GOD has regrets? how can an omnipotent being regret something?

[shawnskin]

I get hung up right in genesis when after he creates us and we sin he regrets making us. (and all powerful being should not have regrets ) I believe there’s a God, Or more accurately something going on so far beyond our understanding that Other than a small glimpse our human minds are not capable of understanding it. our brains/egos would rather make something up and admit we don’t understand, come to believe that people Who think they know Gods will ,understand him ,and can speak for him ,are either delusional Or deceitful...I believe we have created God In our on image.and What is really going on iso much more amazing than we can ever imagine

[Miles]

How about if he makes a mistake? He might honestly regret that couldn't he?

Judging what God may or may not regret is beyond my pay grade.
I’ll leave this to you.
Wish you and yours a great day and beyond.

Excuse me, but it's not "what" he regrets, but the fact that he regrets at all.

.

[thomasdixon]

GOD has regrets? how can an omnipotent being regret something?

How about if he makes a mistake?

That's when forgiveness sets in

[Miles]

GOD has regrets? how can an omnipotent being regret something?

How about if he makes a mistake?

That's when forgiveness sets in

How does forgiveness "set in"? God made a mistake which he regrets, and then he forgave himself for it? If so it certainly doesn't erase the fact that he made a mistake in the first place.

,

[onewithhim]

[Replying to thomasdixon in post #66]
Yes, Jehovah regrets, or, feels bad about, how things had turned out. You made some good comments about this. Jehovah doesn't make mistakes, and he truly loves his creation of humans. They have messed up really badly, and he feels quite terrible about it.

[thomasdixon]

(Deu 7:6 KJV) For thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

(Deu 7:12 KJV) Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the LORD thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he swore unto thy fathers:

(Deu 7:13 KJV) And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kin, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.

Ezekiel
Chapter 21
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face toward Jerusalem, and drop thy word toward the holy places, and prophesy against the land of Israel,
3 And say to the land of Israel, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I am against thee, and will draw forth my sword out of his sheath, and will cut off from thee the righteous and the wicked.

God chose them and then after seeing their evil ways rejects them
This is one very big regret

[onewithhim]

[Replying to thomasdixon in post #75]

Yes....Jehovah didn't regret choosing them in the beginning as his chosen people, he regretted that they chose to betray him.

[AquinasForGod]

I never felt like I had answers to these questions until I studied Saint Thomas Aquinas.

We cannot read Genesis like a history or science book. Although these events might have happened in some way, it doesn't mean they are written with historical accuracy and that we should read every word literally.

Aquinas when teaching Catholic doctrine in Summa Theologica points out that men wrote about God in an anthropomorphic way. However, God is divinely simple, timeless, immutable, and impassable. Impassable meaning that he doesn't experience the passions in his eternal being. Immutable meaning that he doesn't change.

These follow from the powerful 5 proofs that Aquinas gives, but you can see that God doesn't change in the bible.

Malachi 3:6 ESV
“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

James 1:17 ESV
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

There are more verses, but this is enough to make my point. To regret takes undergoing a change in oneself. You must go from a state of not regretting to a state of regret. The writer is simply anthropomorphizing God. So the author was not writing a philosophical treatise on God's nature, but was trying to explain in simple terms that although God desires all man to be saved and live, he must pass judgment for the greater good, for maximal goodness.

Understanding the bible as the early church fathers, as it was passed down to Christ's church makes so much more sense to me than how protestants try to understand it.

[onewithhim]

[Replying to thomasdixon in post #75]

Yes....Jehovah didn't regret choosing them in the beginning as his chosen people, he regretted that they chose to betray him.