We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.
How do you respond to Jeremiah 1:5
The Lord says to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
This verse shows God’s love and plan for Jeremiah before he was born. This does not imply that Jeremiah could not have “rejected God’s purpose for [himself],” just as the Pharisees did in Jesus’ day (Luke 7:30). The Bible contains many examples of people whom God appointed for a purpose but who freely thwarted God’s plan for their life. Indeed, every person who damns himself or herself does so by thwarting God’s loving will for his or her life, for God’s will is for “all to come to repentance” and be saved (2 Pet. 3:9).
We thus have reason to believe that Jeremiah was free to accept or reject the divine appointment announced in this verse. We know about God’s prenatal intentions for his life only because he, unlike many others, did obey the calling of God.
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism, Responding to Objections
Verse: Jeremiah 1
Related Reading
Do you believe God is pure actuality?
The basis of the classical view of God as pure actuality (actus purus) is the Aristotelian notion that potentiality is always potential for change and that something changes only because is lacks something else. So, a perfect being who lacks nothing must be devoid of potentiality, which means it must be pure actuality. I think…
What is the significance of Exodus 3:18–4:9?
The Lord tells Moses that the elders of Israel will heed his voice (vs. 18). Moses says, “suppose they do not believe me or listen to me…” (4:1). God performs a miracle “so that they may believe that the Lord…has appeared to you” (vs. 5). Moses remains unconvinced so the Lord performs a second miracle…
Does Following Jesus Rule Out Serving in the Military if a War is Just?
Jesus and Military People Some soldiers responded to the preaching of John the Baptist by asking him what they should do. John gave them some ethical instruction, but, interestingly enough, he didn’t tell them to leave the army (Lk 3:12-13). So too, Jesus praised the faith of a Centurion and healed his servant while not…
8346
Umberto Salvagnin via Compfight Oh oh. It’s getting ugly up in here. Frank Viola is suggesting that Greg needs to fix a nice tall glass of shut-up juice. He and Greg have decided to have a debate on the open view sometime this fall, and they have been engaging in some smack talk since that decision…
Why You Have Free Will
God’s decision to create a cosmos that was capable of love and that was, therefore, populated with free agents (see previous post) was also a decision to create and govern a world he could not unilaterally control. These are two aspects of the same decision. What it means for God to give agents some degree…
Video Q&A: Do you think Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons are saved?
Does Greg believe that everyone goes to Heaven regardless of their beliefs? Find out here.