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Contradiction In Terms

I have been a student of God’s word for almost forty years and some of the things I have heard in Sunday school are things that glorify God but contradict scripture. For example, omnipresence is a word that describes God as being everywhere all the time and omniscience reveals that God is all-knowing. These contradictions are due to the opinions formed in theology and the truth the scriptures relate.

I have been reading in Jeremiah where the main thrust of God’s word reflected the idea God sent one prophet after another demanding the people reform their ways. For over four hundred years God said Israel, his chosen people would not listen to his warnings. 

Is it possible that God said to himself enough is enough? God not only removed the people of Israel from his presence but his language demonstrated that he removed them with the force of thrusting them from his presence and their inheritance.

The second word God used to show his displeasure was the word reject. He rejected the people of Israel because they were obstinate, arrogant, unworthy and rebelling against God, which brings us to another point.

Ultimately it is sin that separates you from God. What this means is that you are no longer in God’s presence because you have placed a barrier between you and God. Until you deal with that barrier there can be no peace or harmony between you and God.

On the other hand God’s child is always in the presence of God, because both the father and the son has made their abode in you (John 14:23). In addition most Christians can say Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4.) What this means as a Child of God if you were to go to the moon God would be there. If you were to go to the deepest sea or the highest mountain God would be there. It doesn’t really matter where you go God would be there.  God is always there because he has promised to be with you wherever you go. This agreement is mutual as you have a love relationship with God, made room for his word in your heart and accepted him into your life.

The second term I heard in Sunday school was the term omniscience which means God is all knowing. What this term means to me is that once something happens God knows about it. However not everything is known to God when God can say,

There are some things that God had foreknowledge about and for the most part God planned them to occur is a precise manner. At the same time God used the phrase “to test them’ referring to his people several times in the Old Testament. The wordtest refers to the idea that there is a  factor in question that needs to be known and the test is used to determine the answer.

God wants to know the condition of your heart and whether you will obey him when everything seems to say sanctioning sin is the only way out. In the trials you face what’s at question is; what do you believe, are you determined to trust God and are you willing to risk everything for his glory.

Some of us have made a living will with a DNR or do not recessitate order for our later years. This kind of order is easy to make when we have our health, however when faced with the assurance that you are going to die within hours many of us will change our mind and do anything to stay alive. Again it is easy to say or plan what to do to avoid sin in the future when they occur, but what will you actually do when you have a split second to make that choice?

Let’s remember that in spiritual matters we are going to be influenced by demonic powers that will use our sinful nature against us.  In other words these demonic powers are going to make it hard to live according to the spirit. You are going to answer the question; but will you lean on God for the overcoming power needed to live according to the spirit.

If God were all knowing could God be grieved or disappointed? Emotions such as anticipation occur before things come to pass but becoming grieved and disappointed are emotions that appear after the fact. Anticipation looks forward to what you expected but grief and disappointment occurs when things don’t turn out as expected and usually recognized as something that cannot be changed.

What about the prophetic promises of the Bible, how could God know the end from the beginning?  I think if you can answer how men build Ocean liners or buildings that Superman is not able to leap in a single bound then we can understand how God can declare the end from the beginning. For example, Uriah’s death was known to David before he was sent back to his unit. As human beings we use plans to know the end from the beginning. A plan sets forth a goal to be reached, but to reach that end we have to employ specific methods to reach certain stages before reaching the goal. 

What God has planned will come to pass,

I have determined in my mind that these terms are theological in nature and have come from expounding on a single verse without considering the bible as a whole. I also think that God is the most dynamic and charismatic person I have ever known. At the same time he is a person of logic and a person whom we can understand if we make an effort to know him.

To me God is the father of mankind who wants the same things we as parents want from ourchildren. As parents we want our children’s respect and obedience. To that end we discipline our children to reach adulthood who can have integrity among everyone they encounter in life. In the same way God wants our respect and our obedience.

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