Open Theism
What is the significance of Jeremiah 42:9-16?
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Verse: Jeremiah 42
Through Jeremiah the Lord tells Israel “If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I have relented concerning…
What is the significance of Ezekiel 12:1–3?
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Verse: Ezekiel 12
The Lord has Ezekiel symbolically enact Israel’s exile as a warning and remarks, “Perhaps they will understand, though they are a rebellious house” (vs. 3). Though Israel repeatedly surprised God by their persistent rebellion, he…
What is the significance of Ezekiel 22:29–31?
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Verse: Ezekiel 22
The Lord says he “sought for” someone to stand in the breech for Israel “but I found none.” Hence Israel experienced the wrath of God. If everything that shall ever come to pass is eternally…
What is the significance of Ezekiel 33:13–15?
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Verse: Ezekiel 33
“[W]hen I say to the righteous he will surely live, and he so trusts in his righteousness that he commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered…he will die. But when I say…
What is the significance of Hosea 8:5?
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Verse: Hosea 8
The Lord asks, “How long will they [Israel] be incapable of innocence?” The Lord’s continual striving with Israel regarding their lack of innocence suggests that this question was not merely rhetorical. If God knows the…
What is the significance of Hosea 11:8–9?
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Verse: Hosea 11
After plotting severe judgment against Israel (vs. 5–7) the Lord says, “My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my fierce anger… I will not come in wrath.”…
What is the significance of Joel 2:13–14?
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Verse: Joel 2
“Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave…
What is the significance of Amos 7:1–6?
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Verse: Amos 7
The Lord revealed a judgment he was planning to bring on Israel to Amos in a vision. Amos prayed “O Lord God, forgive, I beg you!” (vs. 2). Scripture declares that, “The Lord relented concerning…
What is the significance of Jonah 1:2; 3:2, 4–10; 4:2?
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Verse: Jonah 1, Jonah 3, Jonah 4
God “changed his mind” (3:10) about the destruction he planned to carry out on Nineveh. If all events in history are eternally settled and known by God as such, his word to Jonah that he…
What is the significance of Matthew 25:41?
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Verse: Matthew 25
The Lord teaches that on the judgment day he will say to the wicked, “Depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels…” Hell was expressly prepared for “the devil…
What is the significance of Matthew 26:39?
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Verse: Matthew 26
Jesus threw himself on the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want.” Scripture indicates that much about the…
What is the significance of Acts 15:7?
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Verse: Acts 15
At the Jerusalem council, “Peter stood up and said to them, ‘My brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that I should be the one through whom the…
What’s the significance of Acts 17:26-27?
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Verse: Acts 17
This passage is frequently cited by determinists, for Paul here states that God “marked out” the “appointed times in history and the boundaries” of nations (Ac. 17:26). This doesn’t entail omni-control on God’s part, however….
What is the significance of Acts 21:10–12?
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Verse: Acts 21
While Paul and Luke were making preparations to go and preach in Jerusalem, “a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.” The prophet approached Paul, took his belt, and announced, “Thus says the Holy Spirit,…
What is the significance of Acts 27:10-44?
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Verse: Acts 27
This is the passage deal with Paul’s ill-fated voyage to Italy as a prisoner. The ship ran into very bad weather and Paul announced, “Men, I can see that our voyage is going to be…
What is the significance of 2 Peter 3:9–12?
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Verse: 2 Peter 3
Peter says that the Lord has delayed his coming because “he is patient with you, not wanting any to perish” (vs. 9). We are encouraged to be “looking for and hastening the coming of the…
What is the significance of Revelation 3:5?
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Verse: Revelation 3
“If you conquer, you will be clothed like them in white robes, and I will not blot your name out of the book of life…” If God is only the God of certainties, it is…
What is the significance of Revelation 22:18?
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Verse: Revelation 22
“If anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city…” For God to “take away”…
What is Open Theism?
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Topics: Open Theism What it is and is not
Open Theism is the view that God chose to create a world that included free agents, and thus a world where possibilities are real. The future is pre-settled, to whatever degree God wants to pre-settle…
Is it true you’re an “Open Theist” and that you don’t think God knows the future perfectly?
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Topics: Open Theism What it is and is not
I am an “Open Theist” – though I honestly don’t care for the label, because as I’ll show, the uniqueness of this view isn’t in what it says about God but in what it says…