This is one that has been floating in my mind for a long time.
What is free will? Do we have free will, or is everything predetermined? Why in the world am I mentioning multidimensional space in the title?
I have wondered about free will and its relationship to multidimensional space since high school (or maybe just into college). I believe we have free will. I think God allows for free will. In fact I believe it is needed for Christ’s sacrifice to be worth anything at all. I mean, seriously, if I was predetermined to go or not go to heaven, why did God have to come to earth, live a perfect life (no sin), die on a cross, be raised from the dead, and then ascend to heaven if I was already predetermined to go to heaven?
I know that some of you will quote Eph 1:4-5, Rom 8:28-30 (and others) from the Bible and tell me that it says it right there. I would argue that it says that God knew that I would accept Him has my Savior.
Here is the thing, there are many places in the Bible that talk about how God wants everyone to accept Him, repent, and gain access to heaven. 2 Peter 3:9, 1 Timothy 2:4-6 (and others). So I would argue that this leads to the need to accept that free gift from God. To choose to repent and live a life following Christ. If it was all predetermined, then is there a point to it all?
Some will say that I am taking away to power of the cross by saying a person has to choose to accept it or not, but how does that take away the power from God? I don’t see that taking away His power. I see it bestowing part of Himself on us. When God created man and woman He gave us the ability to choose. He made us in His image and part of that image, I believe, was the ability to choose. Adam and Eve had the ability to name animals by their choice. They were able to do what they wanted. As a result, they made a very bad decision in the garden and chose to eat from the tree they were told not to (see Genesis 3). Did God know that was going to happen, yes, he did. Did He hope it wouldn’t happen, yes, He did.
The same thing happens today. God wants all people to choose Him and follow Him, but not everyone does that. People get to make free will choices. And God knows what is going to happen.
I am sure you must be asking yourself, “Where does this multidimensional space thing come in?” Well, here is how I think it may all work. The multiverse states that all outcomes happen. It is just that we experience just one universe and those sets of choices that were made. Some believe that there are an infinite number of universes out there where all other possible decisions have been made and therefore things are very different than they are here. When I first heard about this line of thought I thought it was kind of cool, but not very practical. What is the point of an existence where all possible outcomes happen? Now, my decisions make no difference at all since there is another universe where I didn’t make that decision and so the results worked out better (or worse) in that one. There is no hope in this kind of thinking, in my opinion. But what this line of thought did do for me was that I started thinking about how this could apply to God.
God is all knowing (omniscient). God is everywhere (omnipresent). God is all powerful (omnipotent). Because He is omniscient, He knows all possible outcomes to all possible events. So, I believe that God sees all these multiverse possibilities. He sees the results that may have happened if I would have chosen a different college to go to for example, but when I made the decision to go to the U of A then all those other multiverse possibilities ceased to exist.
And this goes back to the free will of choosing God or not. He sees all the possible outcomes for everyone. He sees all the opportunities everyone gets to accept Him or not in their lives, and each time He wants that person to choose Him using their free will. If that person does choose to follow God, then all the other multiverse paths where the person didn’t accept Him go away, and if the person doesn’t choose to follow Christ that time then God sees the next time in that person’s potential paths when they will have the opportunity to choose Him again.
I may be totally wrong, but I also don’t believe that my reasoning will prevent one from going to heaven. I know many people will completely disagree with me on this. I would love to read your comments, thoughts, and reasonings behind your beliefs on this topic.
Hi Bro,
Interesting way to think about this. Very quantum wave-mechanics.
I’m not sure that I agree with you though on it.
I could probably write a long time about it, but I don’t have the time, so I’ll try and be brief.
I kind of think about the fact that God has to exist outside of our universe, seeing as He created it. But, Physics has shown (thank you Einstein) that not just Space, but also Time, is a part of our universe. A part of creation.
That means that God exists outside of Time as we experience it. Whether that means He exists in No-Time-Dimensions or in Infinite-Time-Dimensions…well that’s another conversation completely.
But, it means that God doesn’t experience Time the way we do. Which means that He doesn’t experience Cause-and-Effect like we do, since, for us, Cause-and-Effect is integrally connected to our understanding of time. Effect always comes after Cause in our universe. But, that doesn’t have to be the case for God, because He exists outside our Time. Maybe, for Him, Cause and Effect can be somehow intertwined with each other. So, in His perspective it’s not a contradiction to say He’s chosen us to be his children, but we are also the ones choosing to put our faith in Him. To say both can happen at the same time is a statement that only makes sense within our understanding of Time. God doesn’t exist in Time like we do.
So, I’m content to not completely understand how it works for God, because His existence outside of our universe is so completely beyond what my mind could conceive.
Did any of that make sense? If not, then you probably understood better than you think.
Thanks for taking up my time,
Your Bro.
I agree that God does exist outside of time. So, maybe your way is a better way to think about it. I don’t know. I was just rambling about it all, and coming up with another possible way it may be. I am also content knowing that I don’t know what God knows, but that He knows what I going on and has it all figured out.