Let’s assume that God does not have foreknowledge of the future as the Classic view asserts; that is He doesn’t have any sort of “Clairvoyant” powers to see the future. The Open view would demand that any foreknowledge would be the product of either God’s ordaining certain events or His induction.

Since none of us are Determinists, let’s assume that any foreknowledge that He may have is Inductive in nature (He knows the past, observes the present actions and hearts of man, and forecasts the future). Now with this in mind consider the following scripture truths and His inductive reasoning skills. Consider the trillions of free will choices that are involved with these acts of men which God would had to have known in order for Him to have knowledge of these events and prophecies. Some have taken place already and have vindicated His foreknowledge and others have yet to be fulfilled:

1. The bible declares that His knowledge is infinite and without bounds (Psalm 147:5). Can we the finite even begin to assess His knowledge?
2. Nearly 1,000 prophecies of the future have already been fulfilled.
3. He knew that Christ would have to be crucified before He created the world. (Rev 13:8). He knew that the free will actions of man would entail this atonement.
4. Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas would betray Him of his own free will. (John 6:64). Could Jesus foreknow a free-will event that could not happen? Doesn’t knowledge entail truth?
5. Jesus knew that Peter would deny Him not once but “Three times” before a rooster in proximity of his denial crowed exactly three times. (By the way this was no small task for induction. To simply know a man’s heart and calculate that he will deny Him is one thing, but to forecast that Peter would deny Him exactly three times is what I would consider beyond induction.).
6. God through His foreknowledge and election knows and chose who will accept Christ of their own free will (Romans 8:29, Eph 1:4 1Pet 1:2)
7. God has already recorded from the foundation the names of those who will choose Christ of their own free wll throughout all of history in the Book of Life (Rev 17:8).
8. God knows who will be judged at the end of the ages as a sheep or a goat and gave this vision to John (Rev 20:11)
9. John saw the devil cast into the abyss (who has yet to be cast into it) (Rev 20:2).

 Could Jesus have known from the begining that Judas would betray Him if Judas decided not to betray Him? If God through His inductive reasoning knows all of this about the future; what could He not know that is of any real consequence? Again consider the trillions of free-will decisions that God knew in order to possess the knowledge that God has in just the ten instances listed above. How could one justify a belief that based on the proof texts enumerated above that God doesn’t know the future free will actions of men? Based on these proof texts I believe that if God’s foreknowledge is limited to induction, the certainty of his knowledge is 99.99%. With this in mind what can the Open View claim that God doesn’t know about the future? What does the Open View accomplish that the Classic view of God having a sort of “Clairvoyance” doesn’t? How can one account for God's foreknowledge as it pertains to items 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9 without taking a position of a Determinist?

Practically speaking, assuming God’s inductive knowledge of the future as proved in the bible and cited above; we are still faced with a situation in which God knows the outcome of the events of any possible world with 99.99% accuracy prior to its creation; and then creates the this world anyways. So the Open View and its restricting God’s foreknowledge to induction doesn’t seem to preserve a scheme of justice that is much different than that of the Arminian view or Classic view. I hope no one is prepared to elevate the philosophy of the OV above the scriptures and begin to question the infallibility of the bible.

Based on just these ten items alone, I think the bible is clear in that the God of the bible knows whether or not Clarence will eat the omelet tomorrow!

Post Edited (Chaz Finney) : 4/7/2008 10:04:29 PM (GMT-5)

http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/fasts_feasts/hierotheos_vlachos_annunciation.htm

Post Edited (plato's_playdough) : 4/7/2008 8:16:19 PM (GMT-5)

Sahid;

Based on the biblical account of God, If He knows what He does in items 1-9, He knows your every move, why does this bother you? Could your attraction to the OV be a spirit of rebellion?

Z: Your premises are not biblically supported. Neither Ephesians 1 nor 1 Peter 1 nor Rev 20 say what you claim they say. Only Rev 17 comes close to saying what you claim but only if you ignore what the rest of the Bible (especially the New Testament) has to say about election. The same misreading is quite often done to Romans 9. The word "individual" is inserted before the word "election" through pure eisegesis. Nothing but a Western (particularly American) individualistic bias grounds such a reading. Christ is God's anointed, God's chosen one, God's elected. And we are in Christ

Me thinks you need to learn your bible... Again re-read Romans 8:29, Ephesians chapter 1, 1 Peter 1:20, read about those who have their names written in the book of life from the foundation of the earth. This is not a form of corporate election. Besides even if it were, set theory would demand that what is true of the group is also applicable of each member so the corporte election doctrine if applied to these scriptures is moot at best. I have tried to force the corporate election doctrine on these scriptures in the past yet it doesn't work, none the less the issue here isn't IV>

Post Edited (Sahid) : 4/8/2008 1:32:22 AM (GMT-5)