toldailytopic: Can God change His mind?

chickenman

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However, it is exactly these that come to mind when we hear this purported. It matters not if you want to address these or not, it is foremost in our minds and huge enough hurdles that if you don't want to address them, the Open View is going to continue to reveal a series of mental flaws, unaddressed, that we cannot take seriously. We'll simply believe the OV is asserting and somehow missing the pertinent leaving us without a need to do anything more than state that 3 + 3 does not equal 4. It doesn't matter if you don't want to address it or not, especially if there is no work to show how the answer was obtained.

"I want God to be able to change His mind" is no answer.

That said, let's check the math:

How is that a change of mind? I still see change of mind as 'double-minded' in a wishy-washy fashion. God doesn't change to become a better person or a worse person, how could His mind ever change?

Usually, when I 'change my mind' it is due to 'not thinking something through well enough the first time,' that's what I understand a mind-change to be.

"You didn't clean your room so we aren't going to a movie" isn't a change of mind. When they go to their room seeking mercy and clean them, I haven't changed my mind when we are now going to the movie. They met the conditions for what was intended either way: No clean room = no movie / clean room = movie.

Where is the change of mind?

Hi again, Lon.

I changed my wording specifically for the reason that the phrase "change of mind" is causing quite a stir and it's POSSIBLE this is the case because of how it is defined by the different participants. So I defined it by asking what I asked: "Can God say He is going to do something, and then choose to NOT do that thing."

Asked this way, then it shouldn't matter whether I am an Open Theist, Calvinist, Arminian, atheist, or chicken...right? Jeremiah 18 stands tall as the answer to the question.

Truth is truth, regardless of what we are.

Thanks,
Randy
 

Lon

Well-known member
Hi again, Lon.

I changed my wording specifically for the reason that the phrase "change of mind" is causing quite a stir and it's POSSIBLE this is the case because of how it is defined by the different participants. So I defined it by asking what I asked: "Can God say He is going to do something, and then choose to NOT do that thing."
I have to agree, which is of course, why I think this particular dialogue important. "Change of mind," I assumed must mean something very different to each of us. At the same time, I know you are as concerned about some of the implications I am, regardless, as you say, what we might hold differently.

Asked this way, then it shouldn't matter whether I am an Open Theist, Calvinist, Arminian, atheist, or chicken...right? Jeremiah 18 stands tall as the answer to the question.
I think it matters, specifically, because the question wasn't asked in a vaccuum. It is asked to support specific contexts.
I believe, at this venture, we are left re-examining what Jeremiah 18 is saying and what it isn't saying. What I am seeing, is not that God would 'go back on His words,' but that He would stay consistent in His interactions. In fact, I see beyond this particular that God is actually conveying the idea, not as a random change of mind, but as a way of letting His people know He is all about Grace and Mercy.
I. E. "I will punish sin and disobedience, but I would rather not have to do it and repentance is the key. So....repent that I may show mercy!"
The above illustrates, not a change of mind, but a guideline for His actions one way or the other, and His overall singularity of mind concerning His people. God will never 'not want to save His people.' He will never change His mind about anything that matters.


Truth is truth, regardless of what we are.

Thanks,
Randy
Agree, but at times the daily topic spins an agenda and we must interact with it in light of how that agenda is spun. It is important, for me at least, to be forward and upfront about how I approach the topic. I'm not particularly trying to call foul, just keep the topic amidst its greater concerns when I think it is important. Since this particular ties so strongly into God prescience, I think it necessary to discuss and contrast traditional and open theisms.
 

rexlunae

New member
I changed my wording specifically for the reason that the phrase "change of mind" is causing quite a stir and it's POSSIBLE this is the case because of how it is defined by the different participants. So I defined it by asking what I asked: "Can God say He is going to do something, and then choose to NOT do that thing."

Well, Biblical exegesis of this sort is a bit above my pay grade, but I will say this. There's no duplicity in offering a choice, nor does it imply that the offerer doesn't know what will be chosen. In fact, offering a choice is in itself an effective means for achieving the outcome you want.

The law says that if you kill a person, you'll go to jail. The law is not changed by a person's choice, but what a person chooses to do may be changed by the law because the person knows what the law will do.

Asked this way, then it shouldn't matter whether I am an Open Theist, Calvinist, Arminian, atheist, or chicken...right? Jeremiah 18 stands tall as the answer to the question.

Nobody here but us :chicken:s.

:cigar:
 
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