A Little Bit of Controversy

(title sang as Elvis' "Little Bit of Conversation")

Jordan read an article a while ago that threw the idea out there that God is not all knowing. It's not a popular idea to the mainstream Christian folk, we learned quickly from our Bible study partners. Today while reading wikipedia (normal people spend their free time doing that, right?) I came across an actual name for the belief, Open Theism.

When you hear "God is not all knowing" first thing you want to say is "Yes he is! He's God!" But that brings up so many questions in my mind. If God is all knowing, doesn't that mean he already knows who is going to go to heaven and who isn't? Doesn't that take away free will? Does that means we were sat down on this earth to be little robots? We have no choice in being saved or not? God deliberately sends people to hell? There was no hope for them, God put them on this planet knowing their eternal life would be in hell. That's the part that really gets to me. But if you throw free-will into the mix, it makes more sense!

What I like about Christianity is that it's a choice to have a relationship with Christ. You can either spend time with Him or you can choose not to and take your own life into your hands. He isn't the big bad god in the sky who forces us into church and on our knees each week. It makes it so much more personal that God allows me to come to him and spend time with him.

Now if God is all knowing, that means our future is planned out by Him. We don't have a whole lot of say-so in how the end turns out. What about that whole Adam and Eve thing? God said don't eat the fruit, but he made it available to them and gave them a choice. The whole scenario appears that God didn't know what they were going to choose. And if He did know they would eat the fruit, why would He want all of humanity around to cause him grief for the rest of time?

I really like this paragraph:

"Practically, open theism makes the case for a personal God who is open to influence through the prayers, decisions, and actions of people. Although many specific outcomes of the future are unknowable, God's foreknowledge of the future includes that which is determined as time progresses often in light of free decisions that have been made and what has been sociologically determined. So God knows everything that has been determined as well as what has not yet been determined but remains open. As such, he is able to anticipate the future, yet remains fluid to respond and react to prayer and decisions made either contrary or advantageous to His plan or presuppositions"

It just seems so much more personal than me being on a pre-planned life path that cannot change.

This belief really does not change anything for us. We won't be able to figure it out one way or another. It is not a big enough deal to cause division among brothers and sisters, God is way too big for our little minds. I'm not even saying this is what I believe. It's interesting to think about and fun to think out side of the box, especially of something we've all been taught not to question.