Theology Club: Does Almighty God have FOREKNOWLEDGE of All?

Does Almighty God have FOREKNOWLEDGE of All?

  • Yes

    Votes: 16 84.2%
  • No

    Votes: 1 5.3%
  • Maybe

    Votes: 1 5.3%
  • I don't know

    Votes: 1 5.3%

  • Total voters
    19

journey

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Does Almighty God have FOREKNOWLEDGE of all? Please feel free to offer Scripture and discussion.
 

Ask Mr. Religion

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The answer is obvious.

1 Samuel 2:3 “Talk no more so very proudly; Let no arrogance come from your mouth, For the LORD is the God of knowledge; And by Him actions are weighed.
Job 12:13 “With Him are wisdom and strength, He has counsel and understanding.
Psalm 94:9 He who planted the ear, shall He not hear? He who formed the eye, shall He not see?
Psalm 147:4 He counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by name.
Isaiah 29:15 Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the LORD, And their works are in the dark; They say, “Who sees us?” and, “Who knows us?”
Isaiah 40:27,28 Why do you say, O Jacob, And speak, O Israel: “My way is hidden from the LORD,
And my just claim is passed over by my God”? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

Job 37:16 Do you know how the clouds are balanced, Those wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge?
1 Samuel 16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the LORD does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
1 Chron. 28:9 “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.
Psalm 139:1-4 O LORD, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You un-derstand my thought afar off. 3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
Jeremiah 17:10: I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his do-ings.
Deuteronomy 2:7 “For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.” ’
Job 23:10 But He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold.
Job 24:23 He gives them security, and they rely on it; Yet His eyes are on their ways. Psalm 1:6 For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Psalm 119:168 I keep Your precepts and Your testimonies, For all my ways are before You.
Psalm 33:13 The LORD looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men.
Psalm 37:18 The LORD knows the days of the upright, And their inheritance shall be forever.

1 Samuel 23:10-13 Then David said, “O LORD God of Israel, Your servant has certainly heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake.11 “Will the men of Keilah deliver me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as Your servant has heard? O LORD God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant.” And the LORD said, “He will come down.”12 Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the LORD said, “They will deliver you.”13 So David and his men, about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah and went wherever they could go. Then it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah; so he halted the expedition.
2 Kings 13:19 And the man of God was angry with him, and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times.”
Psalm 81:14,15 I would soon subdue their enemies, And turn My hand against their adversaries. 15 The haters of the LORD would pretend submission to Him, But their fate would endure forever.

Isaiah 42:9 Behold, the former things have come to pass, And new things I declare; Before they spring forth I tell you of them.”
Isaiah 48:18 Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
Jeremiah 2:2,3 “Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: “I remember you, The kindness of your youth, The love of your betrothal, When you went after Me in the wilderness, In a land not sown. 3 Israel was holiness to the LORD, The firstfruits of His increase. All that devour him will offend; Disaster will come upon them,” says the LORD.’ ”
Jeremiah 38:17-20 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you surely surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then your soul shall live; this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live.18 ‘But if you do not surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans; they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.’ ”19 And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have defected to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they abuse me.”20 But Jeremiah said, “They shall not deliver you. Please, obey the voice of the LORD which I speak to you. So it shall be well with you, and your soul shall live.
Ezekiel 3:6 “not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you.
Matthew 11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes

Acts 2:23 “Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;
Romans 9:16 So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy.
Ephesians 1:11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,
Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Scripture clearly teaches that faith and unbelief, salvation and damnation, are not just the objects of God’s bare foreknowledge (i.e., the conduct of human beings) but especially also of God's will and decree. God’s foreknowledge (Rom. 8:29; 11:2; 1 Pet. 1:2; cf. Acts 2:23) is not some passive form of precognition, not some state of consciousness, but—as in the Hebrew in Hos. 13:5 , Amos 3:2—foreknowledge is a self-determination of God, prior to its realization in history, to assume a certain specific relation to the objects of His foreknowledge. It is most closely related to God’s purpose, foreordination, and election, and is an act of his good pleasure.

AMR
 
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Nihilo

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Does Almighty God have FOREKNOWLEDGE of all? Please feel free to offer Scripture and discussion.
I have found no compelling reason to think otherwise, and I mean by that, tipping my hat to poster Ask Mr. Religion's post, that I have found no compelling reason to read the Scriptures on the matter in any other way than straight forwardly.
 
I have found no compelling reason to think otherwise, and I mean by that, tipping my hat to poster Ask Mr. Religion's post, that I have found no compelling reason to read the Scriptures on the matter in any other way than straight forwardly.

Most English translations of the Bible are written in a way that we all can understand the message conveyed. If you think about it, the Bible is a tremendous collection of books. Billions or more pages have been written decyphering the words contained within, and we're still discussing it's meaning today. It's clear enough for a child to understand but deep enough to perplex the greatest of Biblical Scholars. God's word is a wonderful gift He provided for us. And I thank God for people like AMR and others for sharing their inspired comments with the rest of us.
 

