Hey Guys!

 

I haven't posted for some time, but I am currently in a discussion on another board and need some help.  This is the poster's argument:

 

Sometimes God talks as if He doesn't know, but He knows. There is a theological term for this that I can't remember, and I came across such examples a few times while reading my Bible. I didn't buy it before because I've never come across any concrete examples but now I have.

I can't remember all the examples offhand, but one I did remember was on the road to Emmaus.

Luk 24:13 That very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem,
Luk 24:14 and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened.
Luk 24:15 While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them.
Luk 24:16 But their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
Luk 24:17 And he said to them, "What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?" And they stood still, looking sad.
Luk 24:18 Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?"
Luk 24:19 And he said to them, "What things?" And they said to him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,
Luk 24:20 and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him.

See, Jesus talked to them as if he didn't know what they're talking about. We know that's impossible because many times, Jesus knew what was in people's hearts even when they don't say anything. (Simon the Pharisee, the Pharisees in general, Nicodemus, etc.) During the last supper, the disciples were secretly discussing what Jesus had just said, and he knew what they were whispering about and Peter knew there was no hiding anything from the Lord. In fact Peter confessed when the Lord asked him 3 times that "You know all things."

Yet Jesus can ask these 2 disciples on the road such questions like "what is this conversation that you're holding with each other?" (As if He didn't know)

And "What things?" (again, as if He didn't know).

This convinces me that God does talk to us like this. It isn't that he doesn't know, but he talks down to our level I guess, so we can understand Him.

 

Jeff: Yes, humans do this with each other as well. It doesn't imply that we actually know everything, though. So I don't see how it has any relevance as to whether open theism is true.

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Jeff: My bet is they're gonna go right back to their first approach, saying that God is just pretending to be ignorant. To me, that is implausible. To ask a question we know the answer to is something that humans do. So we have analogy for that mode of discourse. So we need to focus on the indicative statements, etc., rather than the questions. I wish my memory was better, but I'm betting there are enough of those to make a case. But it's hard to move to open theism over one good argument. There are emotions tied up with changing your view of God's attributes. There was with me, but I couldn't shake the logic that compelled it. And trusting logic involves an attribute of God as well!

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