Let's start at the beginning... Is there a God who knows absolutely everything...?

[timewerx]

Let's start at the beginning... Is there a God who knows absolutely everything...?

And, I mean "everything"...?

I'm not 100% sure of this based on the Bible.

Although many of the Israelites said claimed God knows everything from Biblical references, none of these are first-person claims. Many are potentially just human assumptions like what David said in Psalms.

I don't think there's one instance that God Himself explicitly stated that He knows absolutely everything.

 

[Loren T.]

He doesn't "control" it, just knows it (all) (what we will choose) all the way back to the beginning, from before making it... Based on fully knowing, fully, "all" the (very numerous) preexisting conditions and all the (very numerous) "factors" and all the numerous "influences" (on us) that leads us to, and dictates/influences (controls) (all) our decisions and all our decision making processes...

I'm talking about a God who knows all of that, all the way back to the beginning...

God Bless!

Sorry, I don't get it. Why does God's knowing influence our decisions? I can see if you're saying God putting us in a certain place of birth with certain parents and so on, limits our choices somewhat, but it doesn't negate them.

 

[nonaeroterraqueous]

We have total free will...There are no examples of anyone who was programmed like a robot.

This statement shows that the free will you refer to is not related to the free will argued in the subject of predestination. No one, not even a Calvinist, denies the free will that you speak of. When you describe it like that, I'm not sure you're even trying to refute Calvinistic predestination. A person has free will and makes his choices, and goes his own way, but he cannot escape the design and plans of God. A person's will is not free from the sovereignty of God, as if by choice one could arbitrarily decide not to let prophecy be fulfilled, as if people could have known and understood and rebelled enough to actually prevent Christ from ever being crucified according to God's plan

Could it be that life is already pre determined while having free will simultaneously?

Yes. Is the body just a sack of chemicals or is it a living, breathing person? The two sound contradictory, but if it were not a sack of chemicals, then it could not be a living, breathing person. In the same way, despite the appearance of contradiction, there could be no free will and no person to have it, were it not for God's predestination.

A character in a novel discovers that he is being predestined by its author, so he demands that the author remove his hand, set him free and have no influence in his decisions. So the author lifts his pen from the paper, stops writing, and the character ceases to exist.

We don't really know what He means by predestination.

By "we" I hope you refer only to yourself. I always find it irritating when people try to project their own ignorance on the whole world, as if to say that because they don't know, then no one else can know, either.

God knows everything that can be known.

With God, everything can be known.

Sorry, I don't get it. Why does God's knowing influence our decisions?

It follows as the logical consequence of being both omniscient and omnipotent. If you know absolutely everything, and you can do absolutely anything (with perfect ease), then there is no real difference between what you cause and what you allow, and every single little thing is subject to your scrutiny and direction. If God were less than omniscient, then we could blame an outcome on his ignorance. If he were less than omnipotent, then we could blame it on his inability. Being that he always knows what to do and has the power to do it, nothing escapes his absolute sovereignty.

If cause and effect follow strict rules and are not random and unruly like a bad dream, then everything that happens is a product of what came before it. The first cause was God. Whatever conditions he arranged in the beginning gave rise to where were are today, and he knew exactly how it would happen, according to how he started it. It doesn't end there, either, because he still has the same power today that he had then. He is still sovereign, and he still interacts with his creation.

 

[PaulCyp1]

Yes, omniscience - knowledge of everything - is one characteristic of the one true God.

 

[baryogenesis]

I think, that Paul didn't mean that they (God) (Godhead) were completely unknowable... I just think he was kind of "blown away" by some of the revelations he was getting and having and was kind of "in awe" at the time... And was seeking to glorify and elevate God, in that moment...

And/cause I guarantee you, Paul certainly did not mean that we should not "try to know/understand/comprehend God" and all of that... Cause, I mean, just look at what he spent his life trying to do...? Was it not just that...? (seeking to know God more and more and fuller and fuller each time)...?

Which means we should as well, right...? And it will more than likely come in stages and steps as well, in many "levels" to knowing (God)... Getting closer and closer each time... But can we ever fully get there...? That is the question...?

