Is God All Knowing?

[getat151]

I ask this question after reading certain passages in the bible where God is suprised by an event....and most notably where god says in genesis that he regretted making man......so my qestion is how can god be all knowing but regret something and be suprised at the same time...he cant regret making something if he had the foreknowledge right?

Say you know if you walk down the street and know your going to get shot but you walk down there anyway because theres a greater purpose for doing so which makes you getting shot something thats needs to be done for that purpose...how could you then regret that...youve counted the cost and made your decision.... right?

[MeCajunboy]

I ask this question after reading certain passages in the bible where God is suprised by an event....and most notably where god says in genesis that he regretted making man......so my qestion is how can god be all knowing but regret something and be suprised at the same time...he cant regret making something if he had the foreknowledge right?

Say you know if you walk down the street and know your going to get shot but you walk down there anyway because theres a greater purpose for doing so which makes you getting shot something thats needs to be done for that purpose...how could you then regret that...youve counted the cost and made your decision.... right?

I don't "know!" lolol .....just kidding. I'm sure where you read, "God regretted making man?" I do remember where God said in scripture, " I will never forsake my land for the sake of my people again." there is a difference. And many of these sayings are not meant to be taken literally. Because, for every scripture you'll find as this one that sounds like God resents us, there's another where HE says the opposite.

Lastly, you have to remember, if you did find that statement from God's Word, were speaking of a God who truly wants all HIS creations to be with HIM for an eternity.....That's a very long time down south here.llolololol.....That and we have to consider when God makes those type of comments, HE may also be speaking of the END TIMES, since HE knows everything....Past, Present, and Future! Right. So I can only guess here, but it's quite possible if we're witnessing the world growing more sinful and it continues on this path....I don't want to image what it will be like in the "End Times." Know what I mean?

[sweetycakes]

The bible tells us that "All His works were known to Him from the beginning".

Therefore, such events as you describe cannot rightly be labelled a 'surprise'...........rather, God made 'preparation' for such things, in His Providence

[HisMindinme]

The bible tells us that "All His works were known to Him from the beginning".

Therefore, such events as you describe cannot rightly be labelled a 'surprise'...........rather, God made 'preparation' for such things, in His Providence

Well said!

A man once pointed out how apparent contradictions are resolved by point-of-view. Free-will and Predestination appear to contradict each other. The contradiction is resolved to a paradox by understanding the points of view: God's (unlimited) and human (limited).

We are locked in time and space with limited view. God is outside time and space with unlimited knowledge.

In His unlimited knowing, He has prepared (see comment above) or "predestined" those who are "elect". God knows who will choose by their own free will and who will reject. God knows who will have faith, who will work with the Spirit to the forming of Christ in them and who will flatly reject. Those who accept are elected and predestined. God understands the quality of each heart towards Himself and His working. It is this understanding and His Omnipotent knowledge that forms the basis for Him to elect and predestine.

Our place is limited in time and space. Our place is to choose and work through the matter that for God is a forgone conclusion. My focus (as yours) is to be on the setting aside of my own mind for the Mind of Christ in me (you).

If your up to bat, you'll not hit the ball if you're watching the entire game. Focus on the BALL! In this case: Christ in you, His mind in you.

PLEASE NOTE: I have noted how people who either reject Christ or are apathetic towards Christ because of Predestination, are typically emotional feeding over the matter. In some cases, they are angry because they don't get to choose. This reminds me of the story Jesus told of the Talents. The man who hid his talent (money) complained about what he "knew" about God:

Mat 25:24 And he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew that you were a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter.

On what basis did he "know"? Was it reality? Was it true of the nature of God? Regardless -- the answers to these questions are actually (almost) of no value and not the point. The point is: The man made up his own mind and was feeding on His own rebellious anger in a power and control struggle with God. Notice how he lost the battle in the end:

Mat 25:25 And I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the earth. Lo, you have yours.

Mat 25:26 His lord answered and said to him, Evil and slothful servant! You knew that I reaped where I did not sow, and gathered where I did not scatter,

Mat 25:27 then you should have put my money to the exchangers, and coming I would have received my own with interest.

Mat 25:28 Therefore take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents.

Mat 25:29 For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will abound. But from him who has not, even that which he has shall be taken away from him.

Reminds me of what Paul wrote:

Rom 9:18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He will have mercy, and whom He will, He hardens.

Rom 9:19 You will then say to me, Why does He yet find fault? For who has resisted His will?

Rom 9:20 No, but, O man, who are you who replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to Him who formed it, Why have you made me this way?

Rom 9:21 Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel to honor and another to dishonor?

Rom 9:22 What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction;

Rom 9:23 and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He had before prepared to glory;

Scriptures such as this are the foundation of the Free-will Vs. Predestination arguments. I ask you to focus on the emotional content of what Paul is pointing out. Look how people gin up emotions to feed on, to reject God, reject Christ, reject His place, His authority, His judgements and His working and choose their own ways, own thinking and own will over His.

At the core of rejecting Christ and His working in us is emotional content: ALWAYS! There is always emotion at the end of the trail, the driving force -- and to what purpose? For the feeding of the lusts of the flesh! It is always true.

Want more proof? Look at Muslims believing in Islam. Look at how they live and respond to things: rioting in the streets, blowing themselves up and even killing each other when they are not killing "Christian Infidels". Do you see what I mean?

