For us life is like a game of chess. There are different moves we can make and we try to find the best move to give us the best future.
I agree that life is like a game of chess. However, we are not the ones playing. We are the pawns. God is the One playing, and He knows that He will win. When He wins, He will gather up all His chess pieces back to Himself. And God does not lose His chess pieces.
"When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain,
that nothing be lost." John 6:12
God if He so chooses can actually look to see what the future is. He is outside of time so past, present and the future are all open for Him.
I do not believe God is "outside of time". There are no verses in all of Scripture that say this. God is called the "first" and the "last". First and last denote time.
A day to God is
a thousands years. If God was outside of time, then a day would be eternal. That is what Augustine said, but that is not what the Scriptures say. Time is
relative to God, but God is not outside of time.
Either way,
He knows what you'll do before you do it, so how does that give you
free will to choose
otherwise?
So what about a doctor or a surgeon. We hope that they make all the right choices and all the right decisions. They operate as a group for the most part so they agree with each other.
A doctor is a man. When we put our hope in man, they can surely fail us. When we put our hope in God, it is
impossible for Him to fail us, because it is
impossible for Him to fail.
Still some people seem to make good choices and some people repeatedly seem to make bad choices.
This is correct. However, the people that make bad choices, do they really do so
freely?
Let's say a child is born in Afghanistan, and their entire lives consist of worshipping Allah and following Muhammad. Their parents and their entire country tell them "Do not listen to those pagan Christians! If you do, Allah will torture you forever and ever in Jahannam!". So this child is under the threat of death their entire childhood for accepting anything other than Islam, yet they are supposed to
freely choose to serve God and believe in Yeshua?
On top of this, God
knows that they will ultimately choose
not to follow Him. If God
knows this (and He does), then there is absolutely nothing else this person can do. They will die
not choosing God, because God has already ordained it.
A drug addict or alcoholic may quit a hundred times and still end up going back to their addiction when the going gets a bit difficult for them.
Let's say an immature child of 12 years old is introduced to heroin. The
reason he is introduced is be
cause his parents are addicted to heroin. The wicked parents give the immature 12 year old (that has lived with heroin addicts his whole life) some heroin. The child does the heroin and becomes neurologically and biologically dependant on this drug. The child does heroin until he is 23 years old, when he is found dead of an overdose.
Was this child free? Should the child, after he passed some sort of "age of accountability", just suddenly choose God and give up his addiction?
Also,
God knows that he will do all of this before he does it, so he could
not have done
otherwise.
God is trying to fix the problem with humans but He Himself is not a part of the problem, He is a part of the cure.
I'm sorry friend, I can't believe this. God does not
try to do anything. Whatever God
wants to happen,
it is going to happen, and absolutely
NOTHING can stop it. Let's try another scenario.
I know (with 100% certainty) that if John robs a bank, the following situation
will happen:
I know that when John runs away, he will accidentally drop the money in front of a children's hospital.
I also know that the hospital will think it's a donation, and use the money to save thousands of children's lives.
I also know that after the children are saved, John will be caught.
I also know that John will have to repay every dime he stole.
I also know that after his prison sentence, John will learn that robbery is wrong, so he will spend the rest of his life reaching out to criminals.
I also know that his outreach will save many people from becoming criminals.
I also know that after all of this, John will die a happy and righteous man.
If John
doesn't rob that bank,
none of this will happen. The children will die; John will continue living a life of sin; the people that John reached out to will eventually become criminals; and John will die from a shootout with the police.
So I coerce John to rob the bank.
If I
know, with 100% certainty, that all of this will happen, wouldn't it be wrong for me
not to coerce John?
Many times I wish God would make a choice or a decision for me. But He leaves it up to me to make my own choice and my own decision and I have to deal with the results and in some cases the consequences of the choices I make in life.
Yes, you do have to deal with the consequences of your choices. This is because your heart is
weak, so it desires to do wrong. You do wrong, and God
chastises you for it. You then
learn that you should not continue to do wrong. If there was no consequence (
effect), then you would
continue doing wrong.
God
caused you to sin (but God did
not commit the sin), and He
knows (with 100% certainty) that the consequence of your sin will teach you righteousness.
It is the experience of evil that causes you to be humble.
"YHVH, thou hast heard the desire of the
humble: thou wilt
prepare their heart, thou wilt
cause thine ear to hear" Psalm 10:17
Check out this verse that is slaughtered by all English translations:
"And I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all
things that are done under heaven: this sore (
רָ֗ע H7451:
evil) travail (Heb: occupation) hath
God given to the sons of man to be exercised (
לַעֲנ֥וֹת H6031: brought low,
humbled) therewith." Ecclesiastes 1:13
http://biblehub.com/interlinear/ecclesiastes/1-13.htm
Free will is not the answer to the
Problem of Evil. God Himself prepares evil:
"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and
create evil (
רָ֑ע: evil): I YHVH
do all these things." Isaiah 45:7
God
is the answer. He is the answer to
everything. And He
will fix everything.
Thank you and God bless you my friend.