“If God knows every decision we’re going to make, what’s the point of our agency?” Liahona, August 2018
To the Point
If God knows every decision we’re going to make, what’s the point of our agency?
This question has puzzled people for centuries. The way we answer it is based on two basic, revealed truths:
God knows all. God’s view is not bound by time (see D&C 38:2). In addition, He had an eternity of personal experience with us before we came to this earth, so He knows the inclinations and character of each of us better than we do.
We have agency. We are intelligent beings, children of God, who loves us and has established a plan that allows us to become like Him—if we choose to obey Him (see D&C 93:27–32; Abraham 3:21–25). Agency means that we can act for ourselves and not be acted upon (see 2 Nephi 2:14, 16, 27).
God’s familiarity with our character and His foreknowledge of our choices does not cause us to make those choices. Both because He knows us and because we have agency, He invites and entices us—but does not force us—to do good and believe in Jesus Christ (see Moroni 7:16–17).