Eastern Orthodoxy & Open Theism

[SavedSinner777]

the same reason parents say the same thing to their kids when they test them.

There are numerous examples in Scripture of God changing His mind.

 

[SavedSinner777]

I think I am going to stay in the Adventist church, even though Ellen White, who is believed to be a messenger of God, was definitely not an open theist. She wrote that God knows the future ahead of time. Richard Rice, on the other hand, is one of the main promoters of open theism today, and he's a professor at Loma Linda University.

Richard Rice (theologian) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[ArmyMatt]

There are numerous examples in Scripture of God changing His mind.

not according to the Fathers. the Bible also says that God doesn’t change. so when God appears to change His mind, it’s really either us who are changing or Him showing something about the saint He is talking to. again, parents do this with their kids all the time.

 

[ArmyMatt]

I think I am going to stay in the Adventist church, even though Ellen White, who is believed to be a messenger of God, was definitely not an open theist. She wrote that God knows the future ahead of time. Richard Rice, on the other hand, is one of the main promoters of open theism today, and he's a professor at Loma Linda University.

Richard Rice (theologian) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

prayers for you on your journey!

 

[Not David]

I think I am going to stay in the Adventist church, even though Ellen White, who is believed to be a messenger of God, was definitely not an open theist. She wrote that God knows the future ahead of time. Richard Rice, on the other hand, is one of the main promoters of open theism today, and he's a professor at Loma Linda University.

Richard Rice (theologian) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

You should go by the faith delivered to the Apostles, not just on one guy because he believes what you want.

 

[zippy2006]

The actual points made by Bulgakov are worth discussing:

If I'm not mistaken, Bulgakov is saying that God's experience of eternity, of never-beginning and never-ending, rather than being apart from time, is the very foundation of time. What he's also saying is that it would negate free will if God were capable of exactly predicting the future, rather than simply being aware of all the possible choices that free willed beings might make in any given situation.

The full paper can be found <here>.

There is nothing here to indicate that Bulgakov is an Open Theist. Far from it. That God, "limits his knowledge of the future in order to enable genuinely free human choices," is not Open Theism. Bulgakov is trying to avoid predetermination, and this is a common Orthodox move.

 

[ArmyMatt]

this is a common Orthodox move.

sorry, what is a common Orthodox move?

 

[zippy2006]

sorry, what is a common Orthodox move?

Avoiding predetermination.

 

[prodromos]

Avoiding predetermination.

Foreknowledge is not predetermination. Knowing that something will occur is not the cause of that thing occurring.

 

[ArmyMatt]

Avoiding predetermination.

who says we avoid predermination? we reject what certain folks conclude about predetermination, but that doesn’t mean we avoid it (ie we affirm predermination when it comes to the Incarnation).

 

[ArmyMatt]

Foreknowledge is not predetermination. Knowing that something will occur is not the cause of that thing occurring.

correct, plus events and acts of God in creation are predetermined.

 

[zippy2006]

Foreknowledge is not predetermination. Knowing that something will occur is not the cause of that thing occurring.

According to the article posted, the only reason Bulgakov avoids foreknowledge is because he thinks it leads to predetermination.