God Learns.
A biblical challenge to classical theism — by Thom Powell
Can God learn? Can God observe, investigate, or ponder? Has every detail of history been known to Him from the foundation of the earth, or has He been obtaining new information as history unfolds? I believe that classical theists have the wrong answers for these questions. God is not the metaphysical construct they make Him out to be. God is a person. God learns. God thinks. God reacts. Traditionalists would have us worship the god that they’ve constructed, but he is not the God of the Bible.
Classical Theism describes God as immutable, impassible, timeless, omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient.
In two previous articles, I presented challenges to both immutability and impassibility. In today’s article, I want to focus on two of the other supposed attributes of God. Primarily, I want to address the classical understanding of omniscience. I will also talk a bit about timelessness. Timelessness is often used to defend the classical stance on omniscience, so these two really must be discussed simultaneously. If I try to separate them, whichever one is not being addressed may serve as the reader’s subconscious barrier against accepting the rebuttal. For instance, I may present a convincing argument against exhaustive foreknowledge, but the reader will remain unconvinced as long as they see God as timeless. Let’s say I argue that God observes the behavior of man PRIOR to taking any action toward man. That would mean that He gains information and then acts upon it. Someone who believes in a timeless (which is different than an eternal) God, doesn’t believe God even has a prior. To them, He doesn’t have a past, a present, or a future. A timeless God lives in an ‘eternal now’- whatever that means. So, naturally, someone who holds to a timeless view of God will not accept the argument above. If God is ‘outside of time,’ he can’t experience repentance, reaction, or even sequential thought. Sequence is an aspect of time. When I claim that God did ‘thing A’ before He did ‘thing B’, I am implying that He acted in sequence and therefore within time. If God ever gains any information whatsoever, then He is within time experiencing sequential change. Therefore, it is necessary to refute both the claims of timelessness and exhaustive foreknowledge within the same discussion. If this isn’t accomplished, proponents of exhaustive foreknowledge will continue to rely on their faith in timelessness when the Bible fails to provide evidence for their view.
God learns. The Bible says that God tests people in order to know what they will do. God tests people to see whether or not they will obey. God tests people to see whether or not they love Him. God tests people to know what is in their heart.
I am about to show you the Scriptures from which the above claims are derived. In so doing, I will have proven that God learns. If God has to put someone to the test in order to know what they will do, that means that prior to the test, there is something that God doesn’t know. If God knows something that He didn’t know previously, He has learned. If God learns, not only is He not omniscient (by the classical definition,) He is not timeless! Learning requires the acquisition of knowledge. Acquisition requires sequence. Sequence requires time.
Alrighty, that’ll be enough of the boring stuff. Let’s get into the Bible. We are going to speed through six examples of God testing people to learn something.
1. Abraham
This is probably the best known example on the list. You know the story. Once upon a time, God tells Abraham to kill his own child. Abraham doesn’t hesitate. He hauls Isaac out into the wilderness. After a bit of wandering, God finally picks a suitable mountain for the barbecue. Abraham takes his son up said mountain and nearly carries out the order. Of course, God didn’t allow that to happen. God didn’t really want Abraham to kill Isaac. He had a very different purpose for the whole ordeal, and at the beginning of Genesis 22, we are told exactly what that purpose was.
Genesis 22:1 “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.”
The Bible says that God was ‘tempting’ Abraham. He was testing Abraham to see what he would do. That’s why he says in verse 12, “for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.”
Prior to the test God did not know what Abraham would do. After the test, He knew. That is what He Himself says about the account.
2. Manna
Exodus 16:4 “Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.”
In Exodus 16, God tells Moses that they are only allowed to collect a day’s worth of manna each day. They could collect two days’ worth when preparing for the Sabbath. The cap on the amount of manna they could gather had a secondary purpose. God was testing them to see whether they would exceed his limit or trust Him to continue providing.
3. Forty years
Deuteronomy 8:2 “And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.”
Moses indicates that God had led Israel through specific circumstances in order to know ‘what was in thine heart.’ He says, “…whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.” That means, from God’s point of view, they might sin, or they might obey. If He knew every detail of the future, He shouldn’t wonder if they will obey or not. He should know! Deuteronomy 8:2 is enough, on its own, to debunk both ‘exhaustive foreknowledge’ and ‘timelessness.’ God tests to know. Therefore, the future is not exhaustively known by Him. God learns. Therefore, He experiences sequence and change.
4. False Prophets
Deuteronomy 13:3 “Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
In Deuteronomy 13, the Israelites are warned not to trust in false prophets. God commanded that they kill ‘prophets’ who attempt to lead them astray. If a false prophet promoted a false god, he was to be put to death. They were further warned that it was not just the false prophet who was on trial. Verse three says, “…for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” This indicates that God doesn’t know whether we love Him or not. He tested them to know whether they loved the LORD their God with all their heart. Those are the exact words of the text.
5. Leftovers.
Judges 2:20–22 “And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and he said, Because that this people hath transgressed my covenant which I commanded their fathers, and have not hearkened unto my voice; I also will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died: That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.”
God allowed a portion of Israel’s enemies (whom he had promised to drive out) to remain in the land. He wasn’t failing to keep his promise. Israel had breached their contract with Him. They were therefore ineligible for the full benefits of the original agreement. God was well within his rights as a just and honest Father to retract his blessing. He changed his mind. God actually changes his mind often. This also presents ‘timelessness’ with a problem. If God is outside of time, then ‘changing his mind’ is all just an act. The twenty or so times that God ‘repents’ in scripture are all just illusions. He already knows the end of every story, but he acts surprised and offended by sin as the story plays out. He changes promises due to sin that He already knew would be committed. He already knew, because He is already present in the time when it takes place.
