In the previous post we observed that certain passages, which at first glance appear to suggest that God will not allow sin in His presence, have been misconstrued. The Bible is absolutely full of examples of God interacting with sinners. He was in their presence throughout all of biblical history. Let’s note just a few examples.
Continue reading →Conventional Christian wisdom says that God will not allow sin in His presence. People repeat this so often it is accepted by Bible students as a biblical fact. The following quote is representative of this idea:
“Because GOD hates sin and GOD is righteous, just and holy, His nature disallows Himself from coexisting with sin in His presence. For this reason, GOD must keep Himself separated from sin.”1
Is this true? Does the Bible really say that God does not allow Himself to be in the presence of sin? As a matter of fact, the Bible does not say this. It is a demonstrably false teaching, but where does this notion come from?
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There are a few Bible passages which, on the surface, seem to say that God doesn’t change His mind. There are other passages which clearly say that God not only can change His mind, but that He has changed it on several occasions. In the previous article we noted that the passages which appear to say that God does not change His mind are in fact referring to occasions when God committed to a certain course of action that He would not deviate from.
God’s immutable nature doesn’t prevent Him from changing His decisions. He is sovereign and is free to change His decisions anytime it pleases Him. Reversing a decision is not equal to Him changing His nature. What about God’s foreknowledge? Does God’s knowledge of the future mean that things can only turn out one way?
Continue reading →Is it possible for God to change His mind? Some people read passages such as, “For I the LORD do not change…” (Mal. 3:6 ESV), or “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8 ESV) and conclude that it is impossible for God to change His mind. They reason that if God is immutable, His decisions must also be unchangeable.
It is also reckoned that if God is omniscient and knows all things, including the future, then it would be impossible for God to change His mind. Since He already knows what He is going to do in the future, what sense would it make that He would ever change His mind?
For people who have drawn this conclusion the idea that God can or does change His mind would undermine His divine nature. Does the Bible support these conclusions? Can God still be God if He were to change His mind?
In this post, we’ll examine the question of God changing His mind in light of His immutability and the context of the scriptures in question. I’ll examine the question concerning God’s omniscience in a follow up article.
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If you read my last post, the title of this article reveals how I came to grips with the assertion that God is responsible for evil. We have to ask ourselves the question, “Does God know everything?” If He does, the following syllogism reveals that God is responsible for evil:
Major premise: God knows everything including all future events.
Minor premise: God created humans who sinned.
Conclusion: Therefore, God is responsible for introducing sin into the world.
Nearly all Christians believe that God knows everything there is to know. In fact, most Christians believe that omniscience is an inherent trait of being God. They are sometimes shocked that anyone might consider God to not be all-knowing. This assumption creates a very thorny problem, doesn’t it? The next question we should be asking is, “Does the Bible really teach that God knows everything”?
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