People who are interested in Open Theism should know that it is not blaspheming God. It is not blasphemy to say God does not know the future. Scripture does show God has some future knowledge, but our human tendencies take the future knowledge he has and assume he has more than he says.
1. The Bible doesn't say anywhere he has total and complete future knowledge of every event. Really! However, scripture does say he has some future knowledge, but it not right to add to scripture's account and say that "some" means "all". Instead, we should say "some future knowledge" means "some future knowledge."
2. Future knowedge is not necessary for God to be in control. He at any moment could do anything with creation he wished to do, so even without future knowledge, God is still extremely powerful, and "extremely" is an understatement.
3. Love requires freedom. If a man loves a woman, he doesn't force her to love him back by trapping her. Love must be allow freedom. If God is love, he wouldn't foreordain every single last thing in the world. Even though God does make future plans, he does not make every single thing he plans come about if he sees fit.
Take Jonah. Sent to prophesy that Nineveh would be destroyed in 40 days. God told him to go. But 40 days later, God didn't fulfill the prophecy. He instead changed his mind because the people changed their hearts. Had the future really been known, God would have known he wasn't going to destroy the city in 40 days and would not have said he would.
If you would like to discuss Open Theism, check out this discussion forum at Theology Online.com
Showing posts with label Open theism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Open theism. Show all posts
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Saturday, March 17, 2007
The Fallacies against Total Foreknowledge
There is no scripture anywhere in the Bible that tells us that God knows all of the future. There is no doubt that God does know some future events, but does he know all of it? Most importantly, did he know Adam and Eve would fall? It may be shocking, but it is true. There is no verse that tells us that God knows all of the future. Some do show some future knowledge, yet so many people take that to mean he knows all of the future. Why do we conclude that he knows all of the future? In part, because of tradition, but we also use logical reasoning.
This equation shows the logical thought process used to prove God has 100% future knowledge:
"A" knows all of the future because "A" predicted that "B" would happen with accuracy.
"A" = 'God', "B" = 'some bible prophecy', such as 'Peter denying Christ'.
So with this logical thinking, God knows all of the future because God predicted Peter would deny Christ. But is this really true? Does predicting a future event mean someone knows all of the future?
If you substitute "A" with an actual person and "B" with an event they predicted, the conclusion is not they knew all of the future.
"A" = My mother
"B" = Get married
My mother predicted that one day I would get married. Therefore my mother knows the all of future.
Did it happen? Yes. Therefore "A" (mom) knows all of the future. This logic fails big time. But there are other logical conclusions that try to prove God's unending future knowledge.
If the we can repeatedly show someone knows future events it is more likely or true that that person knows all of the future.
“A” knows the future because of the large number of accurate predictions.
Thus it is said that because God predicted Peter and Judas, the crucifixion, and the book or revelations, thus God knows the all of future.
But, again, my mom predicted that one day I would go to high school, that I would have a broken heart from a girl turning me down, that one day I would learn to drive a car, and that I would go to the prom and graduate. She said I would go to college, despite my non-willingness to go. And to this day she thinks me and my wife will have children. Therefore, mom knows all of the future?
Do you see? It is obvious my mother does not know the future, yet if you plug her into the equation, she does! But we know there is some other explanation... that is she knows me well enough, and she knows life of the typical American boy growing up. She knows what happens when you get married, and she believed and hoped I would find someone.
But there is one more logical conclusion to consider that we use to prove God's future knowledge includes every event in time:
"A" is powerful. Thus "A" can do "A-Z" (i.e. everything).
But there are problems with this, because we know God doesn't do everything just because he is powerful. For example, God is powerful, can he be the worst sinner? No. Some things are impossible for God, and sin is one of them. His inability to sin does not make him weaker, or less of a God.
Yet we also know God is so powerful that know he knows everything. But what is time? Is time a thing to be known by God? The truth is we do not know a lot about time. There are so many theories, each with their own sets of proofs, that science does not understand time. We must rely on what God tells us to understand the future, and What he knows about it, without assuming.
When it comes to future knowledge, we can only say God knows what he says he knows. We shouldn't take it to the next level and say he knows everything.
