The halls of mandos and elvish "free will" - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Selmo · 09-23-2002, 03:46 AM

The idea of "fate" (or predestination), in literature or in life, has always troubled me. I've thought about it a great deal, so here are the musings an elderly hobbit:

All Elves, Men and other rational beings have complete freedom of choice, limited only by their intellectual ability and the constraints place upon them by the society in which thasy live.

Fate is an illusion that seems to be widely accepted by the Elves and by many men, based on two things: an unwillingness to accept the blame for their own actions when events go badly wrong and the fact that the Doom of Mandos and other prophesies have been fulfilled. God (Iluvatar) is apparently aware of everything that each individual will do and has let some of this information leak to the Valar in the Great Music.

How can God's knowledge of our future actions be compatable with free-will and choice?
We know that God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent but to answere my question, he must also be omnitemporal. God is not limited to our linear experience of time but exists at all times similtaneously. God knows how each of us will live out our lives, not because he controls us, but because he has seen how each of us has used our free-will. God does not fore-see the future, he sees it.

09-23-2002, 03:46 AM	#9
Selmo Shade of Carn Dûm Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: The Shire (Staffordshire), United Kingdom Posts: 273	The idea of "fate" (or predestination), in literature or in life, has always troubled me. I've thought about it a great deal, so here are the musings an elderly hobbit: All Elves, Men and other rational beings have complete freedom of choice, limited only by their intellectual ability and the constraints place upon them by the society in which thasy live. Fate is an illusion that seems to be widely accepted by the Elves and by many men, based on two things: an unwillingness to accept the blame for their own actions when events go badly wrong and the fact that the Doom of Mandos and other prophesies have been fulfilled. God (Iluvatar) is apparently aware of everything that each individual will do and has let some of this information leak to the Valar in the Great Music. How can God's knowledge of our future actions be compatable with free-will and choice? We know that God is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent but to answere my question, he must also be omnitemporal. God is not limited to our linear experience of time but exists at all times similtaneously. God knows how each of us will live out our lives, not because he controls us, but because he has seen how each of us has used our free-will. God does not fore-see the future, he sees it.