I am done shortening this. We timed this at home and it is exactly 6 minutes.
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Introduction
I wonder how it would feel to think that God didn’t know my future – or your future, or your future. What if He constantly changed His mind because He didn’t know what to do or what the future held? I don’t know if I could trust or worship such a God.
• Today I have been asked to respond to the General Question of “Open Theology states that God is constantly changing and growing with His creation.” I will respond to this question biblically.
• I will show with my 3 points that this theology and therefore this statement, are biblically incorrect.
• 3 points: 1) Open Theology – Is God Omniscient? 2) Process Theology – Does God Change? 3) God is Perfect – He is not like us.
POINT 1 – Open Theology – Is God Omniscient?
• Open theists would argue that God does not know the future because He lives only in the past or present. They deny that God knows the future.
• Let’s look at the word Omniscience. It means that He knows all things and is not limited in His knowledge.
• Jesus had to know the future in order to perform His miracles. Just as an earthly lawyer would be considered a fool for asking a question that he did not already know the answer to, God would not perform a miracle of which He did not know the outcome. That would be foolish of Him and God is no fool!
• Jesus went to the cross knowing what His future held. He looked ahead 2000 years and thought of you and me. He saw us while He hung on the cross. To die and not know what the future holds, again would be foolish.
• Daniel 2:29 “While Your Majesty was sleeping, you dreamed about coming events. He who reveals secrets has shown you what is going to happen.
• God is both Transcendent and Immanent - According to the World Book Dictionary, immanence is defined as “ the pervading presence of God in His creation.” .Transcendence of God is defined as “to be above and independent of the physical universe.” Acts 17:24 says “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.”
• God is outside of time. Jesus Himself said in John 17:5 Now, Father, bring me into the glory we shared before the world began. (‘The glory’ is the future; ‘before the world began’ is the past)
2 Timothy 1:9 9For God saved us and called us to live a holy life. He did this, not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan from before the beginning of time” God knew His future plans for us from the beginning!
• Therefore, I have shown that Open theology is a false theology in that it says God does not know the future. God knows the beginning to the end!
POINT 2 – Process Theology – Does God change?
• Process theology states that since everything changes, God must also change. Is this biblical? This is what the statement is implying.
• Let’s discuss the idea that God does NOT change. The bible defines it as Immutability.
• Malachi 3:6 “I am the LORD, and I do not change.” Numbers 23:19 “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.
• God doesn’t change with the creation as if He needs to learn something or improve Himself. To change means to add something or to take something away. I may want to remove a bad habit from my life or add a new practice to my life but if God subtracts something from Himself, he becomes less perfect. If God adds to himself, He was not perfect to begin with. This brings me to my 3rd point,
POINT 3 – God is PERFECT
• He is unequaled in perfection
• Jesus said in Matthew 5:48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
• In Psalm 18:30. David says of God “His way is perfect.”
• Grudem says in his book Systematic Theology, “God’s perfection means that God completely possesses all excellent qualities and lacks no part of any qualities that would be desirable for Him.”
• Why would a perfect God want or need to change with the very creation He made? Does the clay tell the Potter what to do or how to make it? Of course not! God does not need to change to be like us. Rather, we need to change to be more like Him.
Conclusion
I have shown using my three points that in the statement “Open Theology states that God is growing and changing with His creation” we see a false theology. God is omniscient and knows my future unlike the Open theists claim. God does not change as the Process theologians claim. And we know that God is Perfect.
Finally, I find great peace in knowing that God knows my future and yours. He is involved in our lives, yet He is above all things. His knowledge is higher than our knowledge. He is over His creation. He never changes. He is eternal. He planned the cross from the beginning knowing our future would be His eternity.
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Thanks
