Expert: Sal - 6/28/2006

Question
I read this on a website:

As far as God knowing which babies are going to die or which people are going to hell so why create them? It needs to be understood that God does not know nor choose the future. This is a very common misconception of what it means to be omnipresent (all knowing basically). It is the Church's stance that God is not constrained by the limits of linear time. Omnipresent--literally always present--implies that God is accessing all time presently. So, God isn't creating a being that he knows will go to hell, that would almost be an evil in itself. Instead, once created, God knows all that will happen. But not until created, for the uncreated have yet to exist for God to know.   

Is this true? Does God not know we are going to exist until we actually exist?

Thanks,Lisa

Answer
Hello Lisa:

I think that God knew you before you were conceived. God sees all things as now. Things are not past, present, future to God. He is beyond time. Think of time as a table with past events on the left, current events in the middle, and future events on the right. We, being human, can only be at one of the places (left, center or right) at a time. However, God can be understood to be above the table. He sees all things at the same time because He is not limited by time or space. We humans, of course, are limited.

I hope that this helps.

God Bless You,
Sal