What Does God Foreknow About Human Free Will in Heaven? (podcast)

Greg talks infinity, necessity, and possibility.  

Episode 1131

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Dan: Jason wants to know, How can God know all future events if the future has no end?
How can God know what we will do in heaven if we have free will in heaven? And also,
heaven is everlasting and has no end.

Greg: Well, two things. If there were true events for God to know then it would be no
problem that they have no end because God is infinitely intelligent. Anything like this, I
imagine, if you agree that God has always existed there must be an infinity of things for
God to remember: what God thought, what God did. God is omniscient so God knows
everything God’s ever done, if God’s always been around, then that’s an infinity. So God
already knows an actual infinity. So knowing a future infinity wouldn’t be a problem. IF
there are future events for God to know. I am of the persuasion that future events don’t
have any ontological substance. They don’t exist. There’s possibilities. Now some things
will become a fact, so God can infer from the present all that is settled in the future, But
as long as we have free will then there’s only possibility that I might choose this, I might
choose that. That’s what’s real, that’s the final thing that’s real. There’s no other fact
about what Greg will choose, if, in fact, it’s still open. And so what God knows is that I
may choose this or I may choose that. Now presumably when the Kingdom fully comes,
and we’re all perfected into the likeness of Christ, we won’t have the free will to do evil.
We could do it if we wanted to but because we’ll be transformed, we won’t want to. But
it still leaves all this room for free will. There’s a million different ways that I can love
Him, you know, and I get to choose. And so the parameters of our choices will refined by
our character, but there’s still free will in there. And I don’t think that’s fore-known. I
think God just knows every possibility of what we’ll choose.

I’m not going to go into the whole Open Theism debate. I think we’ve been around that
block too many times. So if you want to read up on it, read _________ Apostles, a good
starting point.