Free will? Predestination? Yes.

I like reading and discussing even dissecting scripture, but I wouldn't catagorize myself as a theologian. In fact, sometimes I have made a statement and been chewed up be armchair theologians. So, I post this with a little reservation, imagining all the theological holes which I might not be aware of. I post this as my thoughts on a tough subject.

One of the most major divides in theology is the free will/predestination divides. Armenians believe that we have free will, we choose at accept salvation, we can resist God. Calvinists believe that we do not have free will, our lives are predestined, God chooses us and we can not resist him. I am pretty firmly in the Calvinist camp, but I understand the appeal of the Armenian position. I feel like I have free will, I feel like I am choosing my actions, I feel like I made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as my personal savior. The problem is, of course, I don't think scripture reads that way, it actually even explains the feeling by saying we choose him because he first choose us (see Ephesians chapter 1).

I've been mulling on this for sometime and it seems we might have created this division to aid our own understanding. It puts God in a box we understand and can get comfortable with. I'm beginning to think these views, at least as I understand the are incomplete.

Let's think about the nature of God for a moment. We know he is all knowing, but what does that mean? It is not limited to what was, what is and what is to come. See, he not only knows that but he also knows the outcome of every choice which was not made, every cascading combination of possibilities. He knows what was and what could have been, what is and what is not because of our set of choices, what will be and what could be. If you can imagine how small now is on a timeline where the past and future stretch out to the horizon, now imagine how unique our timeline is in the panorama of all possible timelines. All knowing is infinite.

The second nature of God I want you to think about is all powerful. We think about that in terms of the good he brings to our lives, but that is such a weak view compared to what is actually going on. See, since God is all knowing and all powerful, he not only knows all the timelines and choices he knows, but he also has the power to direct which one will take place. Then, even if he chooses to let a set of events run their course, because he knows exactly what will happen and it is not harder for him to change it than leave it alone, he is choosing that timeline. He can't not choose something. Additionally, he chose that something at the beginning of time, because he already knew everything.

Ok, let's set that aside for a moment while my brain cools down and talk about film. Pretend for a moment you are a film maker who is caught in a Bill Murray Groundhog's Day scenario, where you live the same day over and over again. On each day you get to film a couple having a conversation, which because of little changes changes every day. You don't interfere, the conversation is natural, but if you move where you park your car it changes. Anyway for 1000 days you record, tweak and record. Then at the end of the 1000 days, you get to select which footage is the footage you will move forward with, which conversation will they actually have. Now consider for a moment, are you controlling, or pre determining, what the day after Groundhog's Day looks like for this couple? It seems clear you are. On the other hand, did this couple make choices in their conversation, respond to each other by their own choice, or freewill, if you will? It seems they did.

Now, imagine God again, the all knowing and all powerful. He, by the virtue of these very traits is in this very situation. Like a director of a super, all time Groundhog's day, where only he knows what all the other options could have been. Clearly, he has to choose the timeline, the path the world will take. But, just as the couple made their own choices, so do we. We are responsible for actions, we have free will as much as it is possible. We have Responsibility for our sins and obedience. Yes, God knows the choices we will make, but the choices are ours.