Terrific post, Kaela. Grudem does correctly remind us that God is unchanging and His truth is unvarying and eternal. The thought the God changes His mind would negate the Scripture itself that teaches us that God does not change His mind, His will, or His nature. However, He will alter His judgement when we submit to His will and direction; “The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will
God’s continuing work can be seen in the incarnation of Christ and his redemptive work. “Christ is the visible image of the invisible God…God created the things we can see and the things we cannot see…everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else and he holds all creation together” (Colossians 1:16, 17). Not only is Jesus the exact representation of God, but he is God himself who worked with the Father in creating the world – the sustainer of everything (Hebrews 1:3). “Because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan” (Ephesians 1:11). This means that, “his will may be disobeyed, but his ultimate purpose cannot be frustrated, for he overrules the disobedience in his creatures in such a way that it sub serves his purpose” (Akin 2014, 235). Here we can clearly see God’s sovereignty and that we can rest in the truth that Jesus is Lord and God is in control. God’s involvement in our lives goes even deeper and shows us that he is personal and wants relationships with his creation. He not only spoke with Old Testament figures such as Adam, Abraham, Isaac and Moses, he held relationships with them through guidance and even discipline (Genesis 1:28, 3:8, 12:1, 26:5; Exodus 11, 19, 20, 33:11). Amos 4:13 says that God reveals His thoughts to man. We often
In addition to the Pentateuch, the Old Testament books of the Deuteronomistic history reveal the theme of God’s faithfulness to his followers. Initial examples are found in the conquest of the Promised Land depicted in the book of Joshua. Throughout the Israelite campaign to oust natives and settle the land, God’s actions demonstrate his faithfulness. In one instance God uses Rahab to hide Israelite spies, while in several other situations he allows the Israelites to defeat its foes. From these actions, it is clear that God remained faithful to his promise with Abraham (to provide his descendents with land). In addition to Joshua, the book of Judges provides an example of God’s faithfulness. Throughout the book, Israel repeatedly is unfaithful to God and is conquered by foreign powers. In response to Israelite cries for help, God repeatedly raises up
Very early in our Christian experiences we are taught that God is a saving and merciful God, however, some theologians such as John Calvin believed that God predestined all mankind. They are either predestined to heaven or hell. One of theologians John Calvin benchmark verses was Luke 13:23. He used this verse to show that our God is not a saving God, but indeed a selective God.
Thus, the revealed will (Scripture) is insufficient to know God’s real will, and I would say, it is even torturously
“San Francisco in the 1950s- 49ers Legends” tells about the 49ers' players my generation read about in the newspapers and listened to on play-by-play radio broadcasts and eventually on television.
This sounds like he is simply speaking in circles about the subject. He tries to say that God knows about the future, but he knows about our free will, which will give us the power to decide things, but in the end is also foreknown by God. This is where I start to defer from his beliefs, since I believe that free will is the cause of evil, but that God should be taken out of the equation. While it can argued that God only knows of all the possibilities and not what will directly happen, which would make it so that he is providing free will and is part of a triangle relation between himself, free will, and evil, it is simply much more logical to believe that if there is a God, then there is no free will, and if that is such, God is the originator of evil.
This means that whatever is said about the nature of God and God's being-in-the-world must be based on the biblical account of God's revelatory activity. We are not free to say anything we please about God. Although scripture is not the only source that helps us to recognize divine activity in the world, it cannot be ignored if we intend to speak of the Holy One of Israel.
The one thing that we know about God is that he is perfect and does not lie to us. Jesus implores us in Matthew 5:48 to “Be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (ESV). Numbers also tells us in chapter 23:19 “God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfill it?” Knowing that our God is perfect, his words are also perfect and
God does what He does and we do what we can do and good things are the result. I have also realized there are some things that God will not do. It doesn’t mean that God can’t do them; it’s just that He won’t do them. Big difference! God has no limitations but He does have boundaries. God has placed certain restrictions upon Himself these restrictions are a reflection of His nature and essence within our created world. God created all of humanity to be participants in His creation and not to be spectators of it
This particular argument is very conflicting for me. As a Christian reading the Bible, God states multiple times
Augustine warns against taking the Bible lieterally if it flies in the face of reason and observation. He understood why the Bible was written as it was. He rationalized that while the authors knew the truth about the nature of the skies, but it was not the intention of the Spirit of God, who spoke through them, to teach men anything that would not be of use to them for their salvation. It must be realized that the bible was written by humans, and not necessarily a direct quote from God. Boethius similarly discusses about something that does not necessarily directly relate but does support and explain how to understand Augustine’s words. He asks how one can reconcile human freedom with the notion of an all-knowing God. If God knows what we do before we do it, how can we be said to be free agents who must accept responsibility for personal acts? The answer is to look at the problem form the point of view of God, not from the human vantage point. God lives in eternity. Eternity does not mean
Fortunately, God alters his ideology over time. After destroying the world with a flood in the story of Noah, God realizes He has made a mistake, and accepts that no one is flawless. “I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.” (28). God’s promise never to flood the world again has much meaning to it, and displays a change in God’s nature. From a very early age, when one commits a wrong doing he promises never to do repeat the mistake again. By making this oath, one acknowledges the fact that he is at fault. Admitting to a wrongdoing by pledging never do the same again is simply human nature. Since God is the creator of mankind, He is the one who originally sets the base for human nature. Therefore, His actions can be decoded similarly to the actions of humans. After destroying the world with a flood, God regrets it, and admits His wrong doing by vowing never to destroy the world again. The flood incident allows God to realize that even a divine figure can make a bad decision, and to accept the fact that humans have flaws. The Lord is not longer so strict
God’s role in the Bible is characterized in several different ways, with dramatically competing attributes. He takes on many functions and, as literary characters are, he is dynamic and changes over time. The portrayal of God is unique in separate books throughout the Bible. This flexibility of role and character is exemplified by the discrepancy in the depiction of God in the book of Genesis in comparison to the depiction of God in the book of Job. On the larger scale, God creates with intention in Genesis in contrast to destroying without reason in Job. However, as the scale gets smaller, God’s creative authority can be seen in both books, yet this creative authority is manifested in entirely distinctive manners. In Genesis, God as
The depiction of God in the Bible’s story of creation, namely Genesis, brings to mind the image of an omnipotent, almighty and all-powerful child playing in a sandbox. Like a child his sole purpose seems to be to simply amuse himself, and possibly acquire a source of unconditional love. These needs are in contrast to the classic view of God acting with the idea of an ultimate plan. His actions clearly show that there is no perfect plan, or if there is it must be grossly overcomplicated. Consistently God makes poor decisions, and then eventually acts to fix the situation. The whole scenario conjures up an image of the crew of Apollo 13, alternately breaking things and then patching it together