Submitted questions regarding open theism and openness perspectives.
Here we encourage readers to seek answers to the common questions we know you have, as well as send comments and observations. If you would like to submit a question you may do so by contacting us. We may not answer all your questions due to time constraints, but then, we may.
Biblical Questions
- Do Open Theists think the canon is still open?
- Genesis 18:21
- Exodus 32
- Proverbs
-
- 16:1
- 16:4
- 16:9
- 16:33
- 19:21
- 2 Kings 20
- Isaiah 46:10
- Matthew 26:30-35 & Mark 14:26-31
- Ephesians 1:11
Philosophical Questions
Free will
- So, will there be free will in heaven?
- But it seems our environment and our past decide our actions, what do we mean by free will? Do we mean uncoerced?
- Did Jesus have free will?
- What about verbal plenary inspiration? Wouldn’t that thwart man’s free will?
God & Time
- Doesn’t God work outside of Time?
The grace of God verses the will of man
- So how does prevenient grace fit in with Open Theism?
- Another question regarding prevenient grace.
- If man in any way chooses God, isn’t that merit on man’s part?
Sovereignty
- If God controls everything, isn’t his foreknowledge a moot point?
- How is God sovereign if he is not in total control?
Miscellaneous
- Are all Open Theists also Inclusivists?
- Doesn’t speaking of God in relation to other beings make him finite?
- What about the problem of natural evil?
see: here - Does God simply choose to limit his knowledge?
- Is Open Theism essentially an Evangelical thing?
- Are any Reformed theologians sympathetic to or proponents of open theism?
- Is God confined by logic?
Questions on Tradition
- Who might have taught this, say, just prior to the 1900’s?
- Who has held this view in history?
Notable Open Theists
- Polkinghorne, is he an Open Theist?
- How did we come to Open Theism?
- How about Barth and Open Theism?
I enjoy the idea of open theism and think it possesses the correct and reasonable frame of thinking in regards to how God deals with or interacts with humans, but I need some assistance on dealing with the idea of predestination and the several references to it throughout scripture. Passages such as Eph 1:11,Rom 8: 28-30, Rom 9: 11, etc…
Is there a book that can help me grapple through these challenges to the idea of open theism? Thanks for your help.