Bible Question:
Does God change His mind based on new information? Can man influence God to repent of something that God had intended? Or is there another explanation why for passages such as Amos 7:6? I have my own ideas on the question but would be interested in hearing your reasoning as well. Thanks, John Reformed |
Bible Answer: Greetings John! Scripture is clear that God's nature never changes. However, His interactions with man do seem to change. There are only two ways to explain passages like Amos 7:6 (that I can think of). Either, God never really changed His mind, and Scripture lied. Or, at least some of God's interactions with man are conditional and dependent upon our responses to Him. An excellent example of this conditional relationship is explained by God Himself in Jer. 18:5-10: "5 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 6 'O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?' declares the LORD. 'Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, 8 and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. 9 And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, 10 and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.'" Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |