Can man change God's mind?

It seems that way,however that is where it has been historically understood that God puts it into words that we can relate to more readily....
in other words- The outcome was what God desired to begin with.
It is not that he needed to change His mind,or respond to anything in us.

Jonah /Nineveh......if they did not repent they would have been destroyed.
God new they would repent anyhow. [so there is no what if].....
The overall effect humanly speaking.....God repented.....yet He never ever has to repent,or never has to voluntarily take advice from men or angels.
If as scripture says he knows the end from the beginning it never is even an issue.
So the result is actually it never happens that way.

 

Good post. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. He is omniscient and knows all things. If He didn't He would not be God. So he knows the choices that we make before we even make them--even the ones that we waffle on.

However, within his sovereignty God has given man free will. He has permitted or allowed man to choose of his own free will to receive or reject Christ. This is in the realm of His sovereignty. He already knows what the decision is, but that does not negate the fact that it is man who decides. Faith is an integral part of salvation. Belief is an important part of all decision making. We are not robots but human individuals made in the image of God, given a will with the ability to choose. God saw fit to do this. He did not program some to choose Him and program others to reject Him.

 

Let me throw a couple of questions into the conversation.

Exactly when was it that God knew that Hezekiah would get sick?

Exactly when was it that God knew Hezekiah would beg for his life?

Exactly when was it that God knew he would give Hezekiah 15 more years, and that he would do it in answer to Hezekiah's prayer?

The answer, of course, is from eternity. There never was a time when God didn't know something.

So, if God knew the circumstances, and knew that he would give Hezekiah more life if he would ask for healing, and knew that Hezekiah would ask, how could that be construed as God's changing his mind?

And, a little Calvinist twist to the story: was God's knowledge of this situation from eternity the result of his decree that this would happen?

Although I believe that had Hezekiah not prayed for healing, he would have died, I also don't believe that was ever going to happen.

 

DHK'
I can agree with you that man has a will.....but It is not" free".
We make choices.....jelly or jam.....red or green.....what food to eat ,etc.
Scripture describes mans will as self will.
Rom6:16-21 best describes what many of us mean about mans will being bound......by his nature.

in verse 20 men were said to be ....free from righteousness....

Some say that before the fall Adam's will was free??? I believe it was at best untested
DHK.....I do not believe free will exists....man has choices ,but especially since the fall our wills are bound by our nature.
I believe this is the only scripturally defensible position.

 

There is no such thing, even within our own system of government as complete freedom. We are bound by the laws of our government and other authorities. I am not "free" to drive my car the way I like or "feel like." It would be against the law. My will is bound by the laws of the land. Yet it is still a choice I get to make. And I will pay the penalty if I make the wrong choice.

God in his infinite mercy gave us a will. He set the boundaries within his own nature and sovereignty. It is a free will inasmuch as he gives us the freedom to make those choices to either bring him glory or refuse to bring him glory. Even if we refuse, we know that God will be glorified with or without us. It is us that will lose out by refusing to obey his will. He knows what our choice will be. But he hasn't taken away our ability to make it.

 

Romans 6:16 does not teach that we are bound, it says we become servants to whom we YIELD ourselves servants to obey. Yield means to give way or surrender. This does imply a force upon us, but no one has to surrender, it is a choice. In WWII the Germans would surrender by thousands to our armies, while the Japanese were known to fight to the death and often did. So to yield or surrender is a choice.

 

DHK,
We make choices.....but you said this;

Sin and the sin nature has taken away our ability to choose for God ,it is not that God has made us "robots" as you say. All of are choices are stained by sin.

No one denies free agency or choice about things in life.When it comes to the spiritual realm we are all ruined in Adam....we do not seek God on His terms. We might choose religion , or good works,,,but apart from God giving a new heart we will not have this Man to reign over us is the natural mans choice.

Winman,
the term servant in Romans 6.....is willing bondslave....you are mis-understanding the term yield as it is used in Romans 6.

16Do you not know that if you present yourselves(A) to anyone as obedient slaves,[a] you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

[/QUOTE]

 

The attribute of immutability states that God does not change and if He did we would be standing on promises that were not garanteed. I'm not sure about all of you all, but this is very important to the beleiver. The other poster in here who stated that the writers of Scripture used words like relent and repent for us to comprehend is correct as I have learned in my studies, otherwise we wouldn't understand. Remember Isaiah tells us that His ways are not our ways, and this is something that is difficult but also leads us to totally trust and not lean on our own understanding. Thank God!

 

I cannot change God's mind but He can do whatever He chooses. However He isnot limited to what we know as a mind. So that does not even fit in with what man thinks about changing a mind.

 

We're living God's plans that he made before creation. This is why we have prophesies about the last day that were written over 2500 years ago. Nothing will be added or subtracted from his plans so if any man's will is changed it's because it was planned to happen.

 

The problem you have here is Jesus also existed from eternity past, is God and is omniscient...yet doesn't know the day or the hour of His return. Fact is we cannot know what God knows on every and all matters. If He chooses to interact with His creation in a certain manner, He is able to do just that.
I think it's telling that God ADDED 15 years to Hezekiah's life...not that these 15 years were part of His pre-determined lifespan.