I was meaning "either I'm right" (God doesn't change) or God does change(I'm wrong). I'm not sure of any other options.
Read my post 36
Does God react, relent or change in response to man?
Discussion in 'Baptist Theology & Bible Study' started by Skandelon, Feb 4, 2011.
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Let me offer another alternative. What if God had decreed that he would act in a certain way IF someone asked in prayer? That the prayer would be the trigger to what God intended to do? Now, that opens up more questions.
One, what if Hezekiah had not prayed? He would have died, in my opinion.
But, the omniscient God also knew that Hezekiah would pray, he would answer Hezekiah's prayer, and give him 15 more years.
And, God's warning to Hezekiah that he would die triggered the prayer.
Just some thoughts. -
That presumes that God also knew there were times when He would have a certain thing in mind, and that He would change His mind (the many times we see "God repented").
I understand what you're saying about Hezekiah and God setting things up so that Hezekiah would pray and give Him the opportunity to show His glory; but you're going to have to dig deep and explain God setting things up so that He would change His mind. I believe it's possible, because with God all things are possible; just gonna have to work on the explanation. -
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O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen. (Romans 11:33-36) -
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The fact is none of us know. We can all speculate or use our finite understanding which is bound by space, time and our limited mental faculties to describe how God interacts with His creation, but it is just that...speculation.
We are given immutable truth from the Lord's own perspective in the Hezekiah story that on the surface seems to raise questions about God's omniscience, but since we know that He is, there must be some tension we don't understand.
Facts:
God told Isaiah to deliver the message Hez was going to die. God wasn't kidding, testing Hez, or lying. He stated a fact.
Isaiah delivered this truth.
Hez cried out to God
God heard his prayer (God's own words) and granted "additional" years to Hez.
If God didn't change His mind, he lied to Hezekiah and told Isaiah to lie. There is nothing in the text that would lead us to believe we are supposed to read into the text God said this knowing Hez was going to pray, and it was God's intention all along to grant these "additional" (which would not be additional if they were already worked into Hez's lifespan) years of life. Even if this were the case, God would have lied to Hez to garner a response. -
God told Isaiah to tell Hezekiah that he was going to die. This is true. If God didn't do anything(heal) Hezekiah would have died. Of course God knew that he was going to heal him and add additional years.(to deny this is to deny the omniscience of God) After Hezekiah prayed, God said he would give him the 15 additional years. (something God already knew about, unless you are going to deny the omniscience of God.) -
I already said I don't deny God's omniscience, but our feeble minds cannot understand God's omniscience. To state we can puts us on par with God's knowledge, and I'm not going to do that. It's easy to dismiss it using "omniscience", but the problem is we are using OUR understanding of the term. -
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And I never said I understood it. I'm just saying that God knew about the 15 additional years. -
In other words, why not be okay with "I don't know" sometimes? -
My point is simply this. God knew of the 15 years just as he knows everything that is going to happen. -
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"Hey, to the one who gives the post counts, can you give Bro. Quantum a "2/3" count for this instead of a "one" for this one???.....just kidding, Brother!!
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Iconoclast Well-Known MemberSite Supporter
God speaks thru human authors in a way we understand.Hank....it looks as if you are bringing God down to human level when you say this.
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