Does God Change?
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- Опубликовано: 10 фев 2025
- Is God actually unchangeable? Is he at all affected by the world? How or how not?
This is a Q&A follow-up on our animated video, God is Self-Existent!
• What is God Like?
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"Every best gift, and every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no change, nor shadow of alteration"
James 1:17
Right, this passage is speaking to the goodness of God in giving good gifts, which doesn't change. But it would be a mistake to claim that the passage teaches that God doesn't change in any sense whatsoever. - RF Admin
This creates a curiosity. In what way can God change ? Or what are the changes allowed that would not contradict the immutable nature of God.
Yes, God is active and dynamic , and He operates in a time-bound universe, but that activeness isn't change but rather the exercise of His sovereign will through divine providence.
God doesn't have a learning curve. So He cannot react out of surprise or a new learning. If something surprises God, then His all-knowing nature is violated. And worse if God reacts because He was caught offgurad or because He didn't foresee.
So, it may appear to men that is responding and react after the fact, for example, answering a prayer, but God had already known that when the time came, He will be answering the prayer as a response because He has foreseen that and foreknown that because He foreordained it sovereignly. It's airtight. His sovereignty ultimately wins. In this, His Omniscience is preserved, and His Immutability is preserved as well.
If god is a personal god then he can change ofcourse.
How is this statement supported in scripture?
Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8, Hebrews 7:24 (and more)
@ he said that God can change
@frostyf27I think you meant Malachi 3:6?
@ it went from timeless >to> in time
it doesn't take Newton to understand the obvious
the godbaby went from well.., a baby >to> a grown-up godman
the fake god changed and got afflicted by time
James 1:17, 'Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning.”
According to the Bible, Yes.
God used to have no physical body. Since 2000 years ago, He has a body on one of his persons.
Strange.
I kinda like to think of God as a static character, like sonic and Goku. In those stories it's not about them changing because they don't need to change, there ideals and personality are already good. And they themselves can be considered embodiments of good and freedom. No, it's about them and there ideals changing those around them. God himself is always changing those and working history to change the entire world itself. He doesn't need to change because he IS good already.
This is a neoplatonic viewpoint.
@yacobcastro yeah I mean, Thomas Aquinas once sed that God is the greatest thing that can possibly be conceived. Because God has no potential, he already is everything that he possibly could be because he's eternal, if he was a created being then yes he would have the potential to charge because he would be a finite being, but because he's infinite he already is everything. He's existence itself pretty much. Therefore he's a static character who wants to guide the universe and everything in it to its potential. Of course he gave free will. So they can choose not to let him change them, but it's God's will to change everyone into there full potential.
Am I making sense? Anyway if you read the Bible like that you see from there that God is a static character. That's at least how I see it.
Doing things, reacting, changing, all of these things require time. How does a timeless being do these things without the time required to do so?
Bc God is within time
Correct me if I’m wrong but hasn’t Dr. Craig stated that God is timeless but entered time at the moment of creation? When you enter time how do you not fundamentally change? Also, if God or part of his nature became man (when Jesus was born) how is this not another fundamental change? Or does he insist that Jesus always existed even prior to creation? Also, what is wrong with God being able to change. Isn’t having the ability to change part of being omnipotent? How would changing make him less good, or less divine? Just trying to understand his doctrinal assertions here. Am I a heretic for questioning Dr. Craig? Where are his assertions explicitly stated in Scripture?
No. God does not change, He is only dynamic from our perspective. From the perspective of heaven He never changes either in essence or energy.
Did he go from a state of not having created to a state of having created the universe? Is this only from our perspective?
@@sherlock7514 you're assuming that there was a real time constrained progression from one state to the other when there wasn't/isn't. When we say "In the beginning God created" and ask questions such as "what was God doing before God created earth?" that is using our limited/imperfect human understanding/language in the same way we try to describe His other incommunicable attributes such as infinity and omnipresence. So no, there was no change in His essential being from creating and not-creating and yes, any changes from creating/not is from our perspective.
@@MothyEmms I was intentionally not using any language to denote the passage of time, because I don't believe there was time sans the universe. It makes no sense to me to ask what God was doing before he created, because there was no _"before"._
However, it does seem to make sense that he can go from a state of not having created to a state of having created, if he enters into time. Going from a timeless state of existence to a state in which he chooses to perform the act of creation within time. If this is merely from our perspective as you claim, then it would seem that you are claiming the universe is eternal, otherwise God must have created it a finite time ago.
@MothyEmms I would also like to make clear that I view this as an in-house conversation and do not think my view is essential for salvation. If you are a Christian, as I am, then I am glad to fellowship with you. I just find this topic interesting and Dr. Craig seems to have it right in my view.
But your belief shows God is changing..
At one time : one God..
Then, God incarnation..
