On Tue, 04 Sep 2001 16:35:54 -0400 "George Andrews Jr."
<gandrews@as.wm.edu> writes:
> Hi Dave;
>
> You wrote to George M.:
>
>
> "D. F. Siemens, Jr." wrote:
>
> > George,
> > If I restrict myself to your exclusion of temporal considerations,
> the
> > answer is "Yes." But this is like the infamous "Have you quit
> beating
> > your wife yet?" I contend that a proper view of the deity
> recognizes that
> > the Creator is never surprised, indeed, cannot be surprised,
> whether by
> > what is being studied in complexity theory or by the free choices
> of
> > human beings. My question was posed to show that mathematics is a
> human
> > activity, a task taken on by a subcreator.
> > Dave
> >
> >
>
> Why would a view of a deity who limits him/herself be "improper"?
> Perhaps
> God really wanted to know what Adam would call the animals without
> "tapping
> into His/Her omniscience." This surly would make things more
> interesting
> for the deity; at least from our point of view. :-)
>
> Sincerely
> George A.
>
Your question seems to me to assume that somehow God is in time
eternally. I contend that this is not possible if he is the Creator of
time, space and mass-energy. However, there is no restriction on a
sovereign God limiting himself. He did it by the covenant with Abraham.
When Israel was disobedient, he proposed exterminating them all and
starting over with Moses. This would still involve keeping his word to
Abraham. Was the Almighty surprised by Moses' intercession? Only if he
were limited by something beyond himself.
Our Lord declared that no one comes to the Father except through him.
This is a limitation. Could he have set things up differently. Of course.
Could he change that? He declares that his statements are true. So what
he has established he will not change.
Dave
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