Let us suppose that I have a friend who is convinced that if he can get an anvil into the air, he can levitate it using his mental powers. He has gone to a lot of trouble to build a gallows-type arrangement, and set an anvil on the trap door. He has asked me to come witness his grand performance. I, having a great deal less confidence in his levitation abilities, predict that, when he opens the trap door, the anvil will come crashing to earth. He calls me a skeptic, and proceeds with his performance. He concentrates on the anvil just as hard as he can, and when he feels that he is ready, he releases the trap door, and the anvil falls to the ground. Thud. He then becomes extremely angry at me; obviously, the problem isn't that he can't levitate the anvil; the problem is that I am using my mental abilities to counter his, just so that my prediction will come true. I am, at this point, starting to suspect that it isn't a question of who has what ability; it's a question of which of us is mental (and I'm as confident in my assessment of that as I was of the anvil not floating in midair). There is a clear confusion of cause and effect. Just because I knew what would happen, doesn't mean that I caused it to happen. There is a big difference between knowing something will happen, and causing it to happen.
It has come to my attention that some people object to the idea that God knew the end from the beginning, on the grounds that we have freedom of choice. If we truly have freedom of choice, then, the logic goes, God couldn't possibly know the outcome of the culmination of all those choices. It seems to me that this idea is essentially rooted on the assumption that God can only know what will happen if God causes it to happen. I think that I have shown, in the first paragraph, that we have a limited ability to know what will happen (in certain circumstances) without being the cause. God is much smarter than we are, and he has an unlimited ability to know what will happen without causing those things to happen.
Open Theists like to use examples like, in Genesis 2:19, God brought the animals before Adam to see what Adam would call them. Now, is this an example of Adam having free will, and God waiting on Adam to decide? Shouldn't God have already known what Adam would call the animals? It seems to me that this is an example of empowerment. God is saying, "Adam, I have given you dominion over all the earth, so I want you to start by naming the animals." Now God could have introduced Adam to all the animals, "Adam, this is a horse. If I had let you name this animal, you would have named it a horse, but to save time, I'm going to tell you that it's a horse, so that you don't have to waste time thinking about it." God was willing to give Adam a say in the process, even though God already knew what Adam would say. This was for Adam's benefit, not God's.
In Job 1:11-12, Satan is willing to wager with God over how Job will react. Okay, but nobody ever said that Satan knew the end from the beginning. It was pretty foolish for him to bet against somebody who did, though. If Satan truly understood the end, he would have surrendered a long time ago; but Satan has been betting for ages that God doesn't accurately know the future.
In Genesis 18:23-33, Abraham negotiates with God over the fate of Sodom. This, again, is an example of empowerment. God allowed Abraham to think that he had some say in the process, but, in the end, God did exactly what he told Abraham He was going to do to start with.
In Deuteronomy 1:8, God promised the Israelites that they would enter into the Promised Land, but they didn't. No, actually, the Israelites were ordered to go into the Promised Land, and they refused.
In Exodus 32:7-10, God tells Moses that He will destroy Israel, and create a great nation from Moses, but Moses talks God out of it. Again, God is empowering Moses, and, at the same time, making sure that Moses understands the seriousness of the situation. God already knew what Moses would say, but He’s giving Moses a chance to say it.
The bottom line is, even though God always knows what's going to happen, sometimes He wants us to feel that we have some input. I know that more than once I have gotten myself into a situation, and I prayed about it, and as the situation developed, it became clear that God had answered my prayer before I prayed it. Would He have answered my prayer if I hadn't prayed? I don’t think so, that doesn’t make sense to me. Yet, there it is; He put things in motion before I even asked. It occurs to me, too, that some people think that time is a barrier to God, as it is for us. It isn’t. God created time, and it does not limit Him.
It has come to my attention that some people object to the idea that God knew the end from the beginning, on the grounds that we have freedom of choice. If we truly have freedom of choice, then, the logic goes, God couldn't possibly know the outcome of the culmination of all those choices. It seems to me that this idea is essentially rooted on the assumption that God can only know what will happen if God causes it to happen. I think that I have shown, in the first paragraph, that we have a limited ability to know what will happen (in certain circumstances) without being the cause. God is much smarter than we are, and he has an unlimited ability to know what will happen without causing those things to happen.
Open Theists like to use examples like, in Genesis 2:19, God brought the animals before Adam to see what Adam would call them. Now, is this an example of Adam having free will, and God waiting on Adam to decide? Shouldn't God have already known what Adam would call the animals? It seems to me that this is an example of empowerment. God is saying, "Adam, I have given you dominion over all the earth, so I want you to start by naming the animals." Now God could have introduced Adam to all the animals, "Adam, this is a horse. If I had let you name this animal, you would have named it a horse, but to save time, I'm going to tell you that it's a horse, so that you don't have to waste time thinking about it." God was willing to give Adam a say in the process, even though God already knew what Adam would say. This was for Adam's benefit, not God's.
In Job 1:11-12, Satan is willing to wager with God over how Job will react. Okay, but nobody ever said that Satan knew the end from the beginning. It was pretty foolish for him to bet against somebody who did, though. If Satan truly understood the end, he would have surrendered a long time ago; but Satan has been betting for ages that God doesn't accurately know the future.
In Genesis 18:23-33, Abraham negotiates with God over the fate of Sodom. This, again, is an example of empowerment. God allowed Abraham to think that he had some say in the process, but, in the end, God did exactly what he told Abraham He was going to do to start with.
In Deuteronomy 1:8, God promised the Israelites that they would enter into the Promised Land, but they didn't. No, actually, the Israelites were ordered to go into the Promised Land, and they refused.
In Exodus 32:7-10, God tells Moses that He will destroy Israel, and create a great nation from Moses, but Moses talks God out of it. Again, God is empowering Moses, and, at the same time, making sure that Moses understands the seriousness of the situation. God already knew what Moses would say, but He’s giving Moses a chance to say it.
The bottom line is, even though God always knows what's going to happen, sometimes He wants us to feel that we have some input. I know that more than once I have gotten myself into a situation, and I prayed about it, and as the situation developed, it became clear that God had answered my prayer before I prayed it. Would He have answered my prayer if I hadn't prayed? I don’t think so, that doesn’t make sense to me. Yet, there it is; He put things in motion before I even asked. It occurs to me, too, that some people think that time is a barrier to God, as it is for us. It isn’t. God created time, and it does not limit Him.
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