Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.
Why do you feel that's important? He does that in the Bible.
If it helps, I'll use a Biblical example - God (well, angels speaking for God, if memory serves, but you get me) told Sarah that she would give birth to children despite her old age. Now, the Bible doesn't say anything about her having virgin births, so we can reasonably assume that she had these children through sexual intercourse.
Knowing what God said, could Sarah have chosen not to have sex, therefore never giving birth to anyone? Note, I'm not saying she did make that decision, obviously, or that she even would make it, being a faithful servant of God - could she? Was that an option available to her?
Give me a valid example please. It would involve God going back in time and having a purpose to tell you a specific future. God is not foolish.
If the book of Genesis is not meant to be taken literally why stop other books of the Bible to be the same?
You didn't understand the question, it is not necessary for God to go back in time. It was not my question, but I will repeat it:
Could I choose to not eat the apple, even though God saw the future and said I would be eating the apple?
To clarify, imagine this scenario if you will: God appears to me today and says "I saw the future and I see that tomorrow you will eat an apple". The question was, knowing that, can I decide not to eat the apple?
That's what brains are for.
Does that "whatever" include "literal"?Nope. Just fantasy, myth, whatever.
You didn't understand the question, it is not necessary for God to go back in time. It was not my question, but I will repeat it:
Could I choose to not eat the apple, even though God saw the future and said I would be eating the apple?
To clarify, imagine this scenario if you will: God appears to me today and says "I saw the future and I see that tomorrow you will eat an apple". The question was, knowing that, can I decide not to eat the apple?
No, because you have forgotten He said that and you take a bite before you realize it.
Does that "whatever" include "literal"?
You can't answer a simple question, can you? God comes to me and says, tomorrow you will eat an apple. He does not command it, he simply states it as a fact. Can I, knowing that, decide not to eat the apple? It is a simple yes or no.
Adam Clarke's Commentary said:This is one of the most remarkable and most singular prophecies in the Old Testament. It here most circumstantially foretells a fact which took place three hundred and forty years after the prediction; a fact which was attested by the two nations. The Jews, in whose behalf this prophecy was delivered, would guard it most sacredly; and it was the interest of the Israelites, against whom it was levelled, to impugn its authenticity and expose its falsehood, had this been possible. This prediction not only showed the knowledge of God, but his power. He gave, as it were, this warning to idolatry, that it might be on its guard, and defend itself against this Josiah whenever a person of that name should be found sitting on the throne of David; and no doubt it was on the alert, and took all prudent measures for its own defence; but all in vain, for Josiah, in the eighteenth year of his reign, literally accomplished this prophecy, as we may read, 2Ki 23:15-20.
1 Kings 13:2 And he cried against the altar in the word of the LORD, and said, O altar, altar, thus saith the LORD; Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the high places that burn incense upon thee, and men's bones shall be burnt upon thee.
AV, help me out here, I am sure you know the answer to this. God comes to me and says: tomorrow you will eat an apple. He does not command it, he simply states it as a fact. Can I, knowing that, decide not to eat the apple? It is a simple yes or no.
You disappoint me...The answer would be yes if there was such thing free will. Here is a Biblical lesson for you: free will means that God knows our future but decides to let us change it (if we chose to do so).
I said NO with respect to your request.
My full answer would have been:
You can most certainly decide not to, but tomorrow you will.
The thing about prophecies, is that anyone can make them -- they're a dime a dozen.
But when God makes one, it can't be prevented from happening.
Mark it down, if God said it, it WILL come to pass.
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?
We use cookies and similar technologies for the following purposes:
Do you accept cookies and these technologies?