Is Open Theism Heresy?
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Do not deceive yourself. Removing thinking is impossible, but were it possible,
it would result in being a robot or deleting being made in God's image,
unable to know anything about God or to have fellowship with Him.
All we can do is exercise and transform our thinking by learning Scripture (RM 12:2, EPH 4:11-15),
which endeavor may be called truthseeking (MT 7:7).
Although it does not matter where a person begins, since Truth is One (DT 6:4),
I recommend following the instruction of Paul in 1THS 5:21 to “Test everything. Hold on to the good.”
Two NT teachings I have tested and found to be good are that God loves and wants to save everyone (1TM 2:3-4),
and that God is just (2THS 1:6a, cf. RM 3:25-26 & 9:14, DT 32:4, PS 36:6, LK 11:42, RV 15:3).
Thus, explanations or interpretations of God’s Word should not impugn God’s justice and love for all people (JL 2:13, JN 3:16).
This "thinking" or parameter is affirmed in the OT (PS 145:17): “The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.”
Over...
it would result in being a robot or deleting being made in God's image,
unable to know anything about God or to have fellowship with Him.
All we can do is exercise and transform our thinking by learning Scripture (RM 12:2, EPH 4:11-15),
which endeavor may be called truthseeking (MT 7:7).
Although it does not matter where a person begins, since Truth is One (DT 6:4),
I recommend following the instruction of Paul in 1THS 5:21 to “Test everything. Hold on to the good.”
Two NT teachings I have tested and found to be good are that God loves and wants to save everyone (1TM 2:3-4),
and that God is just (2THS 1:6a, cf. RM 3:25-26 & 9:14, DT 32:4, PS 36:6, LK 11:42, RV 15:3).
Thus, explanations or interpretations of God’s Word should not impugn God’s justice and love for all people (JL 2:13, JN 3:16).
This "thinking" or parameter is affirmed in the OT (PS 145:17): “The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.”
Over...
But He also knows what each fish is doing, where it is swimming, and why He has it there. If no sparrow is unaccounted for, neither is any fish.
Do you suppose He made some fish simply to be eaten? At a specific time? For a specific person?
And I don't believe that the ability to make choices is the same as free will.
Do you suppose He made some fish simply to be eaten? At a specific time? For a specific person?
And I don't believe that the ability to make choices is the same as free will.
Scripture is explicit that God knows all things.
1 John 3:20
God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
John 16:30
Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You.
Psalms 147:4-5
He counts the number of the stars;
He calls them all by name.
Great [is] our Lord, and mighty in power;
His understanding [is] infinite.
iit's when you resort to human philosophy and human understanding to say, God can't possibly know this or that, that you have left scripture behind in favor of flawed mortal logic. -
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are you letting scripture define this, or instead what seems best to human philosophy?
He chose us not a set of parameters.
how then can it not be until after we supposedly chose to be in Him and got ourselves into Him, if this He did before we even had existence given to us by Him?
God says every hair on our head and every one of our days is known to Him, but open theism says, He was completely ignorant whether we would be bald or not, and has no idea how long we will live, or whether we belong to Him - - saying it is all 'contingent' ((by definition, synonomously 'dependent')) on human will.
in actual Christianity, God has a plan for our lives.
in open theism, God is bewildered by us and ignorant of us, and didn't even know we would exist - as @PaulThomson put it, He just set in motion a random people generator long ago and has been surprised by what it outputs ever since.
John 15:16
You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you
Ephesians says He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, before time began, before we were even created. and that is specifically "us" in the scripture, not some anonymous category of people God is ignorant of who it may or may not be, or even if anyone is ever going to fit in the group.He chose us not a set of parameters.
how then can it not be until after we supposedly chose to be in Him and got ourselves into Him, if this He did before we even had existence given to us by Him?
God says every hair on our head and every one of our days is known to Him, but open theism says, He was completely ignorant whether we would be bald or not, and has no idea how long we will live, or whether we belong to Him - - saying it is all 'contingent' ((by definition, synonomously 'dependent')) on human will.
in actual Christianity, God has a plan for our lives.
in open theism, God is bewildered by us and ignorant of us, and didn't even know we would exist - as @PaulThomson put it, He just set in motion a random people generator long ago and has been surprised by what it outputs ever since.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-18
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
it does not mean God has failed if you are not doing this.it means you are failing to dwell in Him - - now
but we have an unquestionable promise from Him that He will wipe away every tear, and there will be no more sin in us. that's not about what we are now, but what we will be!
1 Thessalonians 5:24
He who calls you [is] faithful, Who also will do [it.]
Well, I propose as the third axiomatic belief that reality is meaningful and communicable or able to be discussed rationally in fellowship with other truthseekers, and I credit whoever invented language with founding this fact, because the discussion of reality uses language as the means.
Thus, in order to communicate sufficiently for attaining agreement or unity, it is necessary to have a common language and cultural context, which makes discussion problematic with those who redefine words rather than accepting the common dictionary definitions, in this case that choice and free will are synonymous, so God allowing fish to swim within limits means that souls may choose whether to seek salvation. And yes, it means that God will eat them, if you mean will He condemn them if they do not choose/will to be saved.
Thus, in order to communicate sufficiently for attaining agreement or unity, it is necessary to have a common language and cultural context, which makes discussion problematic with those who redefine words rather than accepting the common dictionary definitions, in this case that choice and free will are synonymous, so God allowing fish to swim within limits means that souls may choose whether to seek salvation. And yes, it means that God will eat them, if you mean will He condemn them if they do not choose/will to be saved.
