Can God change his mind?

[Willum]

So, God seems to be capable of doing anything, even the impossible.
Is he capable of changing his mind?

In an interesting conversation, ToN and Claire Evans discovered that some prophecy had not been fulfilled (and never would be). (Satan asks for forgiveness, now what?")

Does this mean that God changed his mind, or that the consequence of the prophecy just wasn't that important compared to a result he preferred?

Is God capable of changing his mind? If he can't, does that make him imperfect, or no longer all-powerful?

What are the ramifications?

[alexxcJRO]

So, God seems to be capable of doing anything, even the impossible.
Is he capable of changing his mind?

In an interesting conversation, ToN and Claire Evans discovered that some prophecy had not been fulfilled (and never would be). (Satan asks for forgiveness, now what?")

Does this mean that God changed his mind, or that the consequence of the prophecy just wasn't that important compared to a result he preferred?

Is God capable of changing his mind? If he can't, does that make him imperfect, or no longer all-powerful?

What are the ramifications?

God is suposedly all powerful-omnipotent. God has therefore the means to instantly uncover any and every fact, so God is also omniscient.

If a being is all-knowing-omniscient, then, it knows exactly what actions it itself will make at any point in history. This removes the ability of the God to actually change its mind, alter the grand plan, or in other words, to exercise free will in any way, as the all-powerful and all-knowing being is guided purely by a deterministic fate based on infallible knowledge of its own future actions.

So going backwards if God can change his mind, it can't know it's future actions. Therefore it does not have the means to uncover any and every fact. Therefore it cannot be all knowing-omniscient.
Therefore God cannot be all powerful-omnipotent.

[Tired of the Nonsense]

delete

[Tired of the Nonsense]

delete

[Tired of the Nonsense]

So, God seems to be capable of doing anything, even the impossible.
Is he capable of changing his mind?

In an interesting conversation, ToN and Claire Evans discovered that some prophecy had not been fulfilled (and never would be). (Satan asks for forgiveness, now what?")

Does this mean that God changed his mind, or that the consequence of the prophecy just wasn't that important compared to a result he preferred?

Is God capable of changing his mind? If he can't, does that make him imperfect, or no longer all-powerful?

What are the ramifications?

The ramifications of God changing His mind would be the implication that He failed to get it right the first time. How very un-Godlike of him! And yet this is exactly the God that is portrayed in the Bible.

Genesis 6:
[6] And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.
[7] And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

Repent
verb (used without object)
1. to feel sorry, self-reproachful, or contrite for past conduct; regret or be conscience-stricken about a past action, attitude, etc.

An omnipotent omniscient Being who repents His actions is a contradiction in terms. Already by the sixth chapter of the first book of the Bible we can see that the basic concept that is being presented to us is self contradictory. Things which are self contradictory are nonsense by definition. What we are really faced with here are ancient human concepts which were poorly thought out.

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 1 by Willum]

Yes the bible has several examples of God changing his mind.


Here is my earlier post on this topic if you didn't see it.
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 30#p839130


QUESTION: Does God "changing his mind" mean that he ' He failed to get it right the first time'?


No God is perfect and cannot make mistakes (See Deut 32:4); any changes he makes is a response to changed circumstances. God has chosen to create intelligent moral agents with free will; this means his intellegent creatures can take any number of different options at any given moment. While he could forsee their choices and make a decision about how to reacte before it happens, its seems God has chosen to limit his use of foreknowledge and intereact with his creatures in "real time" as it were, for the most part waiting to "see" what they will do and then reacting without overriding their free will by imposing on them what he wants them to do. Thus if he has communicated a particular action vis-a-vis an individual or a group and they react in a way that he (God) change that decision, he will do so.


JW

FURTHER READING Does God change his mind?
https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/q ... t_index]=0

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[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 6 by JehovahsWitness]

QUESTION: How can a perfect God "repent"?

Genesis 6:
[6] And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

Various scriptures in the bible speak of God feeling "regret" or "repenting" of certain actions. The original Hebrew word translated into the English is NaHaM and it basically pertains to a change of attitude or intention. While in humans this may be due to past errors this is not inherent in the word itself. Just as someone may say "I'm sorry it has come to this" reflecting not necessarily an error on their part but a feeling of regret that events have lead to a particular action, God was "sorry" or "repented" (naham) at the way humans had exercised their free will had necessitated a "change in intended actions" on His part. G. J. Wenham, an Old Testament scholar at Cambridge University, writes:

"'Regret' or 'repent' may suggest a change of attitude, but when God 'repents,' he starts to act differently. Here [Gen. 6:6] and in 1 Sam 15:11 and Jer 18:10 he regrets some good thing he has done for his people, whereas in Exod 32:12, 14; 2 Sam. 24:16; Amos 7:3, 6 he repents of some evil he is carrying out. That God should change his mind might lead to his being accused of capriciousness, which Scripture firmly denies: 'God is not a son of man that he should repent' (Num 23:19; Cf. 1 Sam 15:29). Such remarks obviously raise various questions for the doctrine of divine sovereignty and its correlate human responsibility, but theological systematization is hardly the concern of the biblical narrators. For them divine repentance is a response to man's changes of heart, whether for better or worse" - Wenham, J. G. Genesis 1-15. Waco, Texas: Word, 1987, 144.

CONCLUSION verses such as Genesis 6:6 does not support the idea that God makes mistakes or errors, rather it reflects his feelings about the need He saw to "change his mind" as to his intended treatment of humans due to their own wicked actions.


JEHOVAH'S WITNESS


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[1213]

Is God capable of changing his mind?

I believe He can, but there is probably no reason for Him to do that.

[Willum]

Is God capable of changing his mind?

I believe He can, but there is probably no reason for Him to do that.

Perhaps we can pray, pray for him to change his mind from the inertia associated with the fall, to a brighter future now, without all the nonsensical prophecy.

Yes, perhaps we can persuade him to logic, through prayer.

What do you think?

With heartfelt sincerity,

[1213]

Perhaps we can pray, pray for him to change his mind from the inertia associated with the fall, to a brighter future now, without all the nonsensical prophecy.

Yes, perhaps we can persuade him to logic, through prayer.

What do you think?

Do you mean that we should pray that He will not allow unrighteous to die, but let them live eternally so that they have enough time to make whole life eternal suffering for all?