Reconciling Divine Foresight with Human Free Will
The idea of divine predestination and the freedom of human choice can be reconciled if the notions of divine foreknowledge and predestination are clearly distinguished. That is, God may possess complete knowledge of the future, but that knowledge does not impose a specific choice on a person nor nullify their freedom. As noted in one source:"One must not confuse foreknowledge with predestination. Parents may sometimes foresee what will happen to their child if they take a certain path. But by doing so, they do not predestine the child’s behavior—they merely foresee it; that is, foreknowledge is not predestination. This is the essence of freedom: a person is placed before a choice. And it is this choice, the very act of choosing, the very orientation of the individual, that determines their condition." (source: link txt)Thus, God’s knowledge of the future is not an act of determining human actions, but rather a reflection of His omniscience. This idea is echoed in other statements. In particular, it is emphasized that if God knows exactly which option a person will choose, this does not cancel out the act of choosing itself:"From the fact that God knows what the will will choose, it does not follow that the will does not choose. If someone knows what I will choose, that does not exclude the act of my choosing, much less the subjective experience of that act as free." (source: link txt)It is also important to note that divine foreknowledge does not interfere with human free will, as by its nature it is not a determining element:"Divine foreknowledge is not predestination, i.e., it is not an infringement on my freedom. God cannot touch my freedom. He simply cannot!" (source: link txt)Thus, although God knows the outcome of all events, human freedom remains real and effective. The freedom of choice is not only an integral part of being human, but also a means of manifesting one’s divine image, allowing an individual to determine their own life independently of divine omniscience. This perspective reconciles the idea of divine predestination with the concept of freedom, where knowledge of the future does not exclude the possibility of a conscious and independent choice.