Sorin, you have started a wonderful discussion.
I would like to offer two insights, one of Free Will and the other on Preordination that might help you understand a little better
- Free Will -
This is probably the greatest fallacy of all time, and I think after you read my explanation you will understand why.
Ray has said: " states: “Man has the ability to think, plan, create, imagine" etc. But the key to understanding Free-Will is the word Create. Yes, we can create; we can imagine a concept, think and plan it through and then create it with our hands. Yet we cannot WILL it to happen, we are NOT FREE to do so.
God has such power to create (WILL) life, clouds, the Earth, Solar System, Galaxyies, and Universe yet we have not the WILL to boil water for coffee. Sorin, when next preented with someone saying man has free will, please correct them and say that man has FREE CHOICE. Yet, this is limited by God's Will, not ours. Should we choose to jump to the moon, we cannot, and neither can we will it. Likewise, if we choose to boill water, we first must have the necessary elements needed for us to do so, We can't will them either.
- PreOrdained -
There is a huge difference between knowing and preordaining. Let's say that a mother put's a plate of choclate cookies in front of a toddler and says "don't touch" Yeah right!
How many times and how many years would it take for that child to know and understand that just because those cookies are in reach, does not mean that they are entitiled to take any? The Parent will certainly hope that this will one day happen, could be in their teens. Here's the catch though, so the teen doesn't take a cookie for a day, week, month, year or decade, but then takes one. I think a parent would be EXTREMELY suprised if their child was presented with a plate of cookies for ten years and never took one.
There is another angle that we need to look at, let's say that this was a 10 year case study on 100 children starting at the age of one. Certainly there would be those children that would learn not to eat the cookies quicker than others. Could be that a few would tatse one, decide they don't like them and never take another. At the other end of the scale there are probably those that don't really care in the rules and will have or leave the cookies according to their reasoning and not the parents.
I think this would be an execellent case study and I truly would love to see the results.
Now substitute the cookies for the raping of a young girl,
Sadly, it will happen. Not because there is some big time line and suddenly a man is told: "Okay buddy, it's time....."
No, rather it's due to our sinful nature, our sometimes willingness to harm and maim. (not all share this as not all like choclate)
God knows it is going to happen.
I hope this little analogy helps
Your brother in Christ.
Darren