Think on These
Things
by Tom McLemore
Question: “Sir, If God knows what is going
to happen, doesn’t that rule out human free will?”
Answer: Humans are capable of a certain measure of
foreknowledge of events, and yet the actual causes of the events are distinct
from the one who knows ahead of time that they will happen. I may predict that if a child continues in a
particular activity, he or she may be injured (and I may even tell him or her
so). When the injury occurs, the child
would be incorrect to make me responsible at all for what happened. In 1 Kings 16:7, there is a story that is
pertinent to this question. “Moreover
the word of the LORD came by the prophet Jehu son of Hanani
against Baasha and his house, both because of all the
evil that he did in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger with the work
of his hands, in being like the house of Jeroboam, and also because he
destroyed it.” Please note that Baasha is punished for destroying the house of Jeroboam even
though God foretold it (15:29, 30). If
God’s foreknowledge relieves human beings of responsibility, then God is unjust
to punish people for the evil which he knows they will do. However, God is not unjust.
Address questions to tommclemore@juno.com
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