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Thank you so much for the ping to this engaging sidebar and for sharing all of your insights!

I only have one thing to contribute for the discussion - namely, that the sense of "free will" is grounded in the sense of time passing - much like entropy (cars rust, people age) and counting (1,2,3, etc.)

Or to put it another way, in the absence of time there is no free will, no entropy, no change, no cause, no effect.

Space/time is part of the Creation. We mere mortals are denizens of it and our vision and mind is limited by it. But we should not presume our limitations apply to God. The Creator is not limited by His Creation.

For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. - Isaiah 55:8-9

Thus, when He says that He doesn't change. That is Truth.

For I [am] the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. - Malachi 3:6

And thus, when He says that He obeys. That is also Truth.

I and [my] Father are one. - John 10:30

Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. - John 12:27

And thus when He says "if/then" that is also Truth.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. - 2 Chronicles 7:14

And thus, when He says we are chosen from the foundation of the world, that is also Truth.

Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly [places] in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. - Ephesians 1:3-6

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [to be] conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. - Romans 8:29-30

Man is not the measure of God.

We ought always believe and trust the words of God because they are His.

Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: - Luke 24:25

He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. - John 12:48

Nevertheless, only those with "ears to hear" can perceive the words of God.

It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life. - John 6:63

Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. - Matthew 22:29

But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. - I Corinthians 1:24

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned. - I Corinthians 2:14

Why do ye not understand my speech? [even] because ye cannot hear my word. – John 8:43

To God be the glory, not man, never man.

For I [am] the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. - Malachi 3:6

The LORD is the immovable unchanging ROCK on which every human being stands (whether the human is prepared to acknowledge this or not is entirely beside the point). If the ROCK started "changing," or moving around, we no longer would have firm footing anywhere.

But our LORD tells us: "I change not," declaring the substance of His Truth, which suffices and more than suffices for every human need, in this mortal world and its spiritual beyond.

Of course, such an insight is "spiritually discerned." Its total opposite is reflected in the increasingly popular doctrine that there is no one central unifying Truth, but only a plethora of various opinions of Truth, all of equal value.

Making "man the measure" of Truth is a prescription for human personal and social disaster, wherein the center no longer holds; wherein the Beast continues its relentless slouching towards Babylon....

My, but we do live in interesting times, dearest sister in Christ!

Thank you so much for your outstanding essay/post!

I agree rather wholesale . . . with a caveat . . .

I suspect that we will discover that while it may be ‘technically possible’ for God to . . . operate his whole thing from His perspective outside of time . . .

I don’t think He does.

I believe His time frame is different . . . . as HE says . . . one day as a thousand of our years . . . or perhaps that as an analogy . . .

I think God enjoys the element of time and plays it like a piano as He does all aspects of His creation.

Certainly His ways ARE beyond our ways . . . His thoughts beyond ours . . . His foolishness greater than our wisdom . . .

And, it has not entered into the heart or mind of man the glories He HAS prepared for those WHO LOVE HIM.

Praise God.