Does God know what He will be doing a trillion years from now?

[other one]

there is no time in heaven so the question really doesn't have a valid answer.

.

It does have a valid answer if we are thinking of time in our terms.

anything that would consider our time would not be valid there. whatever would make sense here would not there. it is all time there all the time

[Organic Medicine]

there is no time in heaven so the question really doesn't have a valid answer.

.

I agree. Time is a concept of the material world,and has no real meaning for God in His eternity .

And I do not not think in six earth days ,but six astronomic 'days'.

One of the greatest difficulties has been people who are naturally limited by time and space,putting an eternal ,and All Knowing God into their little 'box' of understanding . The bible while it hints at the incredible vastness of God,is a basic exercise book ,which is meant to get people to a certain stage of relation with God so that He can transform He can transform them for a life in heaven .

Every decision ,thought ,act we make is recorded and known by Him,and has been since we were created .He did not predestine what we become,but by our reaction to situations can predict what we will do

Edited March 19, 2014 by Organic Medicine

[TruthFirst]

Well thank you for all your posts. As I predicted I'm ruffling more than a few feathers.

I also remember why I haven't been on this forum for quite some time, because, correct if I'm wrong, the majority of the regulars or royal members are calvinistic which is why such a question stir such emotional response and for some, Bopeep, a bit of fear or apprehension wanting to keep a keen eye on me.

 

Dear Bopeep and others: Rest assured that I am a solid Christian of 42 years who believes in many of the same things you do. (But not Calvinism, that theology has unfortunately kept many a sinner from accepting the Gospel, mind you in the end that will not be an excuse for them but I can sure understand where they are coming from.) I live every day knowing my saviour as my Lover and King walking in obedience and the fear of the Lord. So please, and I say this lovingly, don't get bent out of shape because I may introduce ideas, concepts, questions and opinions that don't fit in your cookie cutter molds. My AGENDA is to have people think outside of the box, but certainly not to convert or subvert this site. You may want to take the time to read my profile.

 

So I might as well lay my thoughts out for you, it will get to the point and cut the cat and mouse games.

 

I totally agre in this post and am certainly not afraid of this kind of talk. I will propose these thoughts to you which for myself have helped tremendously in sorting out this free will, yet foreknowledge of God stuff.

Does God know everything? YES --------- However what is the definition of everyting.
1) I surmise that the definition is that God knows everything about Himself, His plans and His own thoughts as they unfold. I do not believe that God knows all the thoughts He will have in the future. Not knowing this does not make Him less God, it allows Him to be autonomous and Sovereign. Think about that. Sovereignty implies an act or decision that supersedes whatever is happening at the time, it’s a veto that brings change or maybe arrests something. This cannot happen when everything is layed out and planned and God is just watching the movie.
Ex: Eons of years ago in God's past, did God know that He would eventually decide to create Angels, and then a universe and then Humans? I say NO. If God always knew this then He would have no choice but to go through with it. This would always mean that God is not a creative God, but a robotic God going through the motions that is already laid out in His mind.

2) God knows everything that He creates. Nothing is hidden because He created it. Space, matter, the universe, atoms, energy, you name it none of that is hidden.

3) God also knows every thought that enters our mind. As we formulate thoughts He is there, right by our side, listening to our own reasoning.

So my revised definition is God knows everything that is knowable.
In other words FUTURE thoughts cannot be known (NOT KNOWABLE) because they do not exist. Did God know that Adam was going to choose sin?
How could He, when Adam was not even created and thus incapable of thinking or even making that choice. It is something that is not knowable. Does that diminish God's omniscience? Not in the least.

Did God know that Abraham was really going to go through with the sacrifice of his son? I think God knew 99.9% that Abraham was going to be faithful and trust God, but only in that split second of time when Abraham lifted the knife did He know. Not even when the knife was lifted in the air would anyone know not even Abraham. It is when that split second decision when Abe stopped lifting his arm and ..................then began the downward swing that it could be known.  Gen (22:12) And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for NOW I KNOW that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

Do you see where I'm coming from? Until a decision is made, it has no existence. There's nothing to be known. That is true free will. So that when man choose God, HE is ELATED, and when man sins and rejects Him He is truly GRIEVED. But if God knew this all along, then why not just play chess against Himself or play in a huge sandbox with a bunch of GI Joe human, ripping an arm here and sending another to hell there.

