Open Theism: A Response To A Comment

Well...I had hoped I would never have to deal with an internet controversy again, but it appears that I have to.

I recently commented on a friend's blog concerning "Free Will vs. Determinism. I can't say that I was overly impressed with what Kevin said (not that it was bad but seriously, a paragraph and a poem simply won't do just to try and make peace in a 1900 year old debate) but it was his friend, Evan, whom I both agreed with and objected to.

It is to Evan that this response must go. It seems that Evan is possibly (no pun intended) an Open Theist. I do not know this for sure but he sure hits a keyword of Open theology and demands an answer. Says Evan,

"And enters the Hellenistic thought with an appeal to consequences. So, just reiterate, there is no verse that definitively and specifically says that God knows all our decisions prior to our decision making process. And there are passages that suggest that God hasn't known what people's decisions would be. In light of this, where are the verses that you believe define meticulous control specifically of all people's decisions?"

There are some incredibly touchy keywords here. Attacking me for "Hellenistic thought" (a common concern for Open proponents), God knowing decisions "prior" to their occurring (again, the future is open in Open theology), and especially the term "meticulous control" hint to me that maybe Evan has been reading some Greg Boyd or John Sanders, or perhaps he has recently acquired some William Hasker or David Basinger. Or maybe his pastor is an Open Theist. I know not. But I do think that Evan's question deserves a winsome (and theological!) answer. It will not do to hide away with my tail between my legs after being called a Hellenist thinking in terms of meticulous control. Otherwise known as a Calvinist in some circles (especially the Open Theist circles).

First, I am a Calvinist, lets just be plain with it, and I do not apologize for being a Calvinist. I see there being an incredibly strong theme of God having meticulous control of future decisions, knowing them both possibly and definitely. That is, the future is not open to any millions of possibilities any one of which a human may choose without God seeing (much less ordaining) prior to its occurrence. That is, I believe the Bible resoundingly proclaims that God knows the future and ordains definitely what happens in it.

Second, I understand the ache of the Open Theist to know a loving God and realize without a shadow of a doubt that many Calvinists have been cold and brutal, or just plain cowardly, in their holding to Calvinist principles. I am attempting not to fulfill this stereotype and respond in love. I apologize in advance if any part of my response fails to be winsome and loving. This does not mean that I will not unflinchingly proclaim the truth of the Bible.

Thus, let me proceed.

Evan begins by accusing me of holding Hellenistic thought with appeal to consequences. I originally said,

Though I disagree that the Bible doesn't say God doesn't [know] all of men's choices, He must if He is to remain the God of order and not the God of chance.

I believe that this is what Evan responded to. To begin with, appealing to consequences has little to do with Hellenistic thought. And holding an immutable God who does not change has little to do with Hellenistic thought (I anticipate this one, Evan did not actually object to this, but if he called me a Hellenist for consequences he would call me a Hellenist for this to). In fact, simply throwing it out there that I am being Hellenistic is little more than a disguised ad hominem. It is very popular nowadays to just accuse anyone thinking in a "Western" linear fashion that they are so influenced by the Greeks that their theology has been compromised. It is almost to be accompanied by a gasp from whoever hears and meant to send those arguing in such a fashion packing with a blush and apologies. No friend, I have not been influenced by the Greeks in this way, I have been influenced by a much older line of thinking which has passed down through the ages: Judaism. Indeed, the Jews have held that God must be the God of order and not chance from their founding as God's people. The rabbis have long held to what I am accused of stealing from Philo. Moses knew it on the mountain, Job knew it in the whirlwind, and Jeremiah knew it in the broken city. The rabbis have long held it and continue to hold it. Having addressed this accusation (albeit briefly), almost reductionisticly), we must see that this is not the main issue at all. It actually borders of a sarcastic jab. But, I must admit that a portion of my comment to which Evan responded was foolish and a sarcastic jab so maybe I deserved it. It is a small thing. Let us proceed to the real issue.

What Evan objects to is that I have said I believe the Bible says that God knows and controls defintively and meticulously what all of men's future decisions will be. For this, he says, there is no verse. In fact he appeals to the verses which say God does not know man's choices beforehand (probably Jonah 3:10, Isaiah 38:1, 2 Kings 20:1, 5-6, Exodus 32:14, and Genesis 6:5-6, 22:12 et al). I believe that these verses must be explained but I do not have time or space to attempt to explain every facet of those verses. There are many arguments to come at them and say that in fact they have nothing to do with God's omniscience (like for instance, those verses aren't even talking about or teaching anything about omniscience, that isn't even the subject of the story of Abraham, or Jonah, or Hezekiah). In fact that is not what has been asked if me. I am to give verses that say God has meticulous control and knows our future decisions definitely.

So here it goes. If one looks at the spectrum of Scripture there are many verses that imply this kind of control. Shall we mention them all? I do not think so. I shall try not to use these verses out of context, or just as proof texts, but I think they are pretty important in this debate.

How about Psalm 139:1-4?

1LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
You understand my thought from afar.
3You scrutinize my path and my lying down,
And are intimately acquainted with all my ways.
4Even before there is a word on my tongue,
Behold, O LORD, You know it all.

Or perhaps Ephesians 1:3-5, to which there are many parallells in the New Testament (33 or so in fact),

3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,

4just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him In love

5He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,

Maybe we could go back to Isaiah and look there. Isaiah, in condemening the Israelites and their whoring with idols dares them to prove that the idols know and control the future as he does,

41:23 - Declare the things that are going to come afterward, that we may know that you are gods; Indeed, do good or evil, that we may anxiously look about us and fear together. [i.e. if the idols can declare the things that are going to come afterward, than they are indeed gods. This they cannot do, thus...?]

41:45-26 - 25"I have aroused one from the north, and he has come;
From the rising of the sun he will call on My name;
And he will come upon rulers as upon mortar,
Even as the potter treads clay."
26Who has declared this from the beginning, that we might know?
Or from former times, that we may say, "He is right!"?
Surely there was no one who declared,
Surely there was no one who proclaimed,
Surely there was no one who heard your words.

[i.e. God did, the idols didn't, they could not do so, they are not God who both knows and declares from the beginning!]

42:8-9 -
8" I am the LORD, that is My name;
I will not give My glory to another,
Nor My praise to graven images.
9"Behold, the former things have come to pass,
Now I declare new things;
Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you."

46:8-11 - 8"Remember this, and be assured;
Recall it to mind, you transgressors.
9"Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is no one like Me,
10Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, 'My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure';
11Calling a bird of prey from the east,
The man of My purpose from a far country
Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.
I have planned it, surely I will do it.

Shall we go on? Shall we mention Romans 8-9? Or 1st Peter 1:18-20? Or every verse in Isaiah 40-48? Or Matthew 16:21? Or Acts 2:31? Or Jesus own words in John 13:19,

"From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He.

Indeed, the Bible is full of the language of Meticulous Sovereignty! It is packed with the all knowing God knowing the future definitely. It is packed with the glorious Almighty (LOVING!) God meticulously knowing and controlling all things.

If we are to read these texts honestly and in a "plain vanilla" hermeneutic, we must come to one and only one conclusion: The classical definition of omiscience is the Biblical definition of omniscience!

soli deo gloria,

R.D. Thompson