October 19, 2002

Free Will
Elrohir

Annatar, I believe that a Tolkien forum is indeed an appropriate place for a discussion of predestination/free will, simply for the reason that Tolkien's work is not completely understandable until one comprehends the author's background and worldview.

Free will and and foreknowledge are not, I believe, mutually exclusive. There are a few possible ways to look at the issue. One, as you pointed out, is God's foreknowledge of all possible futures, which is as you said a mind-numbing idea. So thus, even as we make our little decisions here and there, God knows what choice we are making and understands the future accordingly. Additionally, this neither restrains nor limits God's power in any way, since he knows what we are fated to do even if we have not made a particular decision or not.

I hope this helped clear this issue slightly. My explanation is very imperfect, since I do not pretnd to completely understand the mystery. If one were to do this, it would be ascribing to oneself omniscience, which is an attribute of God only.