Here are those equations again:
“A” knows the future because “A” accurately predicted “B”.
“A” knows the future because of the large number of accurate predictions.
“A” is powerful. Therefore A can do A-Z (i.e. everything).
"A" knows everything. Therefore, "A" knows all of the future (even though isn't a thing)
We cannot prove through logical thinking with the evidence that we have how much of the future God knows. All we can do is say God knows the future event's he says he knows. Which brings us back to Adam and Eve...
So many people struggle with one question. "Why would God create a world like this one if he is so loving?" But what if God didn't know how things would turn out? We have no evidence to say God knew our world would come to this when he created it. What we do know is He created it to be "very good." But it is obvious this world is not very good any more.
Man is truly to blame. God created us to take care of the world he created, thinking we would follow him. God didn't know Adam and Eve wouldn't follow him. So when man turned his back on God and took this world in his own hands, God let him, but had no part of it, nor did he see it happening.
This equation shows the logical thought process used to prove God has 100% future knowledge:
"A" knows all of the future because "A" predicted that "B" would happen with accuracy.
"A" = 'God', "B" = 'some bible prophecy', such as 'Peter denying Christ'.
So with this logical thinking, God knows all of the future because God predicted Peter would deny Christ. But is this really true? Does predicting a future event mean someone knows all of the future?
If you substitute "A" with an actual person and "B" with an event they predicted, the conclusion is not they knew all of the future.
"A" = My mother
"B" = Get married
My mother predicted that one day I would get married. Therefore my mother knows the all of future.
Did it happen? Yes. Therefore "A" (mom) knows all of the future. This logic fails big time. But there are other logical conclusions that try to prove God's unending future knowledge.
If the we can repeatedly show someone knows future events it is more likely or true that that person knows all of the future.
“A” knows the future because of the large number of accurate predictions.
Thus it is said that because God predicted Peter and Judas, the crucifixion, and the book or revelations, thus God knows the all of future.
But, again, my mom predicted that one day I would go to high school, that I would have a broken heart from a girl turning me down, that one day I would learn to drive a car, and that I would go to the prom and graduate. She said I would go to college, despite my non-willingness to go. And to this day she thinks me and my wife will have children. Therefore, mom knows all of the future?
Do you see? It is obvious my mother does not know the future, yet if you plug her into the equation, she does! But we know there is some other explanation... that is she knows me well enough, and she knows life of the typical American boy growing up. She knows what happens when you get married, and she believed and hoped I would find someone.
But there is one more logical conclusion to consider that we use to prove God's future knowledge includes every event in time:
"A" is powerful. Thus "A" can do "A-Z" (i.e. everything).
But there are problems with this, because we know God doesn't do everything just because he is powerful. For example, God is powerful, can he be the worst sinner? No. Some things are impossible for God, and sin is one of them. His inability to sin does not make him weaker, or less of a God.
Yet we also know God is so powerful that know he knows everything. But what is time? Is time a thing to be known by God? The truth is we do not know a lot about time. There are so many theories, each with their own sets of proofs, that science does not understand time. We must rely on what God tells us to understand the future, and What he knows about it, without assuming.
When it comes to future knowledge, we can only say God knows what he says he knows. We shouldn't take it to the next level and say he knows everything.
Here are those equations again:
“A” knows the future because “A” accurately predicted “B”.
“A” knows the future because of the large number of accurate predictions.
“A” is powerful. Therefore A can do A-Z (i.e. everything).
"A" knows everything. Therefore, "A" knows all of the future (even though isn't a thing)
We cannot prove through logical thinking with the evidence that we have how much of the future God knows. All we can do is say God knows the future event's he says he knows. Which brings us back to Adam and Eve...
So many people struggle with one question. "Why would God create a world like this one if he is so loving?" But what if God didn't know how things would turn out? We have no evidence to say God knew our world would come to this when he created it. What we do know is He created it to be "very good." But it is obvious this world is not very good any more.
Man is truly to blame. God created us to take care of the world he created, thinking we would follow him. God didn't know Adam and Eve wouldn't follow him. So when man turned his back on God and took this world in his own hands, God let him, but had no part of it, nor did he see it happening.
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