squirrelyguy
Well-known member
It seems to me that whereas classical theism has a higher view of God's knowledge, open theism has a higher view of God's wisdom. Therefore, it isn't helpful to try and resolve the debate by arguing over who has the higher view of God. The question is, how are we made to think about God based on how He has revealed Himself in the Bible?
I recently heard Greg Boyd give an illustration on this that I find deeply profound. A world chess champion can supposedly anticipate up to 30 moves ahead of his opponent, whereas the novice can only anticipate 3 moves ahead. This is why the champion will always beat the novice. In a similar way; because God is infinitely wise, He was able to anticipate every possible consequence in which His creation would go from the beginning; therefore, He didn't need to ordain or even foresee the future in order to be certain that His ultimate purposes would prevail. He was able to create a world populated with free agents without concern that they might sometimes use their free will to thwart His will, since He anticipated every possible outcome to the trillionth power and can therefore have a response ready.
To return to the chess illustration; let's suppose that you're playing God in chess (and this is part of Boyd's illustration). After the first few moves, God might say to you "Within 17 moves, you'll be checkmated." But you can't see it...in fact, you think you've started off with the advantage. Then after you make another move, God says "Now in no more than 6 moves, and perhaps in as few as 3 moves, you'll be checkmated." But you still don't see it! So it is with our role as free agents in God's creation. We might be able to occasionally do things that God did not know would happen*, but because He perfectly knows all future possibilities, He is always able to have a response ready that keeps the creation moving towards His ultimate ends.
Now let's suppose that while playing this chess game, Gabriel the angel comes to God (again, this is Boyd's illustration) and says something like this: "Lord, I have this crystal ball. I can tell you exactly what moves he will make next." Would God gain anything by having this knowledge? Would it increase His advantage? If He already perfectly anticipates all of the possible moves you could make, and therefore has a corresponding move prepared, why would He gain anything by knowing exactly what you will do in advance? In truth, if God gained any advantage by this foreknowledge then it would imply He has limited intelligence.
I could continue on and on, but I will stop here and give everyone the opportunity to offer their thoughts.
* When I say this, I am assuming that anything God doesn't know in advance is only due to His voluntary self-limitation. I do not believe (as some argue), that the future is by definition unknowable even to God. The question of why God would voluntarily limit His own foreknowledge is a separate question that is beyond the scope of this post.
I recently heard Greg Boyd give an illustration on this that I find deeply profound. A world chess champion can supposedly anticipate up to 30 moves ahead of his opponent, whereas the novice can only anticipate 3 moves ahead. This is why the champion will always beat the novice. In a similar way; because God is infinitely wise, He was able to anticipate every possible consequence in which His creation would go from the beginning; therefore, He didn't need to ordain or even foresee the future in order to be certain that His ultimate purposes would prevail. He was able to create a world populated with free agents without concern that they might sometimes use their free will to thwart His will, since He anticipated every possible outcome to the trillionth power and can therefore have a response ready.
To return to the chess illustration; let's suppose that you're playing God in chess (and this is part of Boyd's illustration). After the first few moves, God might say to you "Within 17 moves, you'll be checkmated." But you can't see it...in fact, you think you've started off with the advantage. Then after you make another move, God says "Now in no more than 6 moves, and perhaps in as few as 3 moves, you'll be checkmated." But you still don't see it! So it is with our role as free agents in God's creation. We might be able to occasionally do things that God did not know would happen*, but because He perfectly knows all future possibilities, He is always able to have a response ready that keeps the creation moving towards His ultimate ends.
Now let's suppose that while playing this chess game, Gabriel the angel comes to God (again, this is Boyd's illustration) and says something like this: "Lord, I have this crystal ball. I can tell you exactly what moves he will make next." Would God gain anything by having this knowledge? Would it increase His advantage? If He already perfectly anticipates all of the possible moves you could make, and therefore has a corresponding move prepared, why would He gain anything by knowing exactly what you will do in advance? In truth, if God gained any advantage by this foreknowledge then it would imply He has limited intelligence.
I could continue on and on, but I will stop here and give everyone the opportunity to offer their thoughts.
* When I say this, I am assuming that anything God doesn't know in advance is only due to His voluntary self-limitation. I do not believe (as some argue), that the future is by definition unknowable even to God. The question of why God would voluntarily limit His own foreknowledge is a separate question that is beyond the scope of this post.