Do We Actually Have Free Will or Is It All a Set Up?"

I'd like to share with you a question asked on a friend's Facebook page ... followed by my answer:

QUESTION:
"We believe God is omnipotent, which means he is everywhere, everywhen and knows everything. Therefore, he knows all about each of our lives, ie when we will be born, when we will die and who our mates and children will be. That being said, do we actually have free will or is it all a set up?"

MY ANSWER:
Here's the deal (as I see it): Humans think of God on a human level. Newsflash: GOD ISN'T HUMAN ... GOD JUST "IS." Sure you can ask "What would Jeus do?" Jesus was a man. God incarnate, but still a man. I guess that's where that whole "In the world but not OF it" came from.

Personally, I don't think life is a matter of free will or pre-ordained destiny. I think its BOTH. God knows the answers because He (or she, or they) is God; however, WE don't know the answers. Remember ... God is omnipotent. There are countless outcomes for the things we do, don't do, think about doing ... I think you get the idea. God knows every one of those countless outcomes because only God can count that which is countless. After all God is ... well ... God.

Think of life as an improvisational movie. God is the writer & producer. As the "writer," He designed all that we are and all that is. As the "producer," he provided the "sets" (as Shakespeare wrote: "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players"). Some might want to assign Him the role of "director," but naahhh ...

The only time God says "ACTION" is when we are born & the only time He says "CUT!" is when we die. In fact, when that happens, I think he says "That's a WRAP!" Anyway ... everything in between "ACTION & CUT" is up to us.

Again ... remember, God is omnipotent. As such the script He has written has every conceivable action and outcome; however, when we are cast (born) we're not given a script. Now here is where it gets interesting ... We're all cast at different times, and so those who were here before us wrote down a lot of what they thought was going down at the time and then they passed it down. Every generation of "actors" has done this. Many even claim that what they've written is actually God's script. However, they're too many different texts with all kinds of varying inconsistencies.

In the end ... God is God. He's got this. Our job is to do what we do as best we can until our role gets cut. There it is ... Faith, Free will & Destiny ... all rolled into a neat little ball!

Have a nice day!