God cannot lie, and what are the other things God cannot do?

[GoldenKingGaze]

Exodus 4:21 The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

Exodus 7:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. 2 You are to say everything I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his country. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in Egypt

Exodus 9:12 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said to Moses.

Exodus 10:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them,

Exodus 10:20 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go.

Exodus 10:27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was not willing to let them go.

Exodus 11:10 Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.

Exodus 14:4 Thus I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

Exodus 14:8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly.

Exodus 14:17 As for Me, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.

Who hardened Pharaoh's heart?

Recalling Romans 8 and then 9, God foreknows how we will respond to grace the example being Pharaoh. Pharaoh did not have the grace of being first born as a Hebrew. He chose gradually growing up not to believe as the local Hebrews did. Not in El. When Moses confronted him it was known that Pharaoh would harden his heart to grace, so God hardened his heart. Grace causes an effect, firstly to soften our hearts, but the response is up to us. God can't force us. Salvation does work though. God can change your will. Especially when young. Now after the cross there is more grace than was available to the ancients in Egypt...

Later in the Exodus large numbers of Hebrews hardened their hearts to El and Moses. God did not want that. Hebrews as the firstborn, had many more chances than Pharaoh. Doing an 11 day journey in forty years and then only their children entered Canaan.

 

[bbbbbbb]

Recalling Romans 8 and then 9, God foreknows how we will respond to grace the example being Pharaoh. Pharaoh did not have the grace of being first born as a Hebrew. He chose gradually growing up not to believe as the local Hebrews did. Not in El. When Moses confronted him it was known that Pharaoh would harden his heart to grace, so God hardened his heart. Grace causes an effect, firstly to soften our hearts, but the response is up to us. God can't force us. Salvation does work though. God can change your will. Especially when young. Now after the cross there is more grace than was available to the ancients in Egypt...

Later in the Exodus large numbers of Hebrews hardened their hearts to El and Moses. God did not want that.

I seem to have missed your answer to my question in your effort to explain away the multiple texts I provided. I am quite uninterested in theological speculations. I grew up in a church filled with all manner of theological speculations.

If you are unwilling or incapable of answering my question, I will supply the answer for you.

The question was, "Who hardened Pharaoh's heart?"

Scripture clearly and explicitly states that The LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart.

 

[GoldenKingGaze]

I seem to have missed your answer to my question in your effort to explain away the multiple texts I provided. I am quite uninterested in theological speculations. I grew up in a church filled with all manner of theological speculations.

If you are unwilling or incapable of answering my question, I will supply the answer for you.

The question was, "Who hardened Pharaoh's heart?"

Scripture clearly and explicitly states that The LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart.

Who hardened the hearts of the twelve tribes of Hebrews in the Exodus?

 

[bbbbbbb]

Who hardened the hearts of the twelve tribes of Hebrews in the Exodus?

The answer, based upon the scripture you have (not) provided, must be nobody. Provide scripture and I will discuss it with you.

In the meantime, there is not the slightest scintilla of a doubt that the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart.

 

[GoldenKingGaze]

Hebrews 3:15-19
Hebrews 4:7
Psalm 95:7-11 ESV
7 For he is our nGod,


and we are the people of his opasture,


and the sheep of his hand.


pToday, if you qhear his voice,


8 rdo not harden your hearts, as at sMeribah,


as on the day at tMassah in the wilderness,


9 when your fathers put me to the utest


and put me to the proof, though they had seen my vwork.


10 wFor forty years I loathed that generation


and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,


and they have not known xmy ways.”


11 Therefore I yswore in my wrath,


“They shall not enter zmy rest.


Is it wise to think, God can harden a heart but not soften it and a chosen one's?

I think reference to the whole book Exodus and the forty year journey is better than a Bible verse quote. You know from such a reference that the Hebrews had many words from God, like Pharaoh and the pillar of cloud by day and fire by night with voices coming from within, and Moses, the Angel of the Lord, divine providence. Maybe if Pharaoh had all this, he'd have repented.

When the word of God came to them Pharaoh and the Twelve tribes of Israel, God did not choose for them, they either hardened their hearts or softened them, which God foreknew. So it is said, that at God's word and Spirit, that He hardened their hearts or softened them.

In context of the OP it is relevant that God can't force our hearts softened. He does not choose to cause darkness and when He can soften a heart, does not instead make it hard.

 

[GoldenKingGaze]

Romans 8:26-30 NIV
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.


28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[i] have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

God helps us, foreknows but does not make us sin, He foreknows of sin.

When after in Romans 9, Paul refers to Pharaoh, it is built on and does not contradict Romans 8:29.

Matthew 12:24-29 and here Jesus explains about Satan's and Christ's own Kingdom, that they don't compromise and do a bit of working for the other one.

 

[bbbbbbb]

Romans 8:26-30 NIV
26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.


28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[i] have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

God helps us, foreknows but does not make us sin, He foreknows of sin.

When after in Romans 9, Paul refers to Pharaoh, it is built on and does not contradict Romans 8:29.

Matthew 12:24-29 and here Jesus explains about Satan's and Christ's own Kingdom, that they don't compromise and do a bit of working for the other one.

I think we have addressed the original point of discussion, which is that God can, and indeed, does do things that are destructive, using the hardening of Pharaoh's heart as an example. Egypt was ruined, as well as its army, not to mention Pharaoh personally - in order that Israel would be freed from bondage, only to spend the next forty years wandering in the wilderness because of - you guessed it - hardening of the heart(s).

 

[St_Worm2]

Scripture tells us that God cannot lie. God doesn't change... what things are there that God cannot do?

Hello GoldenKingGaze, a question that is often held up as problematic for Christians to answer is this, "can God make a rock so big that even He can't lift it"?

The answer is "no", because ~God cannot do that which cannot be done~.

The same answer ("no") can be given to those who ask us, "can God make a square triangle", or "can He make 2 + 2 = 5"?

--David

 

[GoldenKingGaze]

I think we have addressed the original point of discussion, which is that God can, and indeed, does do things that are destructive, using the hardening of Pharaoh's heart as an example. Egypt was ruined, as well as its army, not to mention Pharaoh personally - in order that Israel would be freed from bondage, only to spend the next forty years wandering in the wilderness because of - you guessed it - hardening of the heart(s).

And from Psalm 95, God can only ask for us not to harden our hearts. We are people just like they were at Meribah.

God foreknew Pharaoh's ruin and exemplified it for Israel.

Jesus' sacred blood can be applied to you and soften and clean your heart, or if you are confused by deliverance noises, you may harden your heart. These two happened to me. And I suppose, first God softened my heart and then He hardened it, it was my choice. In the second experience I have regrets. Difficult to make the best choice when confused.

 

[GoldenKingGaze]

Hello GoldenKingGaze, a question that is often held up as problematic for Christians to answer is this, "can God make a rock so big that even He can't lift it"?

The answer is "no", because ~God cannot do that which cannot be done~.

The same answer ("no") can be given to those who ask us, "can God make a square triangle", or "can He make 2 + 2 = 5"?

--David

Maths in our four dimensions is a training ground for us to have wisdom. But in another cosmos, things may be different.

God could not really make a rock too difficult to lift but without the literal rock, and instead a selection of angels. I'd say He could, but is wiser than to injure Himself so badly. As it is we have the cross of Christ. That shows what He was willing to make as an accompaniment. In God strong will and ready to face much challenge, rather than be alone or with but a few and of small stature.