I hear a lot of open theists say that God "learns" about what is going on in the universe. In other words, God learns what human beings are doing, He learned about evil when mankind created it, etc.
Although I do think open theism is quite biblical and preserves God's sovereignty quite well, I don't feel comfortable saying that God learns.
You see, learning implies a struggle to gain information. When I learn, I have to study hard and make an effort to retain the information. For God, the process is completely devoid of effort, because He is omnipotent.
When a new fact comes into existence, then, God knows it instantly. Typically with the Platonic model of God, it is believed that when a being changes, it can only change for better or for worse. Since God is perfect, He can never change for the better or for the worse, so He can't change at all. Therefore, God's knowledge can never change at all. I disagree that changes are always from better to worse. In the Bible, God's character is revealed as unchanging, (i.e. I am the Lord, I do not change) but not in a Platonic sense. In fact, in the incarnation, God became man, that is, He changed.
It has to be this way, then. Here's the thing. If God has sequence (which the Incarnation assumes) then He is in 2009 right now with us (although He doesn't experience time in a measurable way). I am alive right now. Therefore, the statement "Cameron Versluis is alive" has a truth value of "true". If I were to die, the statement "Cameron Versluis is alive" would suddenly have a truth value of "false". Therefore, for a creature to have perfect knowledge over a course of time, the content of their knowledge would have to change.
If, however, God were completely immutably outside of time, as Plato affirmed (and as I myself have affirmed in the past) then the statement "Cameron Versluis is alive" would have a truth value of "true" yet "false"!
So, it does make most sense for God to have sequence, even if He doesn't have a measurable sequence. 2 Peter 3:8 makes this clear. God is going to bring judgment on the earth, but He has not yet. Therefore, He is in the "before" the judgment. Yet, you can't say it will be "x years" for God until the judgment, because His sequence is not measurable.
Now, back to what I was talking about. If I were to die, the truth value for "Cameron Versluis is alive" will suddenly negate. If you were to have the idea that I was alive, it would be a mistaken idea. But, if the truth value suddenly changes, then an omniscient being would recognize that it had changed and instantly the content of its knowledge would change.
God, then, does not "discover new facts" or "learn" as if He had to make some sort of careful effort to do it the right way. This is why I have been uncomfortable with open theists using these terms. Instead, God's simply knows. As David said, God knows when he sits and knows when he stands.
Anyway, some thoughts on open theism and God's knowledge...
Monday, November 23, 2009
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But the content of that 'Knowing' is in a state of constant change. Open Theists I believe would affirm that God's character doesn't change, just the content of His 'Knowing'.
ReplyDeleteInteresting to reflect on where this notion of God being outside time began. In fact I am not sure that the sentence 'God is outside of time '- is even a coherent sentence. Do we have any experience or thing to base that anything can be outside sequence?
To me it is a classification problem. God created all things we believe (rightly). Time is a thing, therefore God created it. God cannot be bound by something He created, hence He is outside time. The mistake in logic here is to consider time a 'thing'. Before you evoke Einstein to me, pause to think here. Can you get a bucket full of 'time'? Now God may not (and probably doesn't) perceive the change of time like we do. However, I do believe He is 'in sequence'. This happened, then that happened, and after that this happened etc. How He perceives that sequence no-one but He knows.
When you boil it down it seems bizarre to think that anything can be outside sequence. The question is when did we begin to think that God was outside time? And when did it become 'heretical' (like a lot of blog entries call Open Theism) to believe otherwise?
Hi, thank you Tim for stopping by!
ReplyDelete"But the content of that 'Knowing' is in a state of constant change. Open Theists I believe would affirm that God's character doesn't change, just the content of His 'Knowing'."
I agree. This is usually the case with open theists. I have seen Boyd over-emphasize God's willingness to change occasionally, however.
Invoking Einstein's relativity theory is certainly a popular thing to do to suppress open theism. Einstein's theory, though, actually presupposes irreversible sequence, but states that some beings perceive the rate of change of that sequence differently. Which is what open theists generally affirm.
The basic idea of Einstein's theory is that if you are in a jet, time will actually be passing more quickly from your perspective than mine if I am walking on the ground. This presupposes sequence, just that we experience sequence in different measurable quantities.
"Can you get a bucket full of 'time'?"
That is a really good way to look at it! I suppose to say that God is above time, in that light, is like saying He's 'above' righteousness simply because it has a name.
"When you boil it down it seems bizarre to think that anything can be outside sequence. The question is when did we begin to think that God was outside time? And when did it become 'heretical' (like a lot of blog entries call Open Theism) to believe otherwise?"
I agree entirely. I think it's mostly a result of pagan Greek philosophy getting into the church.
And I have to say, it is quite popular to denounce 'radical' thinking as heresy. The really sad part is that such 'radical' thinking might actually be the correct way to think, just forgotten over centuries of errant philosophy.
Anyway, thanks a lot for the comment, I appreciate the company here at my blog.
In Christ,
-Cameron