Does God have free will?

[Everybodyknows]

We aren't gods, of course, but I can predict with at least 90% accuracy what my conscious actions will be in the immediate future. If these things don't happen, it will be because I've been subjected to external forces that made me alter course. However, an omnipotent being isn't subject to anything of the sort, and moreover, omniscience means that he not only knows what he'll do in the next minute, but he knows everything he'll do forever with 100% accuracy. That doesn't mean he doesn't have a choice, it just means that he knows what the choice will be. Therefore, the analogy works.

It's a crude analogy at best, comparing apples and oranges. A better human analogy that illustrates the problem would be that of Peter's denial of Christ. Once Jesus told Peter what his future action was going to be did he have free will to change his actions anymore? If he could have changed then that would mean God does not know the future or is a liar.

I think you might be working under additional assumptions, though. Perhaps you think of God being "beyond time", meaning that God did everything he will ever do simultaneously from his perspective, and therefore, anything within the parameters of time is unchangeable, or something like that. Deterministic thinking like that (if that's what you're doing), even if factual in a technical sense, isn't particularly useful mechanically or practically. And, in fact, I think I could make a compelling case that because God's position in relation to the world has changed so much (He was much more present in a literal sense in the early Old Testament, and occasionally personally discussed, and even argued with his prophets. He changed the entire salvation paradigm when he threw Christ into the mix. etc.), he must subject himself to work within the parameters of time.

I'm trying not to make additional assumptions. At it's simplest this problem can be expressed as follows:

If an entity has perfect knowledge of its own future does it have freedom to choose it's actions.​

It doesn't matter if the entity is God or something else, as long as it has full, perfect knowledge of its own future.

 

[Radagast]

Was he free to plan creation?

Free creation means that God created the universe because he wanted to, not because he had to.

And since God is not subject to time, your words and phrases "some point," "going to," and "future" do not apply to God.

 

[Everybodyknows]

1) Foreknowledge does not conflict with free will (at least on compatibilist interpretations of "free will").

What is compatibilism?

2) God is outside of time, so "his own future" makes no sense.

I don't see how free will is possible at all outside of time.

3) The freedom of God is a core Christian teaching. Specifically, God created the universe freely, and God gives us gifts freely (see also Psalms 115:3: Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases).

How do we know God created the universe freely? He gives gifts freely in the sense that he doesn't expect anything in return. He does as he pleases in the sense that he is beyond our or anyone's control.

 

[Saved.By.Grace]

If God knows all, including his own future, is it possible for him to have free will?

Thoughts?

YES, in that He is completely FREE to do AS HE PLEASES. There are NO restrictions on what He can, or cannot do. As Almighty God, He ALONE has the absolute ability to do anything that He so desires, and there is no one that can thwart Him or oppose His actions. He is God after all! What He decides, happens, what He decrees, happens!

 

[Radagast]

What is compatibilism?

Basically, the idea that free will (at least according to certain definitions) is compatible with determinism. See here.

I don't see how free will is possible at all outside of time.

Free will is perhaps more complex than you realise.

How do we know God created the universe freely?

The doctrine is based in passages such as Revelation 4:11.

He does as he pleases in the sense that he is beyond our or anyone's control.

That is one of the definitions of free will.

 

[Saved.By.Grace]

Daniel 4:34-35

"At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored Him who lives forever, for His Dominion is an everlasting Dominion, and His Kingdom endures from generation to generation; all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and He does according to His will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay His hand or say to Him, “What have you done?”"

Psalm 135:5-6

"For I know that the Lord is Great, and that our Lord is above all gods. Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps."

This is the God of the Holy Bible, and there is NO other!

 

[JoeP222w]

If God knows all, including his own future, is it possible for him to have free will?

Thoughts?

God is the only one who does indeed have autonomous free will because He is sovereign. God knowing all things does not nullify His autonomous free will in any way.

Man has limited free will and man's will only operates within the boundaries of his or her will.

 

[ZJChristianJesus26]

There's no use of God having freewill, cause he's the one that we are worshiping. Scriptures say that God never changes. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. That would be question is true character. The bible makes himself very clear and who he is and how he will be forever and ever.

 

[Tolworth John]

Was he free to plan creation? Was there some point at which he didn't know whether he was going to create or not? That would imply that he doesn't know the future. If he always knew he was going to make creation, and the exact nature of that creation, then how was he free to plan?

God exists outside of time and space. They are his creation.
You are implying that at some point in eternity God had not formed a plan of creation.

What we know is that God has planned creation, and our salvation.

 

[SkyWriting]

If God knows all, including his own future, is it possible for him to have free will?

Thoughts?

God exists in the past and future simultaneously.
Outside of time actually.
As always, you can't say "if this, then that" about God.

