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Open Theism Discussion Board > Public Forums > The raging debate continues here... > Open Theism getting out of control

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Tom
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 10353

Posted 8/9/2011 10:41 PM (GMT -6)

Recently I've been running into open theists (on different discussion sites) who are pushing the envelop too far in the name of freeing theology from Greek philosophy and making it more biblical (so they say). I've run into several in discussions that don't think God is self-sufficient, some that deny he knows present realities, and the list goes on. It seems as though the reaction to the cosmic stuffed-shirt vision of God in "classical" theology is swinging as far as possible in the opposite direction making it a virtue to posit God's essential attributes in terms of suffering over irreducible delight, not knowing over knowing, being conditioned over unconditioned, being prevailed upon over parting the Red Sea, etc.

I'm not sure I want to be lumped in to such a small group of people under an already controverial name (open theism) if the above become the 'general' viewpoint where folks don't buy into key Orthodox beliefs about God's self-sufficiency and existence. Can't believe I'm saying it, but if open theism becomes known generally for such wildness I might jet and just stop referring to myself as an open theist. Serious. No more titles. Just call me a sincerely follower of Jesus trying to live out a sincer love for God and the world.

Tom

KIXYTΘEMTA

Post Edited (Tom) : 8/10/2011 8:44:54 AM (GMT-5)

Starkman
Registered Member

Date Joined Oct 2001
Total Posts : 1747

Posted 8/10/2011 5:20 PM (GMT -6)

Well, time to discontinue using the name "Open theism" to describe what I believe (or qualify the hek out of it in order to avoid confusion)!

Starkman

Similitude
Registered Member

Date Joined Apr 2004
Total Posts : 4968

Posted 8/10/2011 6:53 PM (GMT -6)

Sounds like people trying to exhaustively explain the problem of evil with open theism alone. As if an incompetent Designer is of any relevant avail to us.

One Love
Registered Member

Date Joined Jan 2003
Total Posts : 13888

Posted 8/12/2011 12:35 PM (GMT -6)

Tom:
I'm not sure I want to be lumped in to such a small group of people under an already controverial name (open theism) if the above become the 'general' viewpoint where folks don't buy into key Orthodox beliefs about God's self-sufficiency and existence. Can't believe I'm saying it, but if open theism becomes known generally for such wildness I might jet and just stop referring to myself as an open theist. Serious. No more titles. Just call me a sincerely follower of Jesus trying to live out a sincer love for God and the world.

I'm with you.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Ronald A. Newcomb
Registered Member

Date Joined Mar 2002
Total Posts : 45

Posted 11/12/2011 11:14 AM (GMT -6)

I share your concerns at all levels. First, it is very human for a response to turn into a reaction, then an over-reaction. This is why an equally human trait of conservation exists, don't rock the boat, don't question authority, etc. because it gives people some stability. I am a political conservative, but both conservative and liberal thought are needed about nearly everything. A tree has conservative roots, but must growth and the life itself comes from the liberal top which sways in the breeze.
I also, however dislike the term "open theism" itself and wonder that other term might be more accurate, because it makes us sound as though we are open to any thought or that nothing is settled, and so on.
"Gregorian!?"

)
No?
Actually I am not sure why we need the label at all except for certain classification conveniences. I figured much of this out by simply reading the Bible some fifteen years before meeting Doc and finding I am not crazy, or alone.
Yo Stark!

Professor Newcomb

San Diego State University

College of Sciences

Adjunct Faculty Member

P.I. ICATS

PotOnWheel
Registered Member

Date Joined Jul 2001
Total Posts : 9890

Posted 11/14/2011 3:30 PM (GMT -6)

>praying<

(o)

Bob Hunter
Registered Member

Date Joined Dec 2011
Total Posts : 4

Posted 12/24/2011 12:58 AM (GMT -6)

Like Tom and One Love I have reservations about being called an "open theist" and thus can appreciate their saying, "Just call me a sincerely follower of Jesus trying to live out a sincer love for God and the world." On the other hand I have no reservations on being called a "Pentecostal Christian," "Christian" saying that I am a follower of Christ Jesus and "Pentecostal" saying that I am part of a distinctive branch of Christianity. However my being called an "open theist" just identifies me as holding a particular theological view.

Unlike Professor Newcomb, I like the term "open theism" to describe that theological view. The only other term that I can think of to describe it is "free will theism" and that term is already used to describe Arminian views. By the way, like Professor Newcomb, I arrived at views that are now described as "open theism" before the term was invented, expressing them in a paper that I wrote on God's omniscience and man's freedom in the summer of 1984 when I was studying with CSUDH.

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