Is God omniscient?

[tonychanyt]

By dictionary definition, omniscient means "knowing everything".

Isaiah 46:

10 I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.’

Psalm 139:

4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.

1 Kings 8:

39 then hear in heaven your dwelling place and forgive and act and render to each whose heart you know, according to all his ways (for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind),

1 John 3:

20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.

The above are some strong indications that God knows everything.

Does God know something right before it happens or did God know everything that was going to happen even before the Creation?

I'd say the latter.

More interesting still, God knows even possible future in 1 Samuel 23:

9 When David learned that Saul was plotting against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod.” 10 David said, “Lord, God of Israel, your servant has heard definitely that Saul plans to come to Keilah and destroy the town on account of me. 11 Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? Lord, God of Israel, tell your servant.”
And the Lord said, “He will.”
12Again David asked, “Will the citizens of Keilah surrender me and my men to Saul?”
And the Lord said, “They will.”

But it was not going to happen because David would not stay and let it happen:

13 So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah and kept moving from place to place. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he did not go there.

In the NT, Jesus asserted in Matthew 11:

23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

It seems that God knows everything that happens and the outcomes of things that didn't happen.

 

[Mark Quayle]

By dictionary definition, omniscient means "knowing everything".

Isaiah 46:


Psalm 139:


1 Kings 8:


1 John 3:


The above are some strong indications that God knows everything.

Does God know something right before it happens or did God know everything that was going to happen even before the Creation?

I'd say the latter.

More interesting still, God knows even possible future in 1 Samuel 23:


But it was not going to happen because David would not stay and let it happen:


In the NT, Jesus asserted in Matthew 11:


It seems that God knows everything that happens and the outcomes of things that didn't happen.

Your conclusion assumes that things that did not happen could have happened!

If they had done thus and such, yes, this or that would have happened, but they didn't and it didn't. (Or they did and it did). One or the other happened —so we are right back where we started. "Would have" does not indicate that it was possible.

 

[tonychanyt]

If they had done thus and such, yes, this or that would have happened, but they didn't and it didn't.

Right.

"Would have" does not indicate that it was possible.

I don't get your logic here. Can you provide the missing logical steps?

 

[Mark Quayle]

Right.


I don't get your logic here. Can you provide the missing logical steps?

Perhaps I should have said, "'Would have happened' does not mean that what would have happened could have happened". The only way it could have happened is if such and so had happened, which did not, so what would have happened could not happen, because such and so did not.

If one is to protest, but such and so could have happened —in fact, it WOULD have happened, if this and that had happened, (but this and that did not happen). Each event depending on what caused it, all the way back to the beginning.

 

[tonychanyt]

"'Would have happened' does not mean that what would have happened could have happened".

Both "would have" and "could have" are used in the subjunctive mood of conditional potential happening. "would have" suggests a higher likelihood of a hypothetical past action, while "could have" indicates that the action was possible but not as likely.

For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.​

Jesus stated a subjunctive conditional fact. It would have and could have happened if the condition had been met. With hindsight, we know that it did not happen because the condition was not satisfied. So Jesus stated it as a hypothetical (subjunctive) fact.

 

[Mark Quayle]

Both "would have" and "could have" are used in the subjunctive mood of conditional potential happening. "would have" suggests a higher likelihood of a hypothetical past action, while "could have" indicates that the action was possible but not as likely.

For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.​

Jesus stated a subjunctive conditional fact. It would have and could have happened if the condition had been met. With hindsight, we know that it did not happen because the condition was not satisfied. So Jesus stated it as a hypothetical (subjunctive) fact.

It could have, only if. It would have, but it couldn't, because "if" did not happen.