Prisoner of Knowledge

In my mind it seems patently obvious that God's foreknowledge and God's predestination are basically the same thing. That is, if God knows what will happen in the future and God is not wrong, then it will happen. Since He knows it perfectly, it is predestined to occur. Seems obvious to me. Not so obvious to others, I guess.

There are those who argue that God's foreknowing is not the same as foreordaining. Now, if my explanation above is not accurate, I can only come to one of two possible conclusions and both end up in the same place. One possibility is that things are going to happen outside of God's will. He knows it (foreknowledge), but cannot do anything about it. He is, in essence, a prisoner of His own knowledge. He doesn't want it to happen. He doesn't will it to happen. He just can't do anything about it. The other possibility is that He sees what will happen and could do something about it, but chooses not to. In this case, He's a victim of His own knowledge once again. He didn't want it to happen, but wasn't willing to do anything about it. He could, but simply chose not to.

In either case, God is a prisoner of His foreknowledge. He knows perfectly what will occur but either cannot or will not do something about it. In one case He is not quite omniscient. In the other case He is not quite good. In neither case is He the God that we all know and love.

Or ... God knows all contingencies, but knows nothing contingently. He knows what will happen because He either causes it directly or ordains it to be. All that happens (yes, including sin) is part of His divine plan that will bring about, in the end, what He intends. He may cause it or He may allow it, but it is His will. We may not see it and we surely don't understand it, but it is working out exactly as He knew it would because He foreknew it and foreordained it.