Question:
Dear Greg,
I’m
mixed up. Here’s what a friend
told me about the Bible and about God. Please
explain, I’m confused. Does God
change his mind?
Malachi
3:6 “For I am the Lord I change not.”
Numbers
23:19 “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that
Ezekiel
24:14 “I the Lord have spoken it: it shall come to pass, and I will do it;
James
1:17 “…the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow
VERSUS:
Exodus
32:14 “And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto
Jonah
3:10 “…and God repented of the evil, that he had said that would do unto
Jeremiah
15:6 “Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord, thou art gone backward:
Anyway—does
God change his mind or not? If he
does, why does the Bible say he doesn’t?
If he doesn’t, why does he admit that he does?
You can’t have it both ways and remain honest with yourself.
Michelle
Answer:
Dear
Michelle,
This
individual doesn’t know what he is saying.
He is unable to distinguish what to him/her are contradictory statements
simply because he has not studied what the Bible teaches about the nature of
God. The Bible teaches us many
things about God’s nature, among them that God is immutable, that is,
unchanging. Essentially this means
that God’s character is unchanging and that we can depend on him.
He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Then, there are other theological issues which the author
adds to this mix, confusing the issue, trying to make it seem that God/the Bible
is confused when in fact the author of the material about which you wanted my
opinion is mixed up.
For
example—a well-educated person, who perhaps is a schoolteacher, teaching
English, or biology, or history—may not understand the computer.
They may, because they have not studied computers, computer language,
computer programming, have no end of difficulties with their own personal
computer. They may conclude that
computers are stupid, useless, etc. Their
conclusion is based upon their subjective experience, but as humans our
subjective experience is limited.
The
person whom you quote has not studied the nature of God, but instead selects
random texts, often out of their context, and pits them against other texts,
which seem, on the surface, to be contradictory.
But the person reveals, in making the statements he/she does that they
have not studied biblical topics such as the nature of God, the doctrine of
predestination (and while there are a variety of ways to understand
predestination, the person below does not introduce us to any), the teaching of
the freedom of human will, the freedom God has given humans to make decisions
(i.e., we are not robots), self-determinism, etc.
Given
those facts about humanity, the nature of the human beings that God has created,
given the fact that we have been created with the ability to make choices, and
the fact that God interacts with us and has a personal relationship with us as
his children, these apparent contradictions fail to be contradictions.
All of this background goes un-addressed as the individual piles up what
they seem to believe is a coup, an unbelievable logjam of unanswerable
contradictions. And, to the person
who does not wish to take the time to study what the Bible says about the nature
of God, and the nature of his creation, these biblical passages may appear to be
contradictory.
When
I have my car repaired, I go to a mechanic who is trained and certified.
When I have questions about the Bible, I want someone who has completed
graduate studies in the Bible to help me—that’s why I would not trust any
“insights” of the individual talking to you.
In
Christ,
Greg
Albrecht