Open theism is not smart. It takes away from the Omniscience of God.
Open Theists do not believe this. If I am correct Open Theists believe in partial Omnicience.
No, this is the standard settled-view caricature.
Open theists do not believe in “partial omniscience.” We believe God knows everything that exists to be known. The dispute is whether future free choices already exist as settled facts before they are made.
You are assuming they do, then accusing open theists of denying omniscience because we reject your assumption.
That is not an argument. That is question-begging with a heresy label stapled to it.
Yes, Psalm 147:5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power. His understanding is infinite.
Amen. His understanding is infinite.
Now where does that verse say God has exhaustive definite foreknowledge of every future free choice?
It doesn’t.
Psalm 147:5 says God’s understanding is infinite. It does not say the future is exhaustively settled, nor that every future human choice already exists as a knowable fact.
Open theism is considered a serious heresy or dangerous false teaching by many traditional evangelical theologians because it denies that God has exhaustive foreknowledge of future free-will decisions. While proponents argue it is a biblically based view that protects human freedom, critics view it as a denial of orthodox omniscience.
“Many theologians call it heresy” is not an argument. It is theological peer pressure.
And if heresy labels settle the matter, then hard Calvinism has a problem too. Long before Calvin, the Second Council of Orange rejected the idea that anyone is foreordained to evil by God, saying:
Second Council of Orange, A.D. 529
| We not only do not believe that any are foreordained to evil by the power of God, but even state with utter abhorrence that if there are those who want to believe so evil a thing, they are anathema. |
So are we settling this by competing heresy labels, or by Scripture?
Because if Scripture is the standard, “some theologians call this dangerous” moves the ball exactly nowhere.
God does things His way.
Isaiah 55: 8-9
For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Yes, God’s ways are higher than ours.
Higher, not lower.
Isaiah 55 is not a license to make God appear unjust and then hide behind “mystery.” In context, God is calling the wicked to forsake his way, return to the Lord, and receive mercy. The point is that God is more merciful, more righteous, and more ready to pardon than man is.
So if your theology makes God render men’s wickedness and damnation certain, then punish them for what they could never ultimately avoid, Isaiah 55 is not helping you.
That is not higher justice. That is lower.
God’s ways are above ours because He is better than us, not because He operates by a morality that would be evil if anyone else did it.
From Gotquestions.org
Malachi 3:6 declares, “I the LORD do not change...” ... So He cannot “change His mind” in the sense of realizing a mistake, backtracking, and trying a new tack.
This is another category error.
No open theist says God changes in His character, holiness, righteousness, wisdom, love, faithfulness, or moral nature.
The question is whether God can change His stated course of action in response to man.
And Scripture repeatedly says He does.
God said He would destroy Nineveh. Nineveh repented, and God did not do what He said He would do.
God told Hezekiah, “You shall die, and not live.” Hezekiah prayed, and God added fifteen years.
God said He would destroy Israel and make a nation from Moses. Moses interceded, and God relented.
God regretted making Saul king.
God regretted making man before the flood.
Jeremiah 18 gives the principle: if God announces judgment and the nation repents, He will relent; if He announces blessing and the nation turns evil, He will relent of the good.
So quoting “God does not change” does not erase every passage where God relents, regrets, responds, tests, warns, and changes His stated course of action.
God does not change morally. But He does change how He deals with men when men change.
That is not a defect in God. That is the behavior of a righteous and relational God.
And even the GotQuestions quote quietly admits the point by adding “in the sense of realizing a mistake.”
Fine. God does not change His mind because He made a mistake. But open theists are not claiming He does.
We are saying God genuinely responds to repentance, rebellion, prayer, and intercession.
So the issue remains:
If it is heretical to believe God can change His mind, why does Scripture repeatedly say that He does?
And if your theology has to explain those passages away every time they appear, maybe the problem is not open theism.
Maybe the problem is the settled-view tradition you are trying to protect.