As preposterous as it seems to suggest that God’s behavior throughout the Bible is merely illusion, this is actually the position settled theologians (non-open theists) take! Instead of answering Scripture with Scripture, they resort to de-literalizing any verse that contradicts their theology. When you use the Bible to show them that they are wrong, the only thing they can do is accuse you of being too literal.
When the Bible says that God repents, they say ‘anthropomorphism.’
When the Bible says that God tests people, they say ‘anthropomorphism.’
When God says that He knows something now that He didn’t know before, they say…
‘anthropomorphism.’
In case you’re not sure what an anthropomorphism is, I’ll define it. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to something that isn’t actually human. For example: You might say that your dishwasher “doesn’t like” a certain soap. We all understand that the little machine in your kitchen has not attained sentience. You are using an anthropomorphism to say that X brand of soap isn’t effective when used in your dishwasher. So, what does this have to with God?
Warning!!! Sarcastic content ahead. I don’t hate you if you disagree with me. I just enjoy goofing around a little… ;)
Settled theologians believe that God uses anthropomorphisms to describe Himself to us. He does so, they assert, because it is the best way for someone so far beyond us, to describe his being and behavior to humanity. Our reality is easily comprehended by Him, but his reality cannot be comprehended by us. We cannot understand that God is immutable, timeless, omniscient, etc. so God must resort to describing Himself in a way that He is not. He must tell us that He repents even though He doesn’t. He must say that He tests us, even though He doesn’t. He must fake emotional reactions, even though He cannot be affected by us. In short, you cannot believe what the Bible says. You must only believe what non-inspired theologians like that Augustine guy say.
Now, to be fair. God probably does use anthropomorphisms to describe Himself. Certainly there are going to be aspects of his being that are best communicated in more earthly terminology. However, if God uses a metaphor or an analogy to describe Himself, it would be for the sake of making his message MORE understandable. That is the grammatical purpose of word pictures. This is not how settled theologians are using ‘anthropomorphism.’ Instead of explaining how the supposed metaphor makes God’s intended message clearer, they simply use the possibility of metaphorical interpretation to erase any statement that they don’t like. If you believe something is an anthropomorphism, you should be able to prove why it isn’t literal within its context. Furthermore, you should be able to explain what the metaphor means.
If you believe something is an anthropomorphism, you should be able to prove why it isn’t literal within its context. Furthermore, you should be able to explain what the metaphor means.
Let’s pretend for a moment that God does ALWAYS use non-literal language to describe Himself and his behavior. Let’s pretend that Abraham, Moses, and David were ignorant about God’s nature having not had the chance to read Aristotle and Plato. From this POV, it seems rather obvious that God cannot communicate with the three aforementioned Neanderthals using the same spiritual language by which he speaks to enlightened saints such as John Calvin. No, He must use baby talk until the smart guys with pointed beards arrive during a definitely predestined reformation. Ironically, God, who cannot be limited by humanity’s free will, finds Himself limited by the ignorance He predestined for us to have! He has no other way to explain Himself except through anthropomorphisms. Oh well… After a few thousand years of confusion, Augustine arrived at his predestined hour to set us all straight. 😉 Unfortunately, this facetious scenario still has a problem. Even if it were true that God always uses anthropomorphisms to speak to man, He isn’t speaking to man in Judges, chapter three! He refers to both Joshua and Israel in the third person. That seems to indicate that God is actually speaking to Himself! Must God use anthropomorphic language when He is alone? Does he still use the God-to-human metaphor language when no one else is listening? Of course that isn’t what’s happening here. God was reasoning through what he was going to do next! He plans the future actively, because time is an aspect of his existence. He plans, reevaluates, repents, reacts, rethinks, and responds within time.
In Judges 3, God privately decides to test Israel. He restates that this really is a test in the following chapter.
Judges 3:4 “And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.”
6. Hezekiah
2 Chronicles 32:31 “Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.”
2nd Chronicles 32 tells us all the cool stuff that Hezekiah did. God thought Hezekiah was a pretty alright guy. He gave him a four star review, but still mentioned pride issues and this one time that Hezekiah failed a test. The king’s mistake was not known to God by foreknowledge. God was actually using the present situations and circumstances “…that he might know all that was in his heart.”
Whew… that was longer than I intended. Thanks for reading to the end! I hope you have kept your eyes open as you read this. I know it can be painful to have your tradition challenged, so thank you for hearing me out!
I believe God genuinely desires that we learn about Him. I think he wants to be pursued and attained. He wants to be hunted and found. He wants to know you and be known by you. Is He allowed to do that? Is He welcome to change your view of Him? Is his word allowed to correct you? I sure hope it is! If you don’t let Him in, you’re gonna miss out. Don’t be afraid to learn something. Ignorance isn’t bliss. Ignorance is prison. Until we are willing to allow the Bible authority over our doctrine, man’s tradition will keep us enslaved to false teaching.
Maybe it’s me who’s got this all wrong. If I am wrong, I would be very thankful to have it pointed out. If you think there’s something I’m missing or neglecting, please show me! I’ll probably give you some pushback, but if you’re right you should be able to prove it. Truths are usually easier to defend than lies.
Whether you agree or disagree, I appreciate that you took the time to read this. God bless you!
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