DavidTree
Active Member
That was EXCELLENT - ty
Is open Theism biblical
- Thread starter TomL
- Start date
Y.A.W.
DavidTree
Active Member
or simply You are welcome
Pancho Frijoles
Active Member
You are welcome
Pancho Frijoles
Active Member
One thing I find compelling about open theism is that God starts and guides, but not necessarily micromanages, the evolution of the universe and life... and the same applies for all natural phenomena.
For example, does God make the sun rise every morning?
Well, we see that humans can program machines to perform activities at certain times without the need of a direct intervention. We also have programs that can give random results, but within certain parameters.
The wide variety of phenomena we see happening in the universe could be the result of a combination between "random" effects that happen within God's established set of physical laws, and some specific direct interventions from the Supreme Programmer.
God omniscience could mean knowing all possible effects resulting from a given state, but not necessarily producing those effects in a direct way.
We see it in natural phenomena every day in our lives.
For example, the ancient could think that God (of their gods) directly made the sun rise over the horizon every morning. That was one of God's "job", as humans had their own tasks to do every morning with their fields, herds, or trade.
We know that God does not "wake up" every morning to pull the sun up or take it into a winged chariot of fire to run through the sky until sunset.
We know that God has set physical laws that rule how the earth moves.
For example, does God make the sun rise every morning?
Well, we see that humans can program machines to perform activities at certain times without the need of a direct intervention. We also have programs that can give random results, but within certain parameters.
The wide variety of phenomena we see happening in the universe could be the result of a combination between "random" effects that happen within God's established set of physical laws, and some specific direct interventions from the Supreme Programmer.
God omniscience could mean knowing all possible effects resulting from a given state, but not necessarily producing those effects in a direct way.
We see it in natural phenomena every day in our lives.
For example, the ancient could think that God (of their gods) directly made the sun rise over the horizon every morning. That was one of God's "job", as humans had their own tasks to do every morning with their fields, herds, or trade.
We know that God does not "wake up" every morning to pull the sun up or take it into a winged chariot of fire to run through the sky until sunset.
We know that God has set physical laws that rule how the earth moves.
Except it would not be omniscience. If there is one thing God does not know then He is not omniscient definitionally. Hence the attempt to redefine the word.
civic
Active Member
yes a god locked into a box in which there is no escaping- fatalism at work by an impersonal deity.
Who is a fatalist?
Please note civics ignorance would mean the cross is impersonal and Christ's choice irrelevant.
Bob Carabbio
Active Member
It's nothing but "Theology" so unimportant.
Pancho Frijoles
Active Member
That's correct... from the perspective of our traditional understanding of "omniscience".
If God can predict all possible future states of, say, an atom, that would also be a kind of omniscience.
As humans, we only know facts. But God would know not just facts, but possibilities.
Talking in a less speculative and more personal tone, I heard long time ago, from some preacher, that God does not love us for what we are, but for what we can become.
Certainly, what we can become departs from what we are. Our most brilliant future is "nested", so to speak, in our present. We have been created in the image of God and we are His children, no matter how much we have degraded ourselves or tried to hide from God.
That really does not encompass a theology of open theism
According to your view but it is a great comfort to know God is open to the prayers of his people
Bob Carabbio
Active Member
Indeed He is. but Paul, like US still had to resist HIS OWN TENDENCY toward sin, as we all do. So "Dying daily" to the fleshley urges is plain. remember Rom 7:14-25.
Yes but what has this to do with open Theism?
Bob Carabbio
Active Member
Since "Open Theism" is a ridiculous fantasy, there's no sense in bothering with it.
Obadiah
Active Member
I agree. God is the great teacher, none of us can teach Him anything. God never has to learn, Open Theism is wrong. It is the idea that God does not know the future and is not totally sovereign and so is learning all the time… which is preposterous. Just because God has foreknowledge does not mean he planned it [predestined] or desired it.
No it is not the idea God is not sovereign
Nor is it even the idea God does not know the future
It's that the future is not a thing as it does not yet exist
From the scriptures we find
God has regrets
He tests to know
He searches the heart to know
these are things God comes to know in time
And that is your idea of evidence?
