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.
What is the significance of Hosea 11:8–9?
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.”
This passage shows that God experiences conflict between his compassion and his justice and that he sometimes alters his plans (his heart “recoils”) as a result (cf. 1 Chron. 21:11–15; Ezek. 20:5–22). He is a personal God who sometimes experiences conflicting emotions as he participates in the ups and downs of life with his people. Only a preconceived, philosophical ideal of what God is “supposed” to be like would ever suggest that this tender portrayal is one of weakness. In truth, God’s responsiveness is a demonstration of his strength.
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
Verse: Hosea 11
Related Reading
How do you respond to Acts 2:23 and 4:28?
Question: Acts 2:23 and 4:28 tell us that wicked people crucified Jesus just as God predestined them to do. If this wicked act could be predestined, why couldn’t every other wicked act be predestined? Doesn’t this refute your theory that human acts can’t be free if they are either predestined or foreknown? Answer: In Acts…
Are you an annihilationist, and if so, why?
Annihilationism is the view that whoever and whatever cannot be redeemed by God is ultimately put out of existence. Sentient beings do not suffer eternally, as the traditional view of hell teaches.I’m strongly inclined toward the annihilationist position. The reason is that it strikes me as the view that has the best biblical support. I’ll…
God is Flexible: Romans 9, Part 4
As we continue this series on Romans 9, [Here’s the link to the first post in the series.] today we will look at the famous potter/clay analogy. Most tend to interpret the potter and clay image as supporting the deterministic view of God. But in fact, it teaches just the opposite. This is the fifth argument…
Why We Can’t Know Why
Various fields of science have taught us that the slightest variation in a sufficiently complex process at one point may cause remarkable variations in that process at another point. The flap of a butterfly wing in one part of the globe can be, under the right conditions, the decisive variable that brings about a hurricane…
How does an Open Theist explain all the prophecies fulfilled in the life of Jesus?
Question: Throughout the Gospels it says that Jesus “fulfilled that which was written.” Some of these prophecies are very specific and involve free decisions of people. For example, a guard freely chose to give Jesus vinegar instead of water (Jn 19:28), yet John says this was prophesied in the Old Testament, hundred of years before…
Podcast: If the Future is Open, How Do You Explain Prophecy?
Greg considers prophecy through the lens of open theism. http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0448.mp3