Is God All Knowing?

[Sion]

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?

Surprised and regretted? translated by men who didn't get it?

John 4

24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Psalms 139

7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me," Even the night shall be light about me;

12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

God is everywhere all the time. God is Spirit. Everything is written in His book before it happens.

16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.

[Guest shiloh357]

I truly apreciate everyones thoughts, understandings and input on this topic. Regarding Sodom and Gomorrah , why did God continually say "If I find fifty rightious, If I find Forty five, If there be fourty, If I find thirty, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake, Abraham finally asked, Lets say there are ten righteous there? God's final reply, I will not destroy it for tens sake," (Gen. 18:22-32).

God said he came down to see if it was true what He had been told about Sodom and Gomorrah? "I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know" (Gen. 18:16).

Here is the problem with your logic, Hazard.

The above Scripture is not about whether or not God knows the future. Your original argument centers around God not knowing what man will do in the future. But God and Abraham are not discussing what Sodom and Gomorrah WILL do, but what they ARE doing in the present. If we take the Scripture in the sloppy, face-value approach that you are using, it would mean that God doesn't even know what is going on in Sodom and Gommorah IN THE PRESENT. If you are going to stick by this verse and argue that God indeed, did NOT know the current sinful state of both cities then it shows the degree of deception you are operating under.

Tell me this, Hazard... If God was truly interested in knowing about both cities, why did He only visit Sodom? Why did He not also visit Gomorrah before raining down fire on both cities?

Why say all this when He supposedly knew already what was going on there?

That is the question YOU have to answer. Are you going to say that God is not currently aware of the sinfulness going on in Las Vegas, Bangcock and other cities?

And why continually respond to Abraham as He did. If God knew "they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me;" Why did He not say, "I know there are no righteous there and I am going down to destroy it!

Your argument then ceases be about God knowing the future. It is now a case of "God doesn't even know what is going on now." You are one truly decieved person. You claim that you do not belong to a church, and I must say, it shows. This is the kind of warped theology that comes from a person who does not know how to study the Bible, who is left on their own to come up with their silly ideas with no instruction or teaching on the proper way to interpret Scripture. You stick your nose in the air, like you are too good to walk into a church and fellowship with other Christians, but your theology demonstrates that you are in desparate need real, biblical instruction.

These and many other statements by God tells me that He does not get involved in Free Moral Agents thought processes and free choices untill the choices are made, and then if those choices interfeer in Gods plan, WHICH HE DOES KNOW FROM BEGINNING TO END, He acts accordingly to ,make sure His plan is carried out.

This is pretty much a contradiction. You just stated that God did not know that Sodom and Gommorah were sinful. You say that God does not know our choices until we make them, but Abraham and God were discussing the choices already made by the people of Sodom and Gommorah. You need to make up your mind, Hazard... Did God know or not know the current choices already made by the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah?? You cannot argue this both ways. You cannot argue that God did not know the current choices already made by Sodom and Gomorrah, but then turn around and say God knows our choices when we make them. You need to decide which sided of the line you are standing on and get your story straight.

To the point of even destroying men and replacing them with me who do act according to God plan, and who do carry out His plan. When God tests men to see if they will remain true to Him before giving them more responsibility, He then responds accordingly depending on how they respond. Some respond positively and are used by God, and some do not and are rejected. If God knew those who did respond positively beforehand, why test them at all?

God puts us to the test to demonstrate the rightesouness of His judgment. God puts people to test to reveal to themselves and the rest of the world their true character so that all will see the appropriateness of God's dealings with them either in mercy or judgment.

You assume that there is NO reason beyond a "need to know" on God's part as to the reason behind His testing. You are wrong. God's tests are also an act of refinement. God tests His own people, in order to make them better. It is like the way silver and gold are tested by fire to improve their purity and to burn off any dross or impurity in them.

And when God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifiec his son, why when He stopped Abraham did He say NOW I KNOW! rather than, "I knew all along?"

He did know all along. Again, God's testing of Abraham had nothing to do with any ignorance on God's part. Tests are not for God's benefit, but for the benefit of those He loves. It was an opportunity for Abraham to exercise his faith and to receive the blessing for it. God is simply speaking in the manner of men and He does this to relate to us on our level, in a manner we can understand and appreciate. It is really just a voluntary condescention on God's part. It was not a case of God not knowing what Abraham would do, and the Hebrew text bears that out.

[Guest shiloh357]

Nebula wrote:

Again, I disagree with you, and for one simple reason.

No one really knows what time is.

Sure, we can mark off time with units of measurement mankind has created. But what really is time?

This is something scientists puzzle over.

And they will tell you that time did indeed have a beginning.

(Note: these are the people that have actually studied time.)

So I have to again disagree with you on your perception on the nature of time.

*Article about time from people who try to explain things they can

[Guest shiloh357]

While I can

[Guest shiloh357]

Actually, it doesn

[Guest shiloh357]

Scripture, please. Where does it say Jesus is the author of time? I would like to read that in context.

Sure, not prob.

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

(Isaiah 9:6)

The phrase "everlasting father" in Hebrew is "avi ad" and it is better translated as "Father of eternity." It uses the term father, not in a paternal sense, but the sense of origin. It is the same way we refer to Alexander Graham Bell as the "father" of modern telecommunications. In the same Jesus is referred to as the father, the creater of "eternity." The word "ad" in Hebrew is often seen in phrases like "l'olam v' ad" which means "forever and ever." It is an emphatic means of referring to the eternity future. Jesus is is the father of eternity, including all the ages of this earth and all of eternity future as revealed to us in Scripture. Jesus is the author of eternity, and thus the "architect" of the ages, and that is indisputable, biblical fact. Our current age is only one part of "eternity." The Bible reveals a God who stand outside time, and all of creation.

[Guest shiloh357]

I don

[nebula]

You have to disagree with me because scientists don

[Sion]

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?

Surprised and regretted? translated by men who didn't get it?

John 4

24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

Psalms 139

7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.

11 If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me," Even the night shall be light about me;

12 Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

God is everywhere all the time. God is Spirit. Everything is written in His book before it happens.

16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.

I don

[HAZARD]

No, I never said that at all? You never answered my question, you just asked another?

Because I'm confused by what you are saying and was asking for clarification.

I am still not understanding your argument.

When the Lord met Abraham, did He know how many righteous people were then currently existing in Sodom and Gomorrah or not?

Because when Abraham asked Him "If there be?" several times the Lord replied, as many times "If I find?" ["And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes"], which indicated to me that He was going down to see if that something which was reported to Him, something he was not aware of, did not know. actually was happening, and if not, He said "I WILL KNOW."

God goes Himself, or He sends messengers throughout the whole of His vast creations to find out for Him what He wants to know, the same as the head of any other organization would be likely to do, so that plans may be made and actions can be taken accordingly to further His plan for man, which He does know from beginning to end, and which He will bring to fruition.

Examples of such agency constantly reporting to God can be found in all these passages (Gen. 18:21-22; Dan. 10:13-21; 11:1; 12:1; Zech. 1:7-11; 6:1-8; Matt. 18:10-11; Heb. 1:14; 2:2; Rev. 1:1; 7:1-3; 8:2-13; 9:1; 14:6-20; 15:1-8; 16:1-21; 18:21; 22:6, 8-9, 16).

1st, "I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know" (Gen. 18:21).

Abraham askes several times? will thou kill the rightious with the wicked?

2nd. "And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes" (Gen. 18:26).

No He didn't know how many were there, if any at all or He would have said to Abraham, there are no rightious there!