ACH Study Groups
Ben & Fran Gilmore – Cofounders
7659 Gingerblossom Drive
Citrus Heights, CA 95621
916-722-2501 histbuff@garlic.com
www.ACHStudyGroups.com
May 17, 2020
This is a letter to our friends –
It works for me
God took six days to create, then He rested a day. God is still making choices. He is alive.
I believe the Holy Bible is inerrant. The translations are not, but the message gets through anyway! God’s goal – “Teach us how to love Him and how to love one another.” All of us are in His classroom.
I have always been bothered by the translator’s understanding of God’s omniscience. We agree, “God knows everything.” I believe God knows everything knowable. Choices I have yet to create are not currently knowable as facts. I know my kids well enough to be pretty sure how they will act in a given situation, but that is not an absolute. If God says something is going to happen next Tuesday, He is quite able to bring it about next Tuesday – but – it isn’t a fact until He ratifies it with a choice on Tuesday.
If God knows my every choice before I am conceived – or before creating the world – then He can never make new decisions – or change His mind, as He does numerous times in Scripture.
Rather – I believe He is sitting on the edge of His throne watching over me and saying, “Come on Ben, I’m rooting for you. Get it right this time.”
When one believes the future is absolute before it is created, one has to make up rationalizations about time. “God exists independent of time.” “The past, present and future are all the same to God.” Imagine witnessing to a jungle native with, “You should love and trust a God who knew you before your parents were born and knows everything you are going to do before you even think about it.”
Contrast that with, “There is an active God of creation that wants the very best for you. He is also a just and forgiving God who knows about the times you have violated your conscience. You need to make things right with Him.”
These columns are archived since 12/10/09
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