A few days ago I had one of those conversations on religion and humanity (one I love to have), and I stumbled upon this question yet again: Does God know absolutely everything before they happen? Unfortunately I still do not have a clear answer to this question hence I decided to put my thoughts in writing. Hopefully I may bump into the answer. Coincidentally, last Sunday’s Catholic Mass reading was from the Bible verse Jeremiah 1:5, ‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you’.
I believe that God knows ‘everything’. But my incertitude lies in the absolutism of ‘everything’. My understanding is that God gives each one of us the freewill to choose from the different options in life. My question however is whether God knows what our choices would be?
I believe that God knows the exact day and time every man was born and when he will die. He knows who will end up as a doctor and who will end up as a lawyer. He knows what dates each person will be inducted into his profession. He knows who will be the next president of Nigeria. But does he know that Mr. Stone is about to commit adultery or that Mrs Sand is about to stab her niece to death? Or put another way, before Mr Stone was born, did he know that Mr Stone would commit adultery or murder on the 28th of Feb, 2022 by 2 pm in his garage?.
Does God know about the bad/evil choices we make? Did he know before our birth that we will make those choices that will lead us to sin? So does God permit sin and evil then? One can argue that this could actually be the case. Judas Iscariot was destined to betray Jesus. God knew it before he was born. Betraying Jesus was evil. God knew it and permitted it. Similar examples exist in the old testament.
This is a point atheists often refer to and one in which I struggle to provide a concrete reply. I find that I always get stuck whenever I try to explain myself away. Did God know about Hitler and his holocaust? Did he permit it? Could he have prevented it?
How absolute is God’s omniscience? Does he know and permit everything, both good and evil even before they are done?
Questions, questions, questions.
Alpha Chiemezie Madu
February 1, 2022
All “holy books” were really explicit about the omniscience of Gods. If Gods exist, then they all can see the future. Humans may have free will, but all Gods already know the choices that all humans will make with their free wills. That’s what omniscience means.
So does God know we will sin before we sin then? if yes, why do we try to avoid sin since we will sin anyway?
HE knows everything!!
Absolutely everything!
Everything that happened, HE allowed to happen
The reason is, to create world Balance.
Observe that HE gave us will to live our lives as we please when HE has every power to make us conform to HIS teachings
Even when he cretaed the devil.he knew the devil would betray the Heavens
I’d recommend you read and study the Bible….page by page …it will take you time….weeks, months years but it will be worth it
Yeah, he knows all things even before they happen. He knew that Hiltler was going to kill 6 million Jews in the holocaust, yet he let it happen. Reason? To create world balance. He’s also an ever loving God.
What is world balance?
Please what do you mean by ‘to create world balance’? What is world balance?.
Also, I agree with some parts of your submission but not all.
I agree that he gives us the free will to choose.
But my question is if he knows our choices? Does he know we will sin even before we sin? If yes, what is the point of avoiding sin then since we will sin anyway? Or are we trying to prove God wrong by not sinning when he knows we will sin? Or is this all just a game?
Also, did God really create the devil?? Did he? If yes, why?
I know lucifer was his angel but did he create the devil in him? If yes, then what really is the essence of life?