And we should not, not try either or as well, cause we should try, after all, that's what true followers and believers in Jesus spent their lives doing, was seeking to "know and better understand God" right...?

Absolutely! Believers have sought to know more and more about God from the start and on through to the present time. This searching after God is a sign of real faith -- faith given to us by God. (Rom 12:3)

But consider Rom 3:10-12. We are products of a sinful nature. If it were not for the faith given to us -- not of us nor "deserved" (in other words: Grace) -- we would all be in the situation described in Rom 3:10-12, as this is the natural state; the human condition.

We seek after the Mind of God, but we cannot really know it any more than a small child trying to understand the universe. Or a pet cat or dog trying to understand why the lights in the house keep going on and off at the movement of people, instead of by the cycle of the sun. I cannot even know if this is hidden from us by God for a purpose, or if it is more that we are simply not equipped at this time, or in our mortal flesh. Or if there is even a difference between those.

And I agree; just because we cannot understand in fullness doesn't mean we shouldn't still try to follow His paths as far as we can. Indeed, for what purpose have we been given His Word? That same Word that tells us we can only get so far?

"For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: 'He catches the wise in their craftiness' [Job 5:13]; and again, 'The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.' [Psalms 94:11] So then, no more boasting about human leaders! All things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future -- all are yours, and you are of Christ, and Christ is of God." ~ 1 Corinthians 3:19-23

 

[Silly Uncle Wayne]

Let's start at the beginning... Is there a God who knows absolutely everything...?

And, I mean "everything"...?

And, if so, how so...?

And, what does he do with this knowledge...?

Comments...?

God Bless!

Win TV Trivia Quizzes - he'd be really good at Pointless.

 

[baryogenesis]

Let's start at the beginning... Is there a God who knows absolutely everything...?

And, I mean "everything"...?
I believe there is.

And, if so, how so...?
I could only speculate, obviously. But I have always thought of His Omnipresence as an essential part of His Omniscience. To me, a question that came back to me over and over was: "How can an Omniscient God -- by definition knowing everything without limit -- know what it is like not to be Omniscient?" To know what it feels like to be small and extremely limited in all ways?

Well, His Omnipresence means He is everywhere, including the minds/memories/experiences of all living things, throughout all time. How can He know what it's like not to know much at all? One example, He knows -- among the multiverses of knowledge -- the full measure of the life experience of an insect, so that really isn't a problem I suppose. One property (side-effect?) of Jesus' incarnation was to know what it is like to be on the other side of God's all-knowing "eye." To know the experience of being a "creation" subject to the Creator and Sustainer of All. Jesus, the Son of Man, who God was pleased to have "the fullness of the diety dwell within," [Col 1:19] would perhaps be like a feedback loop of knowledge within and without.

God even knows what it is like to be at the mercy of someone more powerful than Himself (in earthly terms, Pilate), to be crucified, to see the faces of His apostles as they first saw Him resurrected, etc. He was there, so He knows. He is everywhere, and so knows all. He created and dwells within the large scale we see (in part) when looking up at the night sky or through our most powerful telescopes -- and He created and dwells within the smallest scale of His creation that we can only "see" with our most advanced mathematics. (And if He is there, it is not so difficult to understand His "Omnipotence." Everything is not only created by Him, but even all the invisible "pieces" of the universe are of Him. C.f. Matthew 10:30.)

And, what does he do with this knowledge...?
Perhaps some deific version of experiencing His creation? Why did He create the universe, us included? God is conscious and aware. Does God "dream?" Are we within one? I have never bought into the notion that God is like a machine just churning out creations for no purpose other than making things. There is a purpose. Perhaps this purpose requires the attributes of God (that we know of), all powerful, all knowing, all present? Perhaps this is only the way we can experience God, or maybe we (collectively, along with the rest of Creation) are part of a feedback loop (as with Jesus)? He can see through our eyes, sense all we sense, He can know our experiences, our fears, our joys, our inadequacies, our need for Him, our crying out for salvation... Perhaps "sin" is stepping out of our appointed path in this infinitely ongoing creation? And God's infinite mercy is what allows us to step back into the fold when we are separated from it? ("Sin" means "separation," a deviation from the path we are to follow, yet we are accepted back when God convicts us and causes us to understand how far we have veered from our appointed place, like an errant thread in a tapestry. We are also "parts" of the whole, and it is His desire to bring the pieces strewn about together once again. The Whole is harmed by the errant or missing threads, not just the individual. God seeks out the Prodigals in the process of bringing it all back together. We feel an unconscious (or conscious) need to be One with All (Creator/Creation) but as we live on this side of the Veil, we are like infinitesimal shards floating about separately, feeling the pain and anguish of our mind stuck within these "bodies of death," separate from the rest of His Creation. But we were born this way so perhaps most have adapted to the World, the Adversary that tempts us to remain behind, and have become used to it as nothing more than a vague feeling of ennui.

