make them.