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 Jeremiah 36:1-6

The Lord has Jeremiah write his prophecy on a scroll, telling him, “Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin” (Jer. 36:3). Jeremiah then tells his scribe to take the scroll and read it to the people, telling him, “Perhaps they will bring their petition before the LORD, and will all turn from their wicked ways..” (vs. 7). It turns out the people didn’t listen to the prophecy (vs. 24-25). “Therefore,” the passage says, the Lord judged them (vs. 30-31).

If the future is eternally settled and God knows it as such, how can God in good faith tell Jeremiah that something might happen that he knows will not happen? Doesn’t the fact that God motivated Jeremiah by telling him the people might repent mean that it was possible they would repent (and also possible they would not)? And this implies that the future is composed, in part, of possibilities and that God, being omniscient, knows it as such.

Category:
Tags: ,
Topics:
Verse:

Related Reading

Revelation 13:8 refers to “everyone whose names have not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life.” How does that square with open theism?

Three possibilities exist in terms of reconciling Revelation 13:8 with open theism. 1) First, the “from the foundation of the world” clause can attach to either “everyone whose names have not been written” or to “the lamb that was slain.” For example, the TNIV translates this passage “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the…

What is the “classical view of God” and what about it do you find objectionable?

The “classical view of God” refers to the view of God that has dominated Christian theology since the earliest Church fathers. According to this theology, God is completely “immutable.” This means that God’s being and experience never change in any respect. God is therefore pure actuality (actus purus), having no potentiality whatsoever, for potentiality is…

Free Will: What does Quantum Theory suggest?

Bet you didn’t think we’d be going here. Greg discusses how quantum theory supports the idea of free will.

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…

Response to the September 11th attacks

Was God Punishing Us? Since the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11th, many people have asked the question, “Why did God allow this to happen?” In response, some Christian leaders have suggested that God was punishing our country for reaching an all-time low in moral behavior. As one well-known…

An Omni-Resourceful God

It is quite common for us to talk about the attributes of God as omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing) and omni-present (present everywhere), but what about God’s unlimited resourcefulness? Consider the story of Moses’ commission in Exodus 3 and 4. Here the Lord instructs Moses to tell the elders of Israel that the Lord has heard…