Friday, January 25, 2008

Does the future already exist?

Many Christians will tell you that the future already exists. They say God is outside of time, yet to God He can see all the future because it already exists for Him.

Yet that isn't the way the Bible describes God interacting with His creation.

In the Bible we read....
"They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molech, though I never commanded, nor did it enter my mind, that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin." - Jeremiah 32:35

And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the Angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” 12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” 13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. - Genesis 22:10

Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him. - Genesis 2:19-20
Yey there is one passage that seems to get over looked....
In the midst of a somewhat unrelated story (about Samson) we find a juicy nugget that helps us determine that the future does not exist for us, nor for God.
Judges 14:3 Then his father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your brethren, or among all my people, that you must go and get a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” And Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she pleases me well.” 4 But his father and mother did not know that it was of the LORD — that He was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines. For at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel. 5 So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him.
Did ya get that? God was "seeking an occasion to move"!

God was looking for the right moment. The moment that best fit God's needs. The future does not exist, for if it did God would never once seek an occasion to do anything, as all of His occasion's would be settled in advance - no seeking required.

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