Lets assume for a minute, that God does know everything. This raises a question. Like in the beginning when God was walking in the Garden of Eden, just after Adam and Eve ate the apple and hid themselves, Why did God ask "Where art Thou? " and " What hast thou done? " This is strange, for if a God knows all, what would be the purpose of asking a question at all, if He in fact knew it already. Why did God ask where art thou, if He knew where they were? some say to see if they would admit to it, and/or come out of hiding, Well even this God would have known if He knows everything. He would have known that when He asked "Where art Thou? " That they would come out, and He would also know exactly what each would say to Him in response. Lets assume for a minute, that God does know everything. This raises another question. Why would God who knows everything ever be displeased or pleased. An example is this, If you knew everything ( speculating ) and you were a owner of a store, and you had forknowledge that Jill was not going to show up on Thursday to work. would you be displeased when Thursday arrived and Jill was not at work? i would think if you knew she was not going to be there, it would not displease you when she wasn't. Now if you don't know everything and you were counting on Jill to work Thursday and she didn't show up, then i can understand why you would be displeased. Throughout the entire bible, God is displeased, angered, dismayed, upset, and pleased. consider these verses:
This is how i see it, If i knew everything that was going to happen, i would not be displeased when it happens, if i knew everything that was going to happen, i would not be pleased when it happens, For i would have known it was going to happen. If i know i was going to have a wreck in the car on Friday, how can i be displeased if on Friday i have a wreck in the car, when i knew it was going to happen.
Please don't get me wrong, i believe God has the ability to know everything, but i also believe that God Himself made it possible that even He Himself will not know the choices we make. God did this thing and it is good in His sight. He gave us free will to choose right from wrong, to do good or to do evil. For example if you are going down a road and come to a "Y" in the road, you are faced with a decision to make, so you look to the left and you see far down the road lots of colorful lights and half dressed people in the streets, and you look right and you see far down the road a small restraunt by itself. Now satan is tempting you to choose left and God is wanting you to choose Him and go right, away from the temptations. At this very moment, God does not know what choice you will make, Satan does not know what choice you will make, only you make that choice (which God has allowed) Don't get me wrong, God knows what will happen if you choose left and He knows what will happen if you choose right, but as for the actual choice that is made He does not know. Now if you choose right, God will be pleased with you, and smile down upon you, and eventually Bless you for it. If you choose left, God will be displeased, and will continue to hope that you will go His ways and not satans. This makes me a better person, For i want to please my God as much as possible, and i do not wish to displease the one i worship, this causes me to make better choices knowing that God does not know what i am going to do, thus very pleased when i do those things which are toward Him. (Please note, people who are predestined are just that, they have no choice, they are predestinated whether to do good (those who are called) or to do evil (the anti-christ and his followers) But their choices that they make are the same, He doesn't know, however those who are predestined doesn't matter what choice they make, because they are limited and can't escape their calling [for example if every road led to Texas, no matter what choices the person makes that person will end up in Texas, this is the case for those who are predestined to fulfill something for God. Most people have roads that lead everywhere, but those who are predestined will end up where God wants them] If God knows everything, then He would have known the Angel Lucifer would betray Him from the beginning and would not have allowed him to have the position that he did. If God knows everything, why did he test His people to see the outcome of it. For example when He told abraham to sacrifice his only son, even after being promised that son, He went on a three day journey to sacrifice his son, and had fire in hand before God stopped him from killing his son. If God knows everything, why did He test Abraham to see if he would actually do it, or turn away from God, Point is He didn't know, so He tested Abraham with something he loved the most, to see if Abraham would choose God or the love of his son more, when God saw that he chose God, he stopped him and was very pleased with Abraham. Consider what God said to Abraham:
So God did NOT know prior to that testing of Abraham. There are many examples in the Bible which would lead a person to believe that although God is all knowing, He has chose to omit some knowledge from Himself, to not know. How can i explain this better. It is as if your life started at the base of a huge tree. Your life always starts at the trunk of the tree going upwards. Now in your travel up this huge tree, you can only take one path at a time. You are going to end at one of the ends of one of those thousands of branches. Now God sees your entire life and all the different paths you can take on YOUR TREE. He knows where each branch leads to. He knows the possible thousand outcomes of your life on YOUR TREE. Now when you come to the first "Y" in the path up the tree that is your life. God knows what will happen if you choose left, and He knows what is going to happen if you choose right. But God does not know the actual choice that you will make. satan tempts you to take the wrong path leading toward darkness, while the Holy Ghost is telling you not to take that path, to choose the path of light. God is pleased if you take the right path, and displeased if you take the wrong path. But until you make the choice, because God Himself allowed you Freewill to choose for your own self, God does not know which choice you will make. He knows what will happen if you choose left, and He knows what will happen if you choose right. But the choice you make He does not know which you will make. So everytime you are tempted to commit a sin, because satan is tempting you to take the wrong path, God is displeased. And if satan tempts you to commit sin, and you overcome that temptation, God is pleased greatly and will Bless you for it. Tell me. Do you think it pleases God that you obey His enemy, or does that displease Him? Tell me. When you obey the enemy of God, does that greive the Holy Ghost which you say is in you? The Question than is. What are you doing to please God, if all the time you are displeasing Him? In the above example of YOUR TREE. There is but one solitary branch that leads to life everlasting, Very few actually manage to FIND that small, narrow, difficult path, but choose to follow the many paths that lead to destruction. But here is Good News. no matter what path you are on today in YOUR TREE, there is always a way for you to get to that solitary, narrow, difficult path that leads to LIFE EVERLASTING. The only time it is not possible to get to that path, is if the many wrong paths that you chose to take ends in DEATH of your flesh. God knows what is going to happen if you choose right. He knows what is going to happen if you choose left. He does not know which you will choose. This is a great opportunity to please your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the Father in Heaven, by choosing that which is RIGHT. ^i^ |