I have a serious problem with theists talking about "free will" being granted to them by their Creator. I shake my head and explain that this makes little sense. Since this seems to be such a frequent discussion, let me put it down in writing.
Okay, so we have God. God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and whatever other omni-things you want to throw in there. God is everything. If God is omniscient, then human beings can't possibly have free will. Think about it. If God created everything, and knows everything (and has always known everything), then he knew even before we were born exactly what all of us would do every moment of our lives. We haven't the ability to do anything that God didn't know a million years ago that we'd do. And since he created us, that means we were created with his knowledge of exactly what we'd be like, exactly what we'd do. So if God knew we'd do a certain thing, and he still created us, then obviously God wanted us to do that certain thing. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made us at all. We don't have free will. We were programmed, exactly the same way a computer is programmed. God says "run" and we run. All exactly the way God knows we're going to. All exactly as he created us. Nothing can change what we do. God knows how even the most unexpected circumstances will affect us and how we'll react to them.
And yet, we supposedly have free will. But then, how do you define free will when your creator knew everything you're ever going to do even before he created you? That's not free will. That's programming. If we have the ability to go against our programming… if we have the ability to do something God doesn't want or doesn't expect, then either God is not omnipotent or not omniscient. Either way, it destroys the concept of God.
Free will and an omniscient, omnipotent Creator cannot go hand in hand. It's that simple. Why this fact escapes some people is beyond me.
