How do open theists respond to 1 John 3:20?
score:3
The simple answer is that 'all things' or 'everything' is scoped.
If I am ordering a burger, and the person asks what I want on the burger, and I say "everything," it will generally be understood that I want all the options on the menu, not every thing in the universe.
This pattern is also seen in the Bible, where 'all' is used to refer to things in context. For example, Acts 2:5
"And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven."
Were there Jews in Jerusalem from the Iroquois nations? No. The claim 'every nation' is scoped by a relevant context.
In the immediate context of 1 John 3:20, He knows all things relevant to the heart, and more generally, all things that are knowable.
As far as this passage in particular, the claim doesn't seem to require God knows everything that will happen in the future. Rather, it's that He can read our hearts present-tense (or at some point in the future, when it would then be present-tense). Hence, this passage seems compatible with an open theist understanding of free-will and God's foreknowledge.
Upvote:1
I believe an open theist would respond with these logical points:
- If God knew the future, then freewill wouldn't exist.
- God does know everything there is to be known.
- So since freewill does exist, and God knows everything, then the future must be unknowable. If everything we do is truly up to us in that given moment then the future has millions of outcomes, not one set course.
Upvote:1
1 John 3:20 KJV For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
God knows the hearts and minds of all men that ever lived, but until they have lived there is nothing to know. Of course, God knows everything there is to know when it is available to be known.
The things he has foreknowledge of and prophesies about are things he has determined to make happen in the course of guiding and directing history.
Ezekiel 12:25 KJV For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord GOD.
Isaiah 14:24 KJV The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
More post
- 📝 If Eastern Orthodoxy sees marriage as an eternal and unbreakable bond, why do they permit divorce?
- 📝 Will there be sex in Heaven (the new Earth)?
- 📝 Does the divine council in Psalm 82 correspond to different religions that we see in the world today?
- 📝 What is the origin of "Jesus H Christ"?
- 📝 Why does the priest say the words of the consecration in a low tone in the EF when Jesus probably did not say it in a low tone?
- 📝 Jesus' power going out
- 📝 Does Christianity or the Bible forbid polygamy and widow remarriage?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis against the existence of one "ideal" spouse for each person?
- 📝 Who exactly is resurrected and reigns in the millennial city in premillennialisim?
- 📝 According to Catholicism, if we can thank God for our fortunes why can we not blame him for our misfortunes?
- 📝 Do prayers offered to anyone but God the Father go unheard?
- 📝 According to Catholicism did God conspire with Satan to kill Job’s children?
- 📝 How to pray and meditate while saying the rosary?
- 📝 In protestantism are all mankind equal under God?
- 📝 Are names of godparents written on Baptism Certificate?
- 📝 What is an overview of how contemporary Christians discern that God is giving them instructions to follow a very specific course of action?
- 📝 What are the two great lights in Gen 1:16 according to the Young Earth Creationism?
- 📝 What misconceptions about the LDS church are a product of Mark Hofmann's forgeries?
- 📝 Does the Eastern Orthodox Church eat leavened or unleavened bread during the Eucharist?
- 📝 How do modalists understand the role of Jesus as mediator?
- 📝 How is the date of Easter set on the Orthodox calendar?
- 📝 Did God create man to be gods themselves?
- 📝 What Scriptural basis has been used in Christianity to support the idea that a fetus posseses the soul?
- 📝 Are there any Christians who understand Daniel 10 implying that there is an evil spirit prince over each country?
- 📝 Does the Catholic Church officially claim that the Bible is insufficient without tradition?
- 📝 Which pre-Nicene Christians who helped shape the trinity doctrine are now considered heretics?
- 📝 Do Catholic priests have to report child abuse confessed in secret?
- 📝 How do 'soul sleep' adherents explain reports of astral projection, out-of-body experiences (OBE) and near-death experiences (NDE)?
- 📝 Did the early Church fathers believe the Law of Moses was never able to justify?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for the belief held by Jehovah's Witnesses that Jehovah and Jesus Christ are separate entities?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 How do open theists respond to 1 John 3:20?
- 📝 How do Open Theists respond to Bible verses claiming God knows the future?
- 📝 How do Protestants respond to the JW interpretation of John 14:28?
- 📝 How is Jesus not lying in John 7?
- 📝 When and how did the names Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John get attached to the gospels?
- 📝 How did St John of Damascus view Islam?
- 📝 How do opponents respond to the Grace Gambit?
- 📝 How do Jehovah's Witnesses respond to the charge that they are false prophets (because their end-of-the-world predictions didn't come true)?
- 📝 How did John the Baptist have the "spirit and power of Elijah"?
- 📝 How do Trinitarians explain John 17:3?
- 📝 How did the disciples of John the Baptist pray?
- 📝 How do Christians respond to the criticism that Jesus of Nazareth did not bring world peace?
- 📝 If the Bible is open to interpretation, how does one know which one is right?
- 📝 How do Modalists interpret John 14:28?
- 📝 How does 1 John 2:19 fit with the teaching that Christians can lose their salvation
- 📝 How do JWs respond to Jude 9 in light of Matthew 4:10?
- 📝 How can John the Baptist be the greatest man born of woman, when Jesus was also born of woman?
- 📝 How do Jehovah's Witnesses explain John 8:58-59 in a way that accords with their doctrine?
- 📝 How did Christians respond to abortion in the early Church?
- 📝 How do Calvinists interpret 1 John 2:2 in light of Limited Atonement?
- 📝 How do Unitarians interpret John 1:1?
- 📝 Question on John 4:13-14 - How do we drink of the water from Jesus?
- 📝 How did Luther view relics, like the 'preserved head of John the Baptist'?
- 📝 John 1:18 - "No one has ever seen God" - How do Trinitarians reconcile this scripture with the belief that the Lord Jesus Christ is God?
- 📝 How do Eastern Christians explain Jesus "sending" the Holy Spirit in John 15:26?
- 📝 How do Trinitarians interpret John 3:35?
- 📝 What biblical support do Arminians and open theists find for libertarian free will?
- 📝 How did Swedenborg interpret 1 John 2:2: "He is the propitiation for our sins"?
- 📝 How long had John the Baptist been preaching before Jesus started his public ministry?
- 📝 How do Latter-day Saints respond to the claim that the Book of Mormon is based on "Manuscript Found" by Solomon Spaulding? (aka the Spaulding Theory)
