Many people err by rejecting free will in the face of God's sovereignty, as if God could not be be truly sovereign and create beings along with physical laws that are totally free, independent of His will in every way except that He allows them to exist and act. On the one hand, to say he would not or could not implies that God is not all-powerful, but he is and he can. On the other hand, to deny the free will of mankind denies that we are created in the image of God for surely it is not our bodies, but our souls which bear the image of God. We manifest His image through the operations of intellect (reason) and free will (choice). Additionally, if men and women do not have an absolutely free will, then we are not really persons, but pre-programmed automatons. As Dr. Theresa Farnan (book, series) said in my philosophy class, "We experience our personhood in a unique way every time we freely choose something."
Now, free will may seem like a fly in the ointment of eternity and sovereignty, but I don't think it's all that complicated. (Trying to fathom it is the hard part.) Since God is eternity, the creation of time along with everything else, is an eternal (timeless, outside-of-time) action. The result of that action has a beginning, middle, and end; but, we must make every effort to avoid understanding it as if God is thereby subject to time. In this eternal action, God sees the whole chain reaction of all the physical laws and the free choices of all men and women which God, in His sovereignty permitted. Intrinsically to the action, God knows about the fall of man, the need for a Redeemer, and how He wants it all to end. So, for lack of a better way to say it, God "decided" at what points to inject Himself into time in manifest ways to draw us to Himself as our ultimate end.
The most important intersection of time and eternity is the crucifiction of His Son, Jesus Christ. It is the focal point of all history. These encounters with God that occur in time are all part of the eternal action to begin with (if we can even use that terminology). We see this in Sacred Scripture, especially in Revelation 13:8 where we are told that Jesus is "the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world."
Ultimately, we cannot accuse God of any mistakes. His plan was The Plan all along. It is an eternal plan in which we are totally free, permitted by His sovereignty to choose. As part of the plan, God guarantees that every person will have been offered sufficient grace to be saved from final damnation, but they must choose to receive it. In this way, He remains a merciful Father and just Judge.
It is at this point that I have discerned how highly improbable an entirely satisfactory conclusion* on the matter is attainable in my lifetime; however, I won't let that keep me from seeking one.
*Note: Satisfactory Conclusion = Full knowledge and understanding of the matter.
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