The theistic God is described as omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and benevolent (all-loving). If God knows everything from beginning to end and if He created everything, how does this reconcile with the idea of human free will? It's a very interesting topic to me. Has everything been predestined and predetermined, and are we only living in the illusion of free will? Are we really free?
J.R. Lucas suggests open theism, that the future is open, not closed. God is like a "Persian rug-maker who lets His children work at one end while He does the other" and when His children make mistakes, His skills are so great that He "adapts the design at His end to take into account each error" they make. God's will is not necessarily a blueprint, set in stone. The universe is not static but dynamic, as vague possibilities are continually crystallizing into reality. Things are only unchangeable once they have passed from the present into the past. God oversees everything coming into being, and because He created each one of us, He is aware of our flaws and the errors we are likely to make. God loves His children and instilled an intrinsic value on our desires and opinions; He tries to cater to us. And God's awesome providence is not diminished because not everything happens as planned, but His grace is amplified because He makes good come out of situations when it might not have seemed possible.
This reminds me of my former youth pastor's explanation of free will, the shoebox analogy. Take a shoebox and poke one hole on opposite ends. Place obstacles in the box (i.e. a puddle of water, sand, soil, a twig, etc.) and allow an ant to enter through one of the holes. Now watch the ant try and make its way to the other end. The ant can freely choose to take any route, left, right, straight ahead, even in circles. Once in a while, when the ant is completely off track, you can take a stick and coax it to go in the right direction. Eventually, the ant will reach its destination, regardless of the path it chose to take.
I think this is an awesome perspective on God's grace and will for our lives. There are certain events which He has predestined for us, but along the way, He caters to our desires and allows us to make our own decisions. He oversees everything, every decision, every moment in our lives, but allows us to make mistakes, even though He foresees our mistakes. This does not take away from His benevolence, that He allows us to fall and hurt. On the contrary, it is a reflection of His incredible benevolence that He, who is capable of creating humans without free will, would rather grant us this privilege than have us live a fully automated and predetermined life. This idea resonates with the title of this blog, "A Beautiful Mess." It is comforting to know that even though I am a flawed creation doomed to make mistakes, God is able to transform this "mess" into something beautiful. And in His infinite power and knowledge, even these mistakes ultimately contribute to the fulfillment of His will.
I sooooo don't think we have all that much free will and I don't think predestination is in effect. Our life experiences breed complexes and complexes impact our freedom to act in ways we may wish we could. I think, it may sound strange to say, that we have more responsibility than free will. It may be in that responsibility that we fail...and because we fail we need to be compassionate toward ourselves and experience God's grace. It catches my attention at how much WE need to see GOD as benevolent for our own survival at every level. It also seems that we need to see God as watching or attending to us as well...the watching kind of goes along with our own need to reflect on our motives and actions, and the benevolence with the kindness we also need to extend toward ourselves. The idea that God has predestined us for specific events seems to show our need for a sense of meaning and positive fate...which to me reflects the need to assert responsibility with wisdom and good judgment and to humbly seek out answers via prayer and discernment.
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