Did God know that the Israelites were going to throw their babys into the fires of Molech?  After all the deliverances, the victories, the blessings, the cloud, the fire by night, no way could His people do that. YET -----Jer (32:35) And they built the high places of Baal, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Molech; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my mind, that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin.

Was God grieved? You better believe it. But He cannot be truly hurt and grieved if it was all laid out before Him and He just waiting for it to come to pass.

 

Anyway, that should be enough to chew on.

 

Check out the verse in my signature.

God bless you all.

[TruthFirst]

 

God is omniscient, knowing all that can be known.   It is logically impossible for a God who is all-knowing to "change His mind."   The Bible presents the Lord as the very architect of the ages.   God built the future.  He knows all that has been, is, and ever will be. 

 

 

Arguing that God can change His mind would imply that God was mistaken and now has a better idea, than before.  it would imply imperfection in God and that is simply not possible.

 

 

I agree with He knows all that can be known. The question is: Prior to any creation of any kind, can the thoughts or decisions of any future being be known since they don't even exist. You will say yes but I say if it doesn't exist it can't be known. And this in no way diminishes God's omniscience.

 

I find it funny that when people think of God changing His mind they immediately assume that what He would have thought in the first place must have been a mistake. If you decide to go to the mall after work but when the time comes you change your mind and go see a movie, does that mean that your first choice or decision was wrong. Had chosen to create humans only, not angels, would that mean that creating angels is a bad thing or a mistake. If God chose to display a different set of 16 million colors other than the colors we know today does that mean that having done it another way makes His first thougths a mistake. These are decision that He makes whether to chart one course or another, neither one is wrong or a mistake because everything he does is consistent with His character which is perfect. At least this affords Him the option of being creative.

[TruthFirst]

I agree with the majority view that God does know everything he will do a trillion years from now, and he never changes his mind because he doesn't make mistakes.  Even when it appears he had a change of heart, it was his intention all the time, because he knew what was going to happen.  That is why I believe in predestination.  God knows all things, so he knew what you and I would become before he created us.  I especially agree with the posts by One Light and Shiloh357.  To believe God doesn't know what he will do in the future is limiting God. 

 

If it's God's intention all the time, then God cannot have a change of heart. God becomes an emotionless God incapable of experience elation at our love for Him. our submissiveness, our obedience or our victories over sin. He is incapable to grieve at our sinfull choice nor is He saddened by hurtfull things that befall us.

?God knows what we would become before He created us? That's unfortunate because eventhough both of us are on this board, we may both be going to Hell and there is absolutely nothing you or I or God can do about it. Not a single drop of the blood of the Lamb can save us because we are predestined to Hell. BTW why would God go through with a plan where the majority of humans end up in Hell.

 

Also, I think you would agree that God would have us pray for all men, evangilize all men; but if my neighbour is destine to Hell, is God not wasting my time and His, is He not deceiving me by telling me to pray for Him, giving me the impression that he can be saved, when in reality the opposite is true. And what if my neighbour is predestined to heaven it is just as much a waste of time to pray for him even though I don't know whether he's going to heaven or not.???.

[TruthFirst]

I was wondering what your agenda was with this odd question...OK, actually I still don't understand.

 

In any event, Isaiah 1:18 is used out of context here.

 

16 "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean ; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight . Cease to do evil, 17 Learn to do good ; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.

18 "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow ; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. 19 "If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land ; 20 "But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword." Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

 

God was not inviting dialogue about theological challenges; rather, He was imploring for the people who had turned from Him to reconcile with Him. There is a huge difference here with the verse in context and how you manipulated it.

 

That may be your interpretation. I say God is more than interrested in our dialog and our reasoning even more in the context of our sinfull state and what He can do about. He dialoged with Moses and changed His mind, He did the same with Abraham, He made a point to share with him. Jesus never rebuked His disciples for questioning His teachings. That believe it or not is part of relationship.