Comments...?
I would very much like to continue this and have more conversations like this that question the heart of the matter. Or many matters that are not often studied, debated, or even spoken about much.

 

[bling]

Let's start at the beginning... Is there a God who knows absolutely everything...?

And, I mean "everything"...?

This might be hard for you to understand and hard for me to explain:

God knows everything that is knowable.

What God would not know than is: the autonomous free will choice of a mature adult individual who will never exist. God would know all the possible choices that individual could make, but if this unmade individual were truly autonomous free willed, God would not the choices it made since it did not make any choices. This would be true even if you do not believe mature adults can make a limited free will choice, because this is an imaginary being with the power to make at least one autonomous free will choice and we are just defining autonomous free will choice.

If the person is going to be made God knows from the beginning what choices the person made.

And, if so, how so...?

By God living simultaneously throughout human time He knows historically everything.

And, what does he do with this knowledge...?

Comments...?

God Bless!

God can use this knowledge to tell us what will happen and what we did in the future, but it is no.t to change our choice (which is not possible since it was made), but to help with our other choices.

 

[DaishinKan]

Let's start at the beginning... Is there a God who knows absolutely everything...?

And, I mean "everything"...?

And, if so, how so...?

And, what does he do with this knowledge...?

Comments...?

God Bless!

If you do not find satisfactory answers to your questions remember these.

- Ecclesiastes 8:17 - Then I beheld all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun: because though a man labour to seek it out, yet he shall not find it; yea farther; though a wise man think to know it, yet shall he not be able to find it.


- Job 36:26 - Behold, God is great, and we know him not, neither can the number of his years be searched out.

- Micah - 4:12 But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD, And they do not understand His purpose; .....

 

[adhidw]

Let's start at the beginning... Is there a God who knows absolutely everything...?

And, I mean "everything"...?

And, if so, how so...?

And, what does he do with this knowledge...?

Comments...?

Yes there is , He is God the almighty , the alpha and omega.

Every things He knows.

Surely He plans and executes for every things He wants.

One of them is plan about us.

Comment:

There should be humans beings that will bring glory to Him = His goal.


Isa43:7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him


Isa43:21 This people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise

He began to execute His plan.

That time this perishable world not yet been formed, the realm that time was eternal realm, the servants He had that time: faithful angels, there were also the rebelled angels against Him : devils.

He chose for Him many spiritually beings/spirits named His chosen ( the realm that time was eternal realm )-----> so the chosen: Adam, Eve, Abel, Seth, ………., Noah,………., Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, ……….., us, last name in the book of life were all spirits.

May be there is a question: Why didn’t He prefer use His angel by giving them the eternal bodies, than us ?. will not match to His plan.

All His chosen were chosen in zero state = with no knowledge at all.

How can we know the chosen in zero state ?, Through Eden story : they didn’t feel a shame in their nakedness , there was tree of knowledge about good and evil there.

Because started from zero state so It was a necessity for His chosen to experience growth prior before they able to glorify Him, it was necessity that there was a realm which would be able to support them for their growth ----> this perishable earth was ( there was no growth in eternal realm every things are flat/steady).

So Eden story actually was the format of this perishable earth ( consist of one species with exponentially growth potency in knowledge among others with utterly none Gen9:2).

He is sending us gradually to sojourn/wander to this perishable earth for our growth 1Pet1:17, Zec12:1, and also He gave us His words to learn (Gen until Rev ) where finally we surely will comprehend well about His plan .