Thus, the thing to see is the flesh lust feeding emotions behind the Free-will Vs. Predestination. People are more willing to use this matter as a vehicle towards ginning up emotions to feed their lusts on than they are to look beyond it to get to real answers and the truth of the matter.

It's all about lust, all about emotions to feed lusts and all about thoughts. It's all about a human mind enslaved to the flesh and the lusts of it for the purpose of the Slave Master: FEED ME! See under the matters. See beneath them. See the driving forces, the players and their purposes.

Now -- turn to God and see what He's trying to do: Put His mind in US!

P.S.: I am not "picking on" Muslims. Christians do it as well. So do we all. We're all human. Most times, religion (or anti-religion) is just a vehicle or a means to an end: Feeding the lusts of the flesh with thoughts, emotions, words and actions. You'll find it in ALL people no matter what we believe. Heck -- look at American politics these days! No substance, no honest debate, just debate for the sake of revving people up emotionally to say, "We're RIGHT -- You are WRONG!"

Self-righteous PRIDE. My earnest prayer is for us to all see this thing for what it is.

[CaritateDei]

The atheist, Christopher Hitchens has tried to catch the Christians in a bit of a quandery by offering a self-defeating circular argument that is supposed to show everybody the supposed lack of reason in belief in God:

Can Omniscient God, who

Knows the future, find

The omnipotence to

Change His future mind?

Seems like a fair question. It was put to me very differently in grade school:

Them: Can God create anything?

Me: Yes

Them: Can God lift anything?

Me: Yes

Them: Can God create a rock so heavy that even he cannot lift it?

If one were to say yes, then they would say, "I thought you said that God can lift anything!" If you say no, then they say "I thought you said that God can create anything!"

The problem, then, with Hitchens and the snobby little seventh graders that used to try and stump me is that they definitely are seeing things "through a glass darkly."

They cannot possibly perceive of this God, whose very existence is outside of our limited perceptions. God is like the author of the book...guiding the story, yet outside the story. Without God, this complex book could not exist, yet the characters in this book cannot perceive of the author except through firm belief in him (and good old fashioned logic).

Here is the problem: God knows all, because in his Omniscience, all things are present to him. There is no future with God. There is no past. God is. In the beginning, God is. In the future, God is. God is outside the book, and in our case, this book has space and time. Before time, however, there was NO time.

All moments are in the present. The author who writes a book surely does not sit down to write before knowing the plot. He knows the plot.

Our human sin is not of God's will, but it is in his plot. He gave us a free will, still in his creation. I have to disagree with the sense of predestination, because this would not explain the Noah story. God is a very wicked creature if we all buy into predestination in a purely Calvinistic sense.

God's omniscient mind and will does not forbid his characters in his creation from taking some unpredictable turns...especially since he gave those characters a free will. Predestination says no to free will.

In the end, God's plan is met. Sin goes against his will. The rest of the book, though, is His.

[HisMindinme]

In the end, God's plan is met. Sin goes against his will. The rest of the book, though, is His.

Again -- WELL STATED!

[HisMindinme]

Here is the problem: God knows all, because in his Omniscience, all things are present to him. There is no future with God. There is no past. God is. In the beginning, God is. In the future, God is. God is outside the book, and in our case, this book has space and time. Before time, however, there was NO time.

All moments are in the present. The author who writes a book surely does not sit down to write before knowing the plot. He knows the plot.

To me, this is profoundly perceptive! All moments are NOW! Now is ever present. It is always THIS Moment.

Here is a challenge to see from the point of view of the scripture: Please refer to the book The Power of NOW! by Eckhart Tolle. Mr. Tolle is MOST certainly NOT a Christian. However, there are some needed points to see in what he writes. Also, another person who is NOT a Christian is Byron Katie -- writing, "Loving What Is".

I ask you to "Chew the meat and spit the bones" on these two works. Toss out the "non-Christian" of it and understand that what they are saying is NOT completely true: far from it. The salient point is to get some simple core observations and then go back to the Bible (scripture) and re-examine the person of Christ. Watch what He says and does. Also, see the machine of yourself (myself as well) inwardly and see how, how we operate differs from Christ IN THE CONTEXT OF what Tolle and Katie are writing (i.e. chewing meat and spitting bones).

Nevertheless -- I am thrilled to see someone make this point about how ALL moments are now and present. What a wonderful thing to see at ANY level!

[Trusting Jesus]

When the original language of the Bible is translated into English, sometimes the meaning of a word or phrase looses something in the translation. God is all knowing and does know the end from the beginning. You might try looking at http://www.blueletterbible.org. Look up the scripture and then click on the box with the "C" in it. This will give you the meanings of the words.

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Nathele

[getat151]

Hismindinme...thank you for your reply it was most helpful..im gonna chew on what you said....and ive also read The Power of Now years ago..when i stopped going to church to try out other religions or philosophies...its a good book..but without christ these new age religions are empty.....but i see where your coming from....as far as understanding living in the present and understanding the future is now

[jesussaves]

Thankfully the Lord is Omnipotent and Omnipresent, all knowing and all seeing. It is very comforting to know He is right here with me at all times, ready to lead, comfort, correct and guide. :-)