Open Theism
Does Prayer Really Change Things?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Change, God, Open Theism, Prayer
Topics: Free Will and the Future, Hearing God, Prayer
Many people operate out of a blueprint model where God is viewed as absolutely unchanging, and all that occurs in the world is the unfolding of an eternal divine plan. If this is the case,…
Is Your Christianity Shaped by Plato or the Bible?
Category: General
Tags: Attributes of God, Blueprint Worldview, Change, God, Open Theism, Perfection, Plato, time
Topics: Apologetics
The Timaeus is a work that Plato wrote that addresses the questions: “What is that which always is and has no becoming, and what is that which becomes but never is?” (Tim. 28a)? These questions…
Does God Change His Mind?
Category: Q&A
Tags: God of the Possible, Open Theism
Topics: Defending the Open View, Providence, Predestination and Free Will
Classical theologians usually argue that texts that attribute change to God describe how he appears to us; they do not depict God as he really is. It looks like God changed his mind, but he…
Is God All-Powerful?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Free Will, Letters from a Skeptic, Love, Omnipotence, Open Theism
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will
I want to answer yes and no. God is all-powerful in the sense that God originally possessed all power. Before Creation, God was the only being who existed, and thus had all the power there…
When God’s “Plan A” Falls Through, What’s Next?
Category: General
Tags: Free Will, God of the Possible, God's Will, Open Theism
Topics: Open Theism
Image by Katie Tegtmeyer via Flickr Suzanne was angry, to say the least. Since her early teens, her only aspirations in life were to be a missionary to Taiwan and to marry a godly man with…
What Unfulfilled Prophesies Say About the Open View
Category: General
Tags: Free Will, Future, Goldingay, Open Theism, Prophesy
Topics: Open Theism
Image by Lori Greig via Flickr Yesterday, we posted about how Messianic prophesies are understood in the open view of the future. Today, this post will look at prophesies that are not fulfilled in the way predicted…
The Open View of Messianic Prophesies
Category: General
Tags: Determinism, Divine Foreknowledge, Free Will, Open Theism, Prophesy
Topics: Open Theism
Image by Lawrence OP via Flickr A number of passages speak of particular events being foreknown by God, even events resulting from individuals’ free will. For example, dozens of prophesies in the OT accurately predict details about…
Problems with the Simple Foreknowledge View
Category: General
Tags: Arminianism, Calvinism, Future, God, Open Theism, Satan and the Problem of Evil
Topics: Open Theism
Some have proposed a model of divine foreknowledge which allows them to avoid the dilemma of affirming either that God creates people for the purpose of sending them to hell (Calvinism) or that he creates…
The Open View and Predestination
Category: General
Tags: Divine Foreknowledge, freedom, God's Character, Open Theism, Predestination, Satan and the Problem of Evil
Topics: Open Theism
Paul wrote in Ephesians, “For he [God] chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through…
Does the Open View Undermine God’s Sovereignty?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Determinism, Divine Foreknowledge, Free Will, God's Sovereignty, Open Theism
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will, Responding to Objections
A common objection to the concept of a risk-taking God is that it seems to undermine God’s sovereignty. If any particular individual can opt out of God’s plan, then every individual could conceivably opt out…
Isn’t the World Unsafe If God Doesn’t Control Everything?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Determinism, Fear, Free Will, freedom, God of the Possible, God's Character, Open Theism, safety
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will, Responding to Objections
If God isn’t in control of everything, the world feels unsafe. If the future is open and if things can happen outside of God’s will, what guarantee is there that there is a point to…
To What Extent is the Future Open to Real Possibilities?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Choice, Free Will, Future, Judgment, Open Theism
Topics: Free Will and the Future
We frequently get questions about the extent to which the future is composed of actual possibilities rather than settled or determined. Here’s what Greg has to say in response to these questions: 1. We can…
Lighten Up: Open Theism T-Shirt
Category: General, Lighten Up
Tags: Choice, Free Will, freedom, Lighten Up, Open Theism
T-shirt on Zazzle designed by Jin_roh.
The Future is Not Like the Past For God (or Us)
Category: General
Tags: Free Will, freedom, Future, God of the Possible, Open Theism, Possibility
Topics: Providence, Predestination and Free Will
Image by seier+seier via Flickr Everyone agrees that we are not free to change the past. No sane person would claim, for example, that I can now make any free choices about whether John F. Kennedy will…
Lighten Up: Full of Possibilities
Category: General, Lighten Up
Tags: Cartoons, Lighten Up, New Year, Open Theism, Possibility
Dealing With Objections to Open Theism, Part II
Category: General
Tags: Across The Spectrum, Chaos Theory, Determinism, Objections to Open Theism, Open Theism, Probability
Topics: Open Theism
There are four major objections to Open Theism. In this post, we are dealing with the third and fourth. (See yesterday’s post to read about the first two.) Objection #3: God cannot foreknow only some of…
Dealing With Objections to Open Theism, Part I
Category: General
Tags: Across The Spectrum, God's Sovereignty, Objections to Open Theism, Omniscience, Open Theism
Topics: Open Theism
There are four major objections to Open Theism. Today we will deal with the first two and then tomorrow the third and fourth. For a basic introduction to Open Theism, click here. Objection #1: The…
Living Into the Future
Category: Sermons and Video Clips
Tags: Free Will, Future, Love, Open Theism, Video, Warfare Worldview, Work of the People
Topics: Open Theism, Spiritual Warfare, Cosmic Conflict
Why didn’t God create a “perfect world”? Here’s Greg’s response to that question. See more at The Work of the People.
Does God Intervene?
Category: General
Tags: God's Character, Life, Open Theism, Prayer, Warfare Worldview
Topics: Open Theism
The Open View of the future recognizes the vast influence of all the angelic and human wills God created, which, in turn, influences the various outcomes and circumstances in life. Therefore life is arbitrary because…
Does The Open View Limit God?
Category: Q&A
Tags: Calvinism, Divine Foreknowledge, Future, God of the Possible, Open Theism
Topics: Attributes and Character, Responding to Objections
Suppose you and I both agree that God is omniscient and thus knows all of reality, but we disagree over, say, the number of trees on a certain plot of land. I say there are…