The Inevitable Sin

It was my destiny‍

WWe’ve all heard the phrase, “It was my destiny.” But was it really?

Are we being pushed or pulled toward a particular fate, regardless of the choices we make? If we do have a destiny, what happens if we don’t want it? Why would we be given choices only to be forced toward an outcome we cannot change?

Most of us have considered questions like these when thinking about the future. Yet from the very beginning, the Bible shows that God gave humans the freedom to choose their own path. Our decisions were not made for us before we were born. We have a real choice in how we live and which direction we take.

Many people understand God’s omniscience to mean that he knows everything about the past, present, and future, including every decision we will ever make. But God does not know which choices you will make until you make them. He can read your heart and may anticipate a decision based on your thoughts and actions, but the choice remains yours.

That may sound surprising if you have always been taught that God knows everything. You might ask, “How could God not know? Isn’t he God?” It is an understandable question. But the belief that God already knows every choice we will make raises questions of its own about his love and our freedom.

Please allow me to explain.

Free Moral Agency

If God were to know every choice you make before you made it, the argument can be made that you never had a choice in the matter. How could you choose differently if God had already seen exactly what you would do? From that perspective, your future would already be settled.

For example, if God already knew that Adam & Eve were going to sin before they chose to, then the sin really wasn't their fault because God already knew it would happen, and allowed it. Essentially they were destined to make that choice because God already saw it happen prior. It was predetermined to occur by God’s foreknowledge of the event. Let’s consider this on a much larger scale.

This would mean that all the wickedness that history has recorded (the crime and immorality, the greed, the oppression and resultant suffering, lying and hypocrisy, false worship and idolatry, wars, bloodshed and death) once existed, before creation’s beginning, only in the mind of God, in the form of his foreknowledge of the future in all of its minutest details.

In essence, this would mean that everything is just a rerun of what God had already known. If God knew beforehand everything that would happen after mankind was created, then when he said, “Let us make man,” he knowingly set in motion all the wickedness and the full weight of the suffering that would follow.(Ge 1:26)

Because the churches of the world teach of Gods omniscience as all knowing in this manner, it is no wonder so many have a hard time putting faith in, or finding love for, a God who would allow all this suffering to occur. If God is a god of love, there must be a better explanation, and fortunately there is.

Free Will

God is omnipotent, omniscient, and eternal. These qualities are what make him God. Yet just because God is omnipotent, or all powerful, does not mean he must use this ability at all times. God’s exercise of his might is not simply an unleashing of limitless power, but is constantly governed by his purpose and, where merited, tempered by his wisdom, justice, and mercy (Ne 9:31; Ps 78:38, 39; Jer 30:11; La 3:22; Eze 20:17). This view is consistent with the examples we see in the bible where God uses his power such as during the flood, or splitting the Red Sea. God clearly has control over his power to use at his discretion, when he uses it, where, and how much.

The same reasoning also holds true of his omniscience, or the all knowing of things. Yes, God has the ability to know all things if he chooses to see them, which is called prescience, or foreknowledge, yet just as he has the ability to control, or limit his power as he sees fit, his ability to foreknow or foresee all things that occur are at his discretion as well, and must conform to his purpose for which he created all things. His purpose for his creation included the giving of free will.

In order for free will to exist, God governs his use of foreknowledge, in particular the choices that we make, essentially filtering them out. This allows all of creation to truly choose their own path, without God predetermining our actions by the use of his ability to see all things in advance. In choosing not to use his ability to foreknow all things, this in turn gives us free moral agency to make our own choices, at the same time giving God the ability to hold his creation accountable to their actions.

Based on this understanding, the following verse regarding the test given to Adam & Eve, one can say that it was a fair test because God did not look into their future to see what choice they would make, but simply laid out two choices, and let time take its course.

‍Ask yourself, if God already knew they would eat from the tree, then why didn’t he stop it? Surely a god of love wouldn't allow all of this suffering to take place if he already knew they would eat the fruit.

“. . .And Jehovah God also laid this command upon the man: “From every tree of the garden you may eat to satisfaction. 17 But as for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.”” Ge 2:16-17

The answer is, God did not know if Adam & Eve would sin. In fact, he did everything he could to prevent them from eating from the tree. He placed the perfect couple in a beautiful paradise with other trees that also provided an abundant source of nourishment. He gave them a perfect moral compass, their conscience, to guide them through their lives to live in harmony with his purpose. Finally, he specifically told them not to eat from the tree and warned them of the consequences of doing so. The rest was now up to them. It came down to two choices, and God stepped back and allowed them to make their own decision without knowing which one they would choose.

This perspective more clearly harmonizes with the loving God that is portrayed in the Bible, and it helps us to come to a deeper appreciation of him. Instead of predetermining our choices by his foreknowing of all things, he uses discretion upon his creation by allowing us to make our own choices without knowing what they will be.

Because most Christian religions teach of Gods omniscience as an all knowing of everything that occurs, it is no wonder so many have a hard time putting faith in, or finding love for a God who would allow all this to occur. However, from the very beginning, as will be shown God is not only a god of perfect love, but also incredible wisdom and foresight. Part 2 of this article will expand upon the true nature of free will, and why sin was inevitable.

(End of Part 1)