Then, news of trinity
BATMAN🔸️Hey witch ... what had you been doing before you created your teeny-tiny geocentric flat-earth system?
GOD🔸️I had been playing with myself, my lord.
BATMAN🔸️For how long?
GOD🔸️As far as I know, I have been in the fictional world or supernatural world since I was invented by conmen, my lord.
This sounds like process theology? 🤔
In what way? - RF Admin
@ if jesus was God, he actually didn't really humble himself, being a man is obviously a pretty luxurious thing
many Hindus' Gods who are willing to humble themselves to the point of incarnating into lowly animals and even insects
@@drcraigvideos The primary/strong emphasis on God’s dynamism as described by Craig in this short video
@ it went from timeless >to> in time
it doesn't take Newton to understand the obvious
I'm still skeptical on God's omnipotence, would love to discuss it with you.
Why?
@@jesusisthegreatestever8593 Well I'm a philosopher and there are many unanswered questions on God's omnipotence and most of them I can't reconcile and until I do, I will be skeptical on the classical definition of omnipotence.
@@yacobcastro such as?
@@yacobcastro Think in terms of cause and effect with the cosmos and everything in it being an effect. Wouldn't there have to be a single cause behind all of the created order? And wouldn't that being have to be a first cause not caused by another cause or else there would have to be an infinite regress of causes which would be incomprehensible. The conclusion that flows from this is that God is the first uncaused cause of all caused creation as He is perfectly described in Scripture.
@@Ron-v8qThis statement is really binary and the argument that first cause solves the infinite regression problem is not significant and this is actually a false dichotomy fallacy. Stating that either there is an infinite regress of causes, which is "incomprehensible," or there must be a first uncaused cause (God) doesn't help any of us push the needle forward.
So if God is dynamic, active agent so God is experiencing time, God's own timeline but there are points when God did something and points before and after that action took place.
Yes God changes because He entered into time at the moment of creation.
Yes
Nope, one attribute of God according to Dr Craig is being immaterial. If we define time as a “series of events” then we need matter for an event to occur. Since God is not made of matter, time does not affect Him.
@ it went from timeless >to> in time
it doesn't take Newton to understand this
.
@ your godbaby went from well.., a baby >to> a grown-up godman
your fake god changed and got afflicted by time
God didn't enter into time. God is above and beyond time. God created time without becoming a part of it. Jesus in his humanity changed in time but his deity did not change in time.
No, he doesn’t exist
What about you tell Him that when He judge you.
@
How old are you 10 ?
@@Obeytheroadrules saying the Creator of the universe who laid the foundation of the world as "nonexistent" is peak irony from someone named "obey the road rules" 💀
@ a creator of the universe is a figment of your imagination, road rules are real and can be proven true
@@Obeytheroadrules so are you saying that this universe sprung from random chances? That in the beginning there's only matter and energy? You know, it takes more faith to become an atheist than to become a theist. It's easy to believe that some kind of intelligent mind created this universe than to believe that everything happened randomly.
@ if jesus was God, he actually didn't really humble himself, being a man is obviously a pretty luxurious thing
many Hindus' Gods who are willing to humble themselves to the point of incarnating into lowly animals and even insects
stop with the S-Tier mental gymnastics, plz
@ your godbaby went from well.., a baby >to> a grown-up godman
your fake god changed and got afflicted by time
Stop spreading lies about God, when your scriptures don't give details about God, you shouldn't give your opinion!!! who gave you the authority to speak about God??? this is the biggest sin ever. Saying "i don't know" is better for you. The bible says that God doesn't change, this means that he doesn't change and that's it. when you come and say that 'this doesn't mean this or that this means you are a prophet of God that received revelation from him, how dare you blaspheming about the Almighty.
Wow, calm down there friend, God gave us intellect to interpret his message too, I suppose you wouldn't come with that same speech to the fathers of the Church, not to mention that it's quite arrogant to judge Doctor Kraig so much if you're not on the same philosophical level as him.
@wraves693 your intellect is so limited compared to god, human intellect can't deal with the unseen, you can't speak outside the scriptures, if you do this is blasphemy. At the end everyone can come with his own interpretation. Only prophets who receive revelation from God can speak about God none else.
@@kermosrujji9475 If only prophets can speak about God, then why are you speaking about Him?
@WesleyHarding49 As a Muslim I speak about god only from what I learned from the Quran and hadiths from the prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, in Islam it is a huge sin to spread lies about God almighty.
@@kermosrujji9475 Yes, it is a sin to lie about God. That's why I reject the witness of the Quran, which repeatedly asserts the lie that God does not love us. Rather, the revelation that God has given us in the Bible assures us that God is love and loves us so much that He has made satisfaction for our sins and mercifully grants us the grace necessary to repent of sin and respond to Him in faithful love.