CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

okay so i'm on myspace and i was talking about God and free will. i'm trying to explain it but i'm finding it difficult so i asked my parents on what their views were but then they got off subject and never answered me. can someone explain it to me how they would explain it to a non-christian person so i can explain it. also i'm slow so try to make it real simple. course it probably won't be. thankies!


p.s. um i don't know if i put this in the right forum so could someone do it please? thankies!!

Hmm...this forum is probably fine.

Anyway, free will, eh? Well, keep in mind this is merely my opinion on the subject, and is in no way condemning other peoples views.

That said, I believe humans do not have totally free will. We have semi-free will.

Why do I say only semi-free will? Well, in my opinion, if humans were to have TOTALLY free will, then we would be able to make a choice to not sin. However, we cannot make this choice, as the Bible states "for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23)

God is all-knowing. That means that He knows all that is, was, and is to come. This means that our entire lives are already known to Him. Some could argue that this means that our lives are predetermined, and I guess to an extent that's true, but keep in mind we are able to make our own decisions. He just knows what those decisions will result in.

I hope this has helped you, and I hope it makes sense.

it's kinda what i said but some still don't get it. and when ever i go on this subject i get all like so um yah anyone else.

oh yah! thankies kae!!

i went back and now i'm like, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!" okay i think i'll stay out of there for a while.

The way I have always explained it is that it all depends on whose point of view you are looking at free will from. From God's point of view, He knows everything we have done and will ever do. He knows us better than anyone else ever could. He knows how we will react in every situation, so he knows everything we will ever do.
We, on the other hand, don't know all of this. We basically have to follow God and try to do our best to make choices that would honor Him. So from our point of view, our lives are not predestined and we have to make choices, but from God's point of view he knows what we are going to chose, so in that way you could say that our lives are predestined. It has always seemed to me that all this issue does is show the power and knowledge of God, but it does not affect the way we live our lives.
I have no idea if this will be helpful at all, or even if what I said is that different from what kaemmerite said, but I hope it helps a little.

lol thanks but it's sorta the same what he said and what i said in there. and then they started to say well if bla bla bla then He doesn't exist and our lives are pointless. i'm like whoa! um bye! lol so yah it's a hard subject for me to explain but i get it i just can't explain and i want and need to know how. or do i really need to? well i want to.

in the book Mere Christianiy by CS Lewis, in one or two of the chapters, he talks in-depth about the reasons why God gave man free will, if you would like, i can go find those chapters for you.

Yeah like Soul Alive said Mere Christianity would be a really god book to go read and or buy CS Lewis explains free will very well and also explains how God sees our future, past, and present as Hurricane was saying

i actually have that book but i haven't had the time to read it. thanks i'll read it when i got the time.

for a quickie reference on Mere Christianity, the main chapters on free will are:
book 2, ch. 3 'the shocking alternative'
book 4, ch. 5 'the obstinate toy soldiers' & ch. 6 'two notes' (note one)

hope that helps

thanks i'll be sure to look at that.