 

What I see here is that you've put the mind of God into a human box, using naturalistic reasoning to explain His supernatural essence.

 

Let me see, you say God cannot change His mind (I thought nothing was impossible to Him), you say everything is predetermined it will play itself out with in the midst of it unable to do anything new or not.

I say God, can if he so wants in His Sovereignty introduce something new (His mercies are new every morning) because He is not trapped in His own Omniscience.

Who is putting God in a box?

[TruthFirst]

I couldn't help but think of Job 38:2 NKJV Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

2 Tim. 2:23 But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.

 

How unfortunate!

But Peace to you my dear.

[TruthFirst]

God knows what He has done a trillion years from now, not what he will be doing. If you get my drift....

 

And as a matter of interest why did you chose such a short time-frame?

 

Because writing a trillion a hundred, thousand, trillion (we're back to square one) times would have been overkill.

[TruthFirst]

 

I agree. Time is a concept of the material world,and has no real meaning for God in His eternity .

And I do not not think in six earth days ,but six astronomic 'days'.

One of the greatest difficulties has been people who are naturally limited by time and space,putting an eternal ,and All Knowing God into their little 'box' of understanding . The bible while it hints at the incredible vastness of God,is a basic exercise book ,which is meant to get people to a certain stage of relation with God so that He can transform He can transform them for a life in heaven .

Every decision ,thought ,act we make is recorded and known by Him,and has been since we were created .He did not predestine what we become,but by our reaction to situations can predict what we will do

 

 

Don't believe in predestination, you must be one of the few on this board.

I agree God can predict what we will do because He knows us so well. But until we actually make a particular decision it really does not exist to be known. When we make that decision for right or wrong, then God is truly grieved or elated, as with Abraham, "NOW I KNOW that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me."

[nebula]

I was wondering what your agenda was with this odd question...OK, actually I still don't understand.

 

In any event, Isaiah 1:18 is used out of context here.

 

16 "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean ; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight . Cease to do evil, 17 Learn to do good ; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.

18 "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow ; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool. 19 "If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land ; 20 "But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword." Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

 

God was not inviting dialogue about theological challenges; rather, He was imploring for the people who had turned from Him to reconcile with Him. There is a huge difference here with the verse in context and how you manipulated it.

 

That may be your interpretation. I say God is more than interrested in our dialog and our reasoning even more in the context of our sinfull state and what He can do about.

Whether or not God is interested in our dialogue has nothing to do with that phrase you quoted, though. Put the phrase in ocntext of the sentence, and the sentence in context of the passage! Please explain why God would implore theological dialogue in the midst of calling people back from lives of sin? How does this discussion relate to "though your sins be as scarlet?"

 

He dialoged with Moses and changed His mind, He did the same with Abraham, He made a point to share with him. Jesus never rebuked His disciples for questioning His teachings. That believe it or not is part of relationship.

Firstly, what you mention here has nothing to do with "though your sins be as scarlet,...."

Secondly, I said NOTHING about whether or not God changes His mind.

Thirdly, how is this discussion a dialogue with God? Did you ask God this question or us?

 

What I see here is that you've put the mind of God into a human box, using naturalistic reasoning to explain His supernatural essence.

Let me see, you say God cannot change His mind (I thought nothing was impossible to Him), you say everything is predetermined it will play itself out with in the midst of it unable to do anything new or not.

Sir, I said NOTHING about about whether or not God can change His mind.

I NEVER said everything is predetermined, etc.

 

I say God, can if he so wants in His Sovereignty introduce something new (His mercies are new every morning) because He is not trapped in His own Omniscience.

Who is putting God in a box?

Your initial question is a completely separate line of thought than what you are now arguing.

 

The whole "time" thing has no meaning to a Being who is outside of, inside, encompassing, directing, etc., time.

 

This is the point I was focusing on.

 

God IS, WAS, and IS TO COME. This speaks loudly that God exists in the past, the present, and the future - no, not has existed in the past, but DOES exist in the past - and not will exist in the future, he DOES exist there.

 

This is why your question misses the mark.