Election & Free Will

The Argument

1. God knows everything that will happen:

• God knows every thought you will think
• God knows every choice you will make
• God knows every action you will take

2. God cannot be wrong:

• If God knows you will eat pizza tomorrow, you must eat pizza tomorrow
• If God knows you will sin next week, you must sin next week
• If God knows you will pray tonight, you must pray tonight

3. Therefore,

• Every single action in your life is already known by God
• These actions must happen exactly as God knows they will
• You cannot do anything different than what God already knows
• This means you have no real choice - everything is predetermined

The Contradiction

1. God tests people to "know" what they will do:

• "God tested Abraham... Now I know that you fear God" (Genesis 22:1,12)
• "The LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD" (Deuteronomy 13:3)
• "To test them, whether they will walk in my law or not" (Exodus 16:4)
• "The LORD left those nations to test Israel... to know whether they would obey" (Judges 3:1,4)

2. God expresses uncertainty about the future:

• "Perhaps they will understand" (Jeremiah 26:3)
• "Perhaps they will listen and turn" (Ezekiel 12:3)
• "Who knows? He may turn and relent" (Joel 2:14)
• "If perhaps their case may come before me" (Jeremiah 36:7)
• "Perhaps they will show respect" (Luke 20:13)

3. God changes His mind based on human choices:

• God regretted making humans (Genesis 6:6)
• God relented from disaster after Moses pleaded (Exodus 32:14)
• God reversed Hezekiah's death sentence (2 Kings 20:1-6)
• God spared Nineveh when they repented (Jonah 3:10)
• "If that nation turns from its evil, I will relent" (Jeremiah 18:8)

4. God gives real choices:

• "I have set before you life and death... therefore choose life" (Deuteronomy 30:19)
• "Choose this day whom you will serve" (Joshua 24:15)
• "If you are willing and obedient... but if you refuse and rebel" (Isaiah 1:19-20)
• "Return to me... and I will return to you" (Zechariah 1:3)
• "Whoever wishes to come after me" (Mark 8:34)

Solution #1: Calvinism

God predetermines everything that happens.

Problems:

• Makes God responsible for evil
• Conflicts with God saying He wants all to be saved
• Conflicts with God giving people choices
• Conflicts with God pleading with people to repent

Solution #2: Arminianism

God knows what will happen but doesn't control it.

Problems:

• Doesn't explain verses where God seems uncertain
• Doesn't explain God testing people to learn their choices
• Doesn't explain God changing His mind
• Lessens salvific and sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit

Solution #3: Open Theism

God doesn't know all future choices.

Problems:

• Conflicts with God knowing the future
• Conflicts with prophecies and promises
• Makes God's promises open to failure

Objections

"God's foreknowledge doesn't actually cause the action"

While foreknowledge doesn't directly cause the action, infallible foreknowledge makes any alternative action impossible, which is incompatible with free will. If it's impossible to do otherwise, the action isn't truly free, regardless of what causes this impossibility.

"God exists outside of time"

This doesn't resolve the contradiction. Even if God sees all moments "simultaneously" from outside time, His knowledge of our actions would still be infallible, making it impossible for us to do otherwise than what He knows we will do.

"God knows what we would freely choose"

This creates a circular dependency: God knows what we will freely choose, but if His knowledge is infallible, then we couldn't have chosen differently, which means the choice wasn't free. The infallibility of the knowledge negates the freedom of the choice.

"God's ways are higher than our ways"

This is an appeal to mystery rather than a solution to the contradiction. While there may be aspects of God we don't understand, logical contradictions cannot be true, even for God.