Q&A: Free Will and God Knows Everything
Free Will and God Knows Everything
Question
Hello Michael,
If I understood correctly, you believe that God knowing everything and free choice do not go hand in hand, because knowing a future that has not yet been decided and therefore also does not yet exist contradicts logic. You also compared the situation to God not being able to create a round triangle. I would be happy if you could help me put my finger on exactly where this contradicts logic.
Are you in agreement with the argument against free will and omniscience that goes roughly like this?
- God knows that you will choose x, therefore you will necessarily choose x
- If you will necessarily choose x, it cannot be that you choose otherwise
- If you cannot choose otherwise, then your choice is not free
If you want to formulate a different version, I’d also be happy to respond to that, but in the current version there is a logical flaw that is expressed in the word “necessarily.” Our free choices are not necessary realities; they are contingent. Therefore the correct formulation is that you will choose x, but not necessarily choose x; that is, you can change your mind and choose otherwise, and if you had chosen otherwise then God’s knowledge would have been different.
I can’t manage to see why there should be a contradiction between my free will and God knowing what I will choose with my free will. No matter what I ended up choosing, He simply knew that that is what I would choose. You can compare this to watching, in the present, a movie from the future—a movie in which the people behave freely. In the present, you know what choices those people will make. What logically prevents God from simply having access to the movie of the world’s future?
Answer
See my series of columns on knowledge and choice.
299 and onward