What if the beginning and the end are determined but the all else is up for grabs?

The Christian Bible clearly states that God is omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent. Given this, how can there be any freedom in the sense of choice OR action? God knew the choice of every person, animal and being before they existed. How can freedom and Christianity co-exist? In order to discuss the problem, theists use circular logic and omit the clear fact that God already knows the number of people He will cast into Hell, the were destined to be condemned long before they even existed.
Total rubbish...

Waythinker.

I am thinking that a discussion of free will is fairly engaged within the context of philosophy. Where we hit the wall is when God and religion are introduced into the equation. Theosophers and Philosophers are akin to oil and water-they do not mix well.
Religions are notable for their establishment of laws and commandments-tools for the regulation and control of the faithful. They resemble physics and attendant sciences in this regard, although sometimes the latter disciplines have the temerity to question their own tenets, theories and postulations. Generally, religions do not question their own tenets/laws, because, to do so would question God. And that would not do because it would open doors to dissention and ultimately, disbelief.
Philosophy has the admirable (to me) tendency to question everything. It is a construct of human consciousness, imperfect yet inquisitive. Amenable to change, it even has the confidence to question itself. So, we have two diametric disciplines which share a strange ironic duality: religion is philosophical in some respects but philosophy is rarely religious---unless we consider certain weird cults which have arisen in the last twenty-five to thirty years.
Free Will? Sure. For those who are not afraid to think.

Light
Beyond our man made faiths of Gods and more gods, beyond our theories of quantum mechanical science and science, beyond our self made natural laws as are all laws, or beyond our own limitations and restrictions confining and defining our motions and effects is the absolute freedom of truth. The truth that is immeasurably faster and equally more brilliant than the light of our own selves.
It is the light of the Universe!
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"Come to the edge he said.
They said: We are afraid.
Come to the edge he said.
They came.
He pushed them,
And they flew..."
Guillaume Appolinaire

Signing off. Thanks for your indulgence. I guess I'm in a different universe. Advice: grow a thicker skin if YOUR intelligence has been challenged beyond your tolerance. Whoopee (FKA, Karen) had it right.

Perhaps equal to the question of whether or not humans (and/or certain other organisms?) exercise free will, or as I prefer, 'conscious volitional physical causation' (!), is the question of why there has never been a universally agreed general proof for or against a proposed metaphysical ability to 'affect' a physical event. With or without quantum conditions, can or cannot the valididy of Laplace's conjecture ever be demonstrated?
The legendary Bob or Alice can 'internally decide' to strike a nail with a hammer depending on whether or not a proof of a certain theorem in mathematics they are working on turns out correct. Whether or not the theorem is indeed correct, this entire chain of events seems somehow inherently independent of physical causation.

There are other scenarios that would allow for free will. We take a walk through a wood and know the destination but the route may be varied. In the same way we move through life and certain points on the way may be determined but we can very the way we arrive at those points. The new film The Adjustment Bureau, deals with the problem and has a bunch of "angels" following us and readjusting us for decisions made that do not fit their road map. This is an interesting way of thinking about it. We are allowed to veer off course but are nudged back on when necessary. In the film an intense love affair is allowed to persist even though it is not part of the plan - and then the plan is redesigned. Interesting metaphors and indicative of the fact that there are as many ways of accommodating free will as our imagination will allow.

The truth of freedom is in the woods and the proof of everything is in us all.
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There are two states involved, although some might say that I am splitting hairs or scrunching semantics. Free will is an innate human function, which most of us exercise daily. FreeDOM OF will is what we try to exercise, until someone says: you can't do that. Choice is our optionizing factor, because we know what we can do with impunity and what we will be 'called on the carpet' for doing. We learn these things as children and still try to get away with as much as possible. When we are older? Same story. (See: Arthur S. and Fred N. for further information.)

Laws?
How many laws have we written that restrict our freedom; can they even be counted? Do the justices know how many; do they even know what all the laws mean? Doesn't just mean equality; and equality freedom? Are laws just or unjust? Why do we freely elect law makers to write more laws; don?t we have enough? Do we need to be governed or ruled; shouldn't we be voting for freedom? Have we been taught to fear our own free will; without laws there would be chaos; is that true? Do you need laws to live by? Who wrote the first law; and what was it? Who took away our freedom, our free will? Who will write the last law and give our freedom back? And?is there such a thing as natural law Professor Newton; or did the apple really or truly fall freely from the tree? Is the answer quantum mechanical, is it God's rules? Is God a ruler; is God free? Isn?t the universe just; isn't it equally free? I think it is; but why aren?t we?
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MJA

The essance of freedom is truth.
Be true,
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Lent a hand to the pedestrian crossing the bridge of emotion, from decry to forgiveness, I saw myself blanketed by the inability to cross myself. As I followed the path, crossing through the lines that have been so carefully and accurately separated as to allow for each step to perfectly intersect between; like a new fire man climbing his ladder, I found myself stuck on the first rung. The fear of heights, which can be a cause for ones hesitance to proceed on their paths, is not an appropriate analogy for the situation I found myself in. It wasn?t the fear that was humbling my mind from embarking on the necessary quest that I myself have paved for others in similar situations. Instead it is something that my mind has concocted from its cynic ability to think, and question, rather then believe in the world?s opinions and objective stances.
As we often hear when we try to lend our expertise to our friends or compadres, ?advice? is a lot easier to give then to receive. In a pendulum it is inevitable that the force that pushes itself upon the set of dangling magnets, will in return be pushed by them aswell. The formula for this might be accurate in scientific terms, but in the scope of psychology and sociology, that pendulum is often clipped before even reaching the first magnet. Whether that makes the whole better off or not, is something we as individuals can subjectively decide after the fact. I believe its always better clipped, therefore never leaving one with the desire or need to reciprocate.
One can see and address their issues with pendulum analogies, if they so choose, using logical stances to solve illogical equations can often lead to a debate of who or what is more qualified and why. Ignoring the loopholes of these circumstances, and setting upon a line that isn?t faded by interpretation, but rather cemented with logical proof, and reason, the only illusion it can present is that of being an absolute truth. Assuming that we are on the same wavelength then it?s as close to that illusion as we can get.
If only these formulas existed for the quests that we have to deal with everyday. Why not create the formulas? Is it so serial to perceive that the ability for the human to be able to live a formulistic lifestyle, one in which the major decisions and problems that exist, do not need to be handled with unsure methods, but rather by the mathematical fortitude that has been paved by those who we claim/honor as our experts. Is this the opposite of the ability to have that thing that we so value and cherish? You know the thing that my country has founded itself on. They call it freedom. I call it death.