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Question: How can you believe both in God’s foreknowledge and that man has the power of choice? If God knows ahead of time that Mr. A is going to do something, how can Mr. A decide for himself? Isn’t foreknowledge the same as predestination?
Response: The biblical doctrine of foreknowledge simply states that God knows everything that will happen before it happens—which, as God, He must know. Prophecy, in which God reveals His foreknowledge, is the major part of Scriptures, the great proof that God exists and that the Bible is His Word (Isaiah:42:9Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them.
See All...; 43:10; 46:9-10; 48:5, etc.). Prophecy is also the foundation of the gospel (Romans:1:1-3 [1] Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God,
[2] (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)
[3] Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
See All...; 1 Corinthians:15:1-4 [1] Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
[2] By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
[3] For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
[4] And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
See All..., etc.). Scripture never says or even implies that God knows all beforehand because He has caused it—much less that He must cause it in order to know it. The future is as plain to Him as the past.
The future is part of time, which is part of this physical universe. God is not part of the universe (which He created out of nothing), but He is separate from it. Perhaps He observes the universe from the outside including past, present, and future time, seeing it all at once. It is not necessary for us to know how God knows the future but we know He must.
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