Open theism

[jak]

I have been very interested in this position of late, and would like to get opinions of others, too. I notice, at a very brief glance (I could have missed some threads) that this is not discussed much. Or am i in the wrong place?

In any case, isn't it logical to think that God would respond to our prayers, and dependant on that, could even be said to "change His mind"? That God knows the future as possible choices we can make, but can still be surprised and grieved at what we do, as recorded in Scripture? That the problems and responsibilities of our world lie more squarely on our shoulders - I like that - rather than having to excuse away a God who knows with cast-iron certainty about future abuse and killing and war, but makes no attempt to change it?

 

[bling]

Do you really have to “know” the future to be perceived as “guilty” of allowing tragedies to happen? As an example: God without “foreknowledge” would know a bomb is going to go off in a school or a huge earthquake was about to happen, so how does OT help that issue?

The Theory of Relativity has held up for the last 100 years, so it appears time is relative, so how relative is it? We really do not know how things would work outside of our four dimensional universe where God exists.

There is scripture supporting the idea that God knows at least some of the free will moral choices some people made before, in their time frame, they made them.

For us there is the unknown future but the God of the future is the same God of our past so just as God is omnipresent in the present can God also be omnipresent in our time?

God is the only being that is totally consistent, so His reactions are totally predictable since they are the very best actions that can be taken. Yes, you need to pray, since God reacted to your prays; making you partly responsible for what happened in the future. All these free will choices are historic for the God of the future and He can send that information back to himself in our past.

 

[jak]

So you're not in favour of Open theism, then.

If God responds to my prayers, that pre-supposes that he is willing to "change" what was probably going to happen, so that the future, then is not "known" or fixed. It could well be that He knows all the possibilities of every possible choice, but works alongside human free will and action in order to bring the best out of every situation, without being directly responsible for the evil and sin of many of those actions.

I know, this is an area where words are so feeble, and it can give a headache just trying to explain what one means.

 

[Hammster]

MOD HAT ON

Closing for review. Sorry.

Discussions about Nicene and Trinitarian beliefs may take place in the Christian-Only forums, all discussions regarding non-Nicene and non-Trinitarian topics will take place in Unorthodox Theology. Those topics include (but are not limited to)

● Universalism
● Open Theism
● Full Preterism
● Trinitarianism
● Annihilationism
● Masonry

MOD HAT OFF
​