Of course the religious folks hate talk like this.............
Jesus Is Lord.
I totally agre in this post and am certainly not afraid of this kind of talk. I will propose these thoughts to you which for myself have helped tremendously in sorting out this free will, yet foreknowledge of God stuff.
Does God know everything? YES --------- However what is the definition of everyting.
1) I surmise that the definition is that God knows everything about Himself, His plans and His own thoughts as they unfold. I do not believe that God knows all the thoughts He will have in the future. Not knowing this does not make Him less God.
Ex: Eons of years ago in God's past, did God know that He would eventually decide to create Angels, and then a universe and then Humans? I say NO. If God always knew this then He would have
no choice but to go through with it. This would always mean that God is
not a
creative God, but a robotic God going through the motions that is already laid out in His mind.
2) God knows everything that He creates. Nothing is hidden because He created it. Space, matter, the universe, atoms, energy, you name it none of that is hidden.
3) God also knows every thought that enters our mind. As we formulate thoughts He is there, right by our side, listening to our own reasonings.
So my revised definition is God knows everything that is
knowable.
In other words FUTURE thoughts cannot be known (NOT KNOWABLE) because they do not exist. Did God know that Adam was going to choose sin?
How could He, when Adam was not even created and thus incapable of thinking or even making that choice. It is something that is not knowable. Does that dimishe God's all-knowing power? Not in the least.
Did God know that Abraham was really going to go through with the sacrifice of his son? I think God knew 99.9% that Abraham was going to be faithful and trust God, but only in that split second of time when Abraham lifted the knife did He know. Not even when the knife was lifted in the air would anyone know not even Abraham. It is when that split second decision when Abe stopped lifting his arm and ..................then began the downward swing that it could be known.
Gen (22:12) And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for NOW I KNOW that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
Do you see where I'm coming from? Until a decision is made, it has no existence. There's nothing to be known. That is true free will. So that when man choose God, HE is ELATED, and when man sins and rejects Him He is truly GRIEVED. But if God knew this all along, then why not just play chess against Himself or play in a huge sandbox with a bunch of GI Joe human, ripping an arm here and sending another to hell there.
Did God know that the Israelites were going to throw their babys into the fires of Molech? After all the deliverances, the victories, the blessings, the cloud, the fire by night, no way could His people do that. YET -----
Jer (32:35) And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.
Was God grieved? You better believe it.
Do we honestly think that God needs angels to adore Him? Does He really need a relationship with humans to love Him?
However God in His infinite love and compassion wanted to share this with other beings. And so He started with Angels. Not robot angels but free will angels who would experience the very presence of God before His throne and would have the capacity (free will) to respond accordingly. Which I believe they all did in the beginning until one prideful and selfish archangels, Lucifer, thought Himself better than God, and this to His demise. Did God know Lucifer would rebel? How could He? Until Lucifer was created, and he formulated the plan in his mind, that very choice or thought was non-existent, not knowable. Does that diminish God? Not in the least.
God did know of the
possibility, of angels or men, to reject and rebel against Him. It is to be expected when you give them bona fide free will.
For the angels it was worse than man. Because they chose to rebel even though they had been created in the very presence of God. Where we cannot see that kind of Glory lest we die. And so there was no redemption for them. He had to created a hell for their banishment. And I don't believe in the hogwash of "If God is a God of love, how can He send people to hell." God is also a God of Justice and Righteousness and to not send them to hell would eradicate that attribute of His.
I believe that within the council of God, when they decided to create man, they also knew of the possibility of man's sin. Let's face it, it happened with the angels, but not all. But in the event that man would sin God went an extra step. Jesus out of Extreme love, love of the Godhead for us, decided that He would come and take the penalty of death. Not knowing a decision that had yet to occur, nevertheless "THE LAMB WAS SLAIN BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD."
Now do these ideas raise many other questions? Sure they do, but I tackle them one at a time.
I think I've said enough for now.