Posts
What is the significance of Ezekiel 33:13–15?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
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?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
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?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
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?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
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?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
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?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
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?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
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?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
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?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
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?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
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?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
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?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
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?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
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?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
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?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
Topics: Open Theism
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”…
The Subversion of Christianity
Category: General
Welcome open minded internet thinkers. Thanks again for all your prayers. I’m feeling much better. I’m still a bit sick, but I managed to travel to Columbia, Missouri, this weekend to preach/teach at a friend’s…
New Testament Support for the Warfare Worldview
Category: Essays
Tags: Bible, Essay, New Testament, Spiritual Warfare, Warfare Worldview
Topics: Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
Warfare in Jesus’ Ministry The theme of God striving to establish his sovereign will (his Kingdom) on earth over and against forces that oppose him is prevalent in the New Testament. In keeping with the…
What is Open Theism?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Open Theism, Q&A
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…
Naturalism and the Historical Jesus
Category: Essays
Tags: Apologetics, Essay, Gospels, Jesus, New Testament
Topics: Jesus: Lord or Legend
The quest for a “merely human” Jesus The various radical views of Jesus now being advocated by certain scholars and propagated through the press are buttressed by a number of different historical arguments. Some argue,…
Is homosexuality a sin?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Q&A, Sexuality, Sin, Social Issues
Topics: Ethical, Cultural and Political Issues, Sin
There are three passages in the Old Testament (Gen. 19: 1-13; Lev 18:22; 20:13) and three in the New Testament (Rom. 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; I Tim. 1:10) that have traditionally been read as prohibiting…