Jerry Shugart

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No. Book of jerry chapter one

My ideas on this matter mirror the ideas of John Wesley here:

"The sum of all is this: the almighty, all-wise God sees and knows, from everlasting to everlasting, all that is, that was, and that is to come, through one eternal now. With him nothing is either past or future, but all things equally present. He has, therefore, if we speak according to the truth of things, no foreknowledge, no afterknowledge. This would be ill consistent with the Apostle's words, 'With him is no variableness or shadow of turning;' and with the account he gives of himself by the Prophet, 'I the Lord change not'...Not that God has any need of counsel, of purpose, or of planning his work beforehand. Far be it from us to impute these to the Most High; to measure him by ourselves! It is merely in compassion to us that he speaks thus of himself, as foreknowing the things in heaven or earth, and as predestinating or fore-ordaining them. But can we possibly imagine that these expressions are to be taken literally?" [emphasis mine] (John Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions, 1771, Second Series, "On Predestination," Sermon #58; Christian Classics Ethereal Library).​
 

intojoy

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My ideas on this matter mirror the ideas of John Wesley here:



"The sum of all is this: the almighty, all-wise God sees and knows, from everlasting to everlasting, all that is, that was, and that is to come, through one eternal now. With him nothing is either past or future, but all things equally present. He has, therefore, if we speak according to the truth of things, no foreknowledge, no afterknowledge. This would be ill consistent with the Apostle's words, 'With him is no variableness or shadow of turning;' and with the account he gives of himself by the Prophet, 'I the Lord change not'...Not that God has any need of counsel, of purpose, or of planning his work beforehand. Far be it from us to impute these to the Most High; to measure him by ourselves! It is merely in compassion to us that he speaks thus of himself, as foreknowing the things in heaven or earth, and as predestinating or fore-ordaining them. But can we possibly imagine that these expressions are to be taken literally?" [emphasis mine] (John Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions, 1771, Second Series, "On Predestination," Sermon #58; Christian Classics Ethereal Library).​


Book of jerry chapter one verse one
 

Angel4Truth

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Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, 'My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure'
 

Jerry Shugart

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Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, 'My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure'

The question is how does God know? William Ames (1576-1655) was one of the foremost of Reformed thinkers, often known as "the Learned Doctor Ames" because of his great intellectual stature among Puritans, said the following:

"Thereis properly only one act of the will in God because in Him all things are simultaneous and there is nothing before or after. So there is only decree about the end and means, but for the manner of understanding we say that, so far as intention is concerned, God wills the end before the means" [emphasis mine](William Ames, The Marrow of Theology, translation and introduction by John, Dystra, Eudsen, [Boston: The Pilgrim Press, 1968], 153-154).​

John Wesley adds to this thought in the following way:

"The sum of all is this: the almighty, all-wise God sees and knows, from everlasting to everlasting, all that is, that was, and that is to come, through one eternal now. With him nothing is either past or future, but all things equally present. He has, therefore, if we speak according to the truth of things, no foreknowledge, no afterknowledge. This would be ill consistent with the Apostle’s words, 'With him is no variableness or shadow of turning;' and with the account he gives of himself by the Prophet, 'I the Lord change not'...Not that God has any need of counsel, of purpose, or of planning his work beforehand. Far be it from us to impute these to the Most High; to measure him by ourselves! It is merely in compassion to us that he speaks thus of himself, as foreknowing the things in heaven or earth, and as predestinating or fore-ordaining them. But can we possibly imagine that these expressions are to be taken literally?" [emphasis mine] (John Wesley, Sermons on Several Occasions, 1771, Second Series, "On Predestination," Sermon #58; Christian Classics Ethereal Library).​
 

Bright Raven

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Yes.

Psalm 139:13-16New King James Version (NKJV)

13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
 

Desert Reign

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God does not know that which does not exist, and as such cannot be known.

Yes.

Also, Does God know that the turkey is tasty?

I am sure that the Calvies will say that God knows that I think the turkey is tasty but that only avoids the question. So to the Calvies, does God know that the turkey is tasty?

Isaiah 46:10 Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, 'My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure'

I agree with this. When God declares something is going to happen, then it will (unless he changes his mind in the meantime). But of course this only applies to when God declares it. There are lots of things God does not make any declaration of. Primarily, this text is referring to God's dealings with Israel and ultimately the coming of the Messiah for the salvation of the world. This history is God's election, i.e. God elects sovereignly what will take place. Christ is his elect son: nothing could have changed that Jesus came and died and rose again for our salvation. This is why we are called God's elect: because our salvation was not a matter of anything happening by chance. It was always God's purpose to save us through faith in Christ.

The Calvies distort this into an individual election, which bypasses the election of Jesus and makes the election of Jesus (i.e. God planning from the beginning to secure our salvation through him) redundant.
 
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Delmar

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Yes.

Psalm 139:13-16New King James Version (NKJV)

13 For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.

Open view Christians agree that He knows us on a cellular level, could see our potential by glancing at our DNA before our bodies took shape, etc
 

musterion

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I'm honestly not able to decide on this issue. I see the Scriptures and logical arguments from both sides (good ones). Both have merit, but some of it on both sides smells faintly of going beyond Scripture and speculating without calling it such. That's where my gut tells me to back off.

In any case - and call me a simpleton if you like - I take comfort in the fact that as far as I can tell, God doesn't require me to have an opinion on this either way. No matter which view is true, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" and the first 1/2 of Job 13:15.
 

Lazy afternoon

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Does Almighty God have FOREKNOWLEDGE of all? Please feel free to offer Scripture and discussion.

Our relationship is with Jesus and He does not know everything.

Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Mat 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

LA
 

Bright Raven

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Our relationship is with Jesus and He does not know everything.

Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
Mat 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

LA

John 2:24-25 New International Version (NIV)

24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.
 

Lazy afternoon

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John 2:24-25 New International Version (NIV)

24 But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. 25 He did not need any testimony about mankind, for he knew what was in each person.

He knew what is in man because he is one of them and had to overcome the things of man in Himself.



Joh 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

Heb 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Heb 5:6 As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
Heb 5:7 Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
Heb 5:8 Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
Heb 5:9 And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
 
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