Still going, LOL…
I’ve heard a helpful analogy to demonstrate how hypertemporalism doesn’t remove God’s ability to experience time. Maybe its been tossed around before, but here it is:
Existing in the 3D world, we have the ability to observe multiple 2D planes in conjunction, and so if we are discussing phenomena we need to add an extra’ dimension’ to describe ‘which’ of these multiple 2D planes we are referring to. We call this ‘depth’. Being able to observe depth and multiple 2D planes at once, does not mean we can’t understand or distinguish between phenomena in terms of the 2D length and width as well. We then add the fourth dimension of time, meaning we can observe multiple 3D ‘spaces’ in conjunction, while still maintaining an understanding of 3D and being able to distinguish between phenomena in terms of the 3D dimensions. If God is hypertemporal, He can observe multiple space-time ‘entities’ in conjunction, but is still able to understand time and distinguish between events in a temporal sense.
Interestingly, this accommodates the emerging radical ideas about time’s impermanence vs permanence, its relationship to general relativity, and whether it’s ‘direction’ is merely an illusion. It doesn’t matter, since time is merely distinguishing between otherwise identical events. The ‘parameters’ we attach to it are useful for descriptive purposes, but not fundamentally important for distinguishing between phenomena and constructing a holistic picture from multiple space-time entities.
Regarding Free Will, it sounds like you might be sympathetic to the idea of Free Agency.
You’ve probably heard of it before, but for those who don’t know, Free Agency maintains that God values / respects / protects some fundamental attributes of our souls, so that we really do make real choices from our own innate drives and desires, and that these choices reflect only two things: our fundamental nature and character, and our perception of reality and the options available to us. However, it denies ‘free will’ as most people understand it, because (paradoxically) it is opposed to the basic assumptions of justice (e.g. without a basis, our choices are essentially random and thus not truly reflective of who we are, and not eligible for reward in any sense), and opposed to the realities of life (as any social worker or advertising agent will tell you). Although we really do make the choices, we never have the real ability to choose anything other than the best single option we perceive (subjectively) in any given context. And our perceptions and characters are highly stable and predictable, and mould predictably (again, with a basis, and not randomly).
From a Christian determinism perspective, since God is in absolute control of all of the things our choices are based upon, and all the things that mould our character, this makes Him in absolute control of our decisions, but NOT in a way which violates the properties of our souls. In other words, God has chosen to limit Himself to work in ways which our souls will respond to, in order to bring about His purposes in and through our choices. This is one big reason for the process we call ‘life’.