The Errors of Open Theism

Here are some helpful resources dealing with the errors of Open Theism:

1. God's Lesser Glory by Bruce Ware - This is by far the best book on the debate that I have read.

2. God's Greater Glory by Bruce Ware - Although this book is not directly about Open Theism, it is helpful in presenting the Biblical teaching on the greatness of God in relation to His sovereignty.

3. Beyond the Bounds by Piper, Taylor, and Helseth - This is a compilation of articles dealing with the problems of Open Theism.

4. No Other God by John Frame - I haven't actually read this one, but have heard it is good.

5. Their God is Too Small by Bruce Ware - This is a popular version of his other book, God's Lesser Glory. It is basically a summary.

Any others you have read or heard of?

Four Views on Divine Foreknowledge

Here is a helpful summary of the various views on foreknowledge from Dr. Sam Storms:

Four views of divine foreknowledge:

1. Open Theism – God knows both the past and present in exhaustive detail but knows the future only to the degree that the future is logically knowable. God can foreknow what he, God, intends to do independent of human involvement. But God cannot know what we, humans, will do until we do it. God knows the range of possibilities and potentialities but not actualities, insofar as the latter do not exist as objects of knowledge until such time as free moral agents bring them into being. Hence the future is truly “open” for both God and humans.

2. Simple Foreknowledge – Those who advocate this view contend that God “simply” knows what is going to come to pass. The future is not “open” from God’s perspective, but neither is God’s foreknowledge based on his foreordination. God “simply” foreknows what free agents will do.

3. Middle Knowledge – Advocates of this view argue that God foreknows not only what will come to pass but also what would have come to pass under any and all circumstances in any and all possible worlds. God chose to create this world because he foresaw that what would come to pass in it, as compared with all other possible worlds, best served his objective of glorifying himself while preserving the freedom of his creatures. This view is based on the belief that God has eternal knowledge of how free moral agents would act in all possible circumstances in all possible worlds.

4. Calvinist View – God foreknows everything that will come to pass in the future because he has foreordained everything that comes to pass. Humans are free moral agents insofar as they act voluntarily according to their desires. But all such desires and subsequent volitional activity fall within the sovereign and pre-temporal (or eternal) purpose of God.

The Foreknowledge of God

Last night, I taught on the Exhaustive Foreknowledge of God. It was a delightful meditation. I had fun meditating on these things:

-Nothing is news to God.
-God does not need to be briefed each morning.
-There are no projections to God.
-There is nothing expected to God.
-Nothing takes God by surprise.
-There are no announcements to God.
-God never discovers anything.
-There are no estimations to God.
-God does not need a forecast.
-There are no anticipations as to what is going to happen.
-God knows no hypotheses.
-There is nothing that God wonders.
-God doesn’t need predictions.
-Nothing is a mere theory to God.
-It is impossible for God to gamble or take a risk.