Best Friend and I discussed a little on God's foreknowledge on Wednesday before we headed to Tanjong Pagar for a long walk and eventually dinner. God & foreknowledge. He knows everything, what we're gonna do, the mistakes we're gonna make, our next course of action. Yes, I agree with that. BF made a compelling argument, which I eventually agreed with. Then before repaying my snowballing sleep debt, I couldn't quite shake of the argument, my initial argument, based on Man's free will. Through the fogginess (blame it on late nights and dinners), I couldn't quite substantiate my stand. So I found this:
Consider the objection: "If God is sovereign, guaranteeing certain outcomes in people's lives, then there is no free will." This is flawed thinking. It doesn't follow that if God is in full control, then free acts are not possible. What is critical here is the way in which God is in control, the method He uses to guarantee the outcomes. Let me illustrate.
How would you catch a criminal who is on the run? Well, you'd think about where he might go, then you'd try to be there to intercept him. Now, if you had perfect knowledge--if you knew everything-- you'd not only know where he is at any given moment, but where he'll be at any moment in the future. You'd know exactly what time he'd arrive at any point along his entire route.
Would you be able to catch a criminal if you knew the exact moves he was going to make? If you knew the things he was going to freely choose to do--and this is important--at any given point, would you be able to catch him? Sure you could.
If you know he's going down a particular road and will come around a particular corner at a particular time, you could place your men there so that when he takes the route he freely chooses (though known by you), your men would be right there to nab him. You're in control the entire time--you're sovereign. You're able to be in control because you know every move he's going to freely make. Therefore, your plan can be perfectly executed, even though he's making his free choices.
—Bad Arguments against Calvinism
The other thing is the question What are we living for? Yes, we've been through this, not all the way, but I remember having done this. Which, of the many many epiphanies that I've had in this lifetime, answer this question? I read a bit of Ecclesiastes today... interesting, confusing, intriguing. Then I remembered a quote: All forms are unstable. To which an immediate reply was: God is stable. So for the most part of today, those two phrases have been ringing in my head as I contemplate the possible meaning(s) and attempt to analyse them right down to the full-stop. I'm enjoying this process. I might just end up enrolling myself for a bible study programme.
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