Results 1 - 5 of 5
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Ninevah did. | Rom 1:18 | Morant61 | 20784 | ||
Response......................................... Greetings Lionstrong! May I address your question? Jonah 3:4 says, "On the first day, Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: ‘‘Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned.”" Verse 2 tells us that this was the message that God gave him to preach to Ninevah. So, did God lie about His intentions? Or, did He simply respond to their repentance? Jonah 3:10 says, " When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened." Thus, according to these verses, God's will was to destroy them. However, when they repented, He did not destroy them as He had planned. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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2 | Ninevah did. | Rom 1:18 | Lionstrong | 20840 | ||
Jon 4:2 He prayed to the LORD and said, "Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity. Dear Tim, Thanks for your response. God told Jonah WHAT to proclaim. God did not tell him THAT he was going to give the Ninevites repentance at the preaching of this proclamation. However, Jonah had a strong suspicion that God was, knowing the merciful character of God. So, Jonah, being the good Calvinist, knew that God accomplished his end by means of the means. So knowing the means by which faith comes is by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ, Jonah tried to thwart the suspected purpose of God by removing himself as the means by which the Ninevites would hear. So, no, God did not lie about his intentions, because he never revealed them to Jonah. So, God did not change his plan to give the Ninevites repentance, which Jonah had rightly suspected was God’s plan all along. The same is true in Reformed preaching of the Gospel. Not knowing the “wonderful” plan God may have for our neighbor’s life, we do not tell them what we don’t know, but in love we do warn them of the wrath to come and where they can find refuge. If God, who has mercy upon whom he will have mercy, has mercy on our neighbor, our neighbor by the effective irresistible working of the Holy Spirit will repent and find shelter in Jesus. Peace, Lionstrong |
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3 | Ninevah did. | Rom 1:18 | Morant61 | 20858 | ||
Counter View.................................... Greetings Lionstrong! It is good to hear from you again! I just have one problem with your interpretation. God's message, through Jonah, said specifically that He WOULD destroy them in 40 days. In fact, He didn't even attach a condition to this statement. He didn't say, "I will destroy you in 40 days unless you repent." You focused in whether or not Jonah knew that Ninevah would repent, but that really isn't the issue. The issue is that in Jonah 3:4, God specifically states His intentions toward Ninevah. So, if it was never God's intention to destory Nivevah, how this statement be true? The statement, "I will overthrow you in 40 days", cannot be true if God never actually intended to destroy them. Verse 3:9 makes it clear that they viewed the result of this overthrow to be their deaths. Now, I agree with you statemtent that Jonah knew that God was merciful. He didn't want to warn Nivevah because he knew that they might repent and that God might relent (4:2). But, this is clearly a change in action on God's part in response to man's reaction to Him. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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4 | Ninevah did. | Rom 1:18 | Lionstrong | 20944 | ||
Num 23:19 "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? Mal 3:6 "For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. Dear Tim, can you say “anthropopathism?” God is immutable. So whenever you read Scripture where it says God changed his mind, or repented or relented it is an (now say it with me) anthropopathism. Re-read my post, dear Tim. The focus is not as you say on whether or not Jonah knew that Ninevah would repent. The focus was on Jonah’s SUSPECION of God’s plan to grant repentance to Ninevah. Your misreading my post demonstrates, maybe, the Arminian tendency to make God’s plans dependent on man’s will. The whole book is predicated on the plan of God to grant repentance to the Ninevites. Jonah understood that his proclamation might have the unspoken “if” clause. That’s why he didn’t want to go! But he wasn't told to preach the “if” clause. I would even hazard to suggest that if God had told Jonah to include the if clause or if he told Jonah his plan to grant them repentance, Jonah’s abhorrence of Ninevah would have caused him to accept death from the hand of God rather than go. Jonah was not afraid of the sting of death, evidenced by his willingness to die in order to save the ship. So, God did not reveal his intent to Jonah, and Jonah went with the hope that his message had no hidden “if” clause. Peace, Lionstrong |
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5 | Ninevah did. | Rom 1:18 | Morant61 | 20947 | ||
Greetings Lionstrong! Anthropopathism! Anthropopathism! Say it! I can barely spell it! ;-) May I be friendly, but blunt? Jonah 3:4 has no "if" in it! In fact, the word "if" doesn't appear in the entire book (at least in the NIV)! God said through Jonah, "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." (Jonah 3:4) Either God meant it or it was a lie! I don't belive it was a lie (for as you pointed out - God can't lie). Therefore, He must have meant it. He didn't do it. Therefore, something changed. Nivevah repented! Are we allowed to simply add an "if" where there is none? Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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