( it is impossible to know entirely, but a certain knowledge about Him we surely will comprehend ----> He is sending us for sojourning here mean He intended us to grasp about Him in the limit as He wants )


Jer23:20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly

When He has sent well all His chosen to this earth (until the last name), and has already processed well too whether win or lose, surely this perishable earth shall be vanished Rev20:7-10.

There shall be the NHNE the winners shall inhabit there ----> His goal is achieved.

 

[dreadnought]

Let's start at the beginning... Is there a God who knows absolutely everything...?

And, I mean "everything"...?

And, if so, how so...?

And, what does he do with this knowledge...?

Comments...?

God Bless!

Yes, the Lord knows everything. He just stands back and sees everything. He uses his knowledge to make us happy.

 

[Neogaia777]

If there is a God who knows all our decisions, actions, ect, "all of them", long before we ever decide them, how can we have free will...?

And, if by that, he knows where "all" is going to be, what it is going to be doing, at every and all moments in time, ect... How can this be if there are multiple possibilities and not just one possibility and only one possible course for all (things, people, ect)...? Only one way it can really go...?

How can there really be free will, if he (God) did this (set this all in motion) and fully knew all of this from the very beginning...?

God Bless!

 

[Neogaia777]

Creator of all things seen and unseen, which would include creator of the space time continuum.
All of time exists, past, present and future, in the mind of the God who created it.
It would be impossible for God to not know absolutely everything, because he created everything right down to the nanosecond and atom through to the eon and the universe.

Which means "what" exactly...?

And, what conclusions does this lead to...?

God Bless!

 

[Neogaia777]

If he doesn't, how could he be God?

Exactly...?

And what conclusions does this lead to...?

God Bless!

 

[Neogaia777]

Which means "what" exactly...?

What conclusions does this lead to...?

God Bless!

Exactly...?

And what conclusions does this lead to...?

God Bless!

Follow the logic along these lines, and combine it with what you know about God, scripture, your world, ect, and what conclusions does one almost "have to reach" with this...? (oh, and shed your fear as well)...

God Bless!

 

[SolomonVII]

Which means "what" exactly...?

And, what conclusions does this lead to...?

God Bless!

It means that God transcends his creation, and that since he is not limited to space and time, through God pouring out all of himself to his Son, and through Jesus delivering all things through the Father to us, whatever God has, that is our legacy too.
For example, you question above was about free will. Philosophers find this problematic given the omniscience of God.
But given that atonement and being at one with the Father is our legacy through Christ, and in Christ, and with Christ, whatever the Father has he bestows upon us.

When our perspective is egocentric, the freedom we crave is illusory.
But the ego does not define the limits of who we are. As we empty ourselves of all who we are, Christ is able to fill us with all that he is.
This is our destiny. This is where true freedom lies. Freedom lies in doing the will of the father who alone is all good all knowing all powerful and therefore free.

 

[Neogaia777]

This is our destiny. This is where true freedom lies. Freedom lies in doing the will of the father who alone is all good all knowing all powerful and therefore free.

Is this our choice or a choice we make, or did the Father already make it for us from the beginning (of time, creation, ect)...?

Did he know who would and who would not...?

And, if he did, what does that mean...?

God Bless!

 

[SolomonVII]

Is this our choice or a choice we make, or did the Father already make it for us from the beginning (of time, creation, ect)...?

Did he know who would and who would not...?

And, if he did, what does that mean...?

God Bless!

I guess the point I was trying to make is that if we become one with the Father, the whole question becomes academic. We make his will our will by accepting his authority, and in that way, if he is free, so are we.
There is freedom only in his will in fact. By insisting on following our will in contradiction to his, there is enslavement

 

[SolomonVII]

In God, and in God alone, there is freedom.

 

[Neogaia777]

I guess the point I was trying to make is that if we become one with the Father, the whole question becomes academic. We make his will our will by accepting his authority, and in that way, if he is free, so are we.
There is freedom only in his will in fact. By insisting on following our will in contradiction to his, there is enslavement

I totally agree with you there, but while it seems to us as if we make the choice to do that, do we really...? Or does God...? Or did God already from the beginning or before we were even formed in our wombs, so to speak...?

God Bless!