 

[SkyWriting]

Was he free to plan creation? Was there some point at which he didn't know whether he was going to create or not? That would imply that he doesn't know the future. If he always knew he was going to make creation, and the exact nature of that creation, then how was he free to plan?

He knows what we call "future," just as well as what we call "past".

 

[AlexDTX]

If God knows all, including his own future, is it possible for him to have free will?

Thoughts?

There is no future for God since He exists outside of time. Also, the doctrine of free will refers to the ability of man to accept or reject God. God can not reject himself.

That being said, God is the only truly free will since he is Sovereign and accountable to no one. But even his free will can not go contrary to His own nature. For example, He is Truth and it is impossible for Him to lie.

Americans, in particular, have a skewed idea of freedom today. Not so in the past. We are not free to yell fire in a crowded theater when there is no fire, for example. Yet, many today think freedom means to do whatsoever we want. Regrettably that is also applied to God. Many American Christians think God can do what ever he wants and that is simply not true. The gifts and callings of God are without repentance means that when God gives something away He can not take it back because that, too, is contrary to his own nature. When He delegates responsibility He can not take it back because his words are immutable.

For example He gave dominion of the Earth to Adam, that is, mankind, and can not take it back. So when Adam gave away that dominion to Satan, God could not take it from Satan. This is why He had to become the man, Jesus, called the last Adam. Only a man could take it back, and that by righteousness, of which Jesus did by taking the punishment of our sins upon himself, who was completely innocent of those sins. This righteous process brought the dominion of the Earth back to mankind because Satan, through wicked men, shed innocent blood, thus forfeited his right to dominion. Now God has dominion through his Son and we are joint heirs with Christ so we can not give away that dominion again since the dominion is not ours alone anymore.

 

[Victoribus Spolia]

If God knows all, including his own future, is it possible for him to have free will?

Thoughts?

God is bound by His own nature, His essence is independence, He is not dependent on anything outside of Himself for His own power and satisfaction. In that sense, His will is not and cannot be "free" because any contingency would violate God's nature as independent and omnipotent. His will IS free in the sense that apart from the constraints of His own nature, there is nothing that can change or resist His will because when it is executed it is always perfect and always comes to pass.

 

[SkyWriting]

Since we are in the philosophy forum I was hoping for a more reasoned argument

Philosophy is as Philosophy does.

 

[TaylorSexton]

If God knows all, including his own future, is it possible for him to have free will?

Thoughts?

Well, first of all, it is altogether improper to speak of God's "future." Being outside of time, he does not have a proper future; he just is (cf. Gen 3:14).

Secondly, if God knows anything about the future (including his own "future," which we will grant just for the sake of the argument), it is not because he learns what he or anything else will do. Rather, he knows the future, especially his own "future," because he himself knows what he will do in his "future." Therefore, the future itself is determined by God's own free will.

The conclusion: God's omniscience is no barrier to his free will, since the former is the basis of the latter.

 

[Everybodyknows]

God is bound by His own nature, His essence is independence, He is not dependent on anything outside of Himself for His own power and satisfaction. In that sense, His will is not and cannot be "free" because any contingency would violate God's nature as independent and omnipotent. His will IS free in the sense that apart from the constraints of His own nature, there is nothing that can change or resist His will because when it is executed it is always perfect and always comes to pass.

Did God determine his own nature? If not then it would seem to follow, if I understand you argument correctly, that God also did not determine his own will.

 

[Everybodyknows]

Philosophy is as Philosophy does.

Since the consensus among Christian thinkers is that God is the foundation of the laws of logic, and that they are absolute, then I don't see any problem with applying those laws too these kinds of questions.

 

[MrAnderson9]

If God knows all, including his own future, is it possible for him to have free will?

Thoughts?

Free will appears to apply to things that are created. God wasn't created so "free will" simply doesn't apply.

Remember .. Free will is the freedom from the chain of events that lead to your creations. It's highly unlikely that we don't have free will.. but with God being The begining and the end.. there is simply nothing for "His will" to be free from.

 

[Christie insb]

If God knows all, including his own future, is it possible for him to have free will?

Thoughts?

Well there's that passage where God is about to wipe out all the Israelites and Moses talks him out of it. This passage is rather strange to me. But it would indicate to me that he can change his mind.

 

[YouAreAwesome]

Determism (D) - for every event there exist conditions that could cause no other event
Free will (FW) - the ability to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded

Compatiblists believe both D and FW are true. But this view is false because:

1. If D is true then only one course of events is possible
2. If FW is true an agent must be able to choose between different possible outcomes
Therefore, either D or FW is false.

God either
A. Does not know the total future (it is not determined and can still be changed), or
B. Does not have FW