Could in what knowledge we have as finite human beings, but will in what was then God's foreknowledge, which humans do not have, unless revealed to us by God through His prophet/s.

Tom, Thomas, and John:

Does God know if you will be saved or doesn't He know?

Tom,

Plese explain the following passage to me:

"GOD knows the end from the beginning. He knew, before the birth of Jacob and Esau, just what characters they would both develop. He knew that Esau would not have a heart to obey Him. He answered the troubled prayer of Rebekah and informed her that she would have two children, and the elder should serve the younger. He presented the future history of her two sons before her, that they would be two nations, the one greater than the other, and the elder should serve the younger." {SR 87.1}

Rosangela asked for an explanation of an excellent EGW quote that she quoted in her last post here.

I am interested in Tom's and whoever else's explanation also of what that quote is saying in relation to this topic.

Imported from a different thread:

TE: If the person in my example must to A, then the fact that he doesn't know he must to A (because the future is hidden to him) doesn't make it any less the case that he can't do B. The fact that he thinks he can do B when he can't doesn't change the fact that he can't do B.

MM: The words “must do” and “can’t do” do not make sense to me, Tom. We’re talking about God’s divine hindsight, His ability to view the future like history. Words like “must do” or “can’t do” do not make sense to me since God is describing something that someone has already done. I think He would use words like “will do” and “has done” and “did not do”.

TE: Now if you're dealing with some prophetic event, then of course what God says forms a huge percentage of what we know about that future event.

MM: What does our percentage consist of?

TE: But if you're dealing with something like what you think will happen tomorrow, like whether it will rain or not, God's divine ability to view the future doesn't come into play much if at all.

MM: Unless we’re talking about Noah. This discussion is, at least I thought it was, dealing with God’s ability to foretell future events like reporting history. Not what could or might happen – but what has already happened.


TE: You're really not even touching the point I have been making. I have pointed out repeatedly that God's foreknowledge isn't important to the argument. It's just cloudying up the water. Let's keep things simple, then add complexity later.

MM: “Thus, we cannot divorce God’s ability to foretell the future from this discussion.” (Please see context above)

TE: If a person can do either A or B, then the future cannot be such that only A can happen. Does this make sense to you?

MM: Only if we divorce God’s foreknowledge and hindsight from the equation. From our perspective, if God says nothing about it, the future is unknown. We cannot know with certainty what will or will not happen.

Yes, only God knows the future and what choices we will choose of our own freewill to make.

God in His foreknowledge doesn't dictate our choices, but rather allows us to make those choices that He knows we are going to make. He may warn us of the consequences of such choices, but He doesn't force us into making a different choice.