Open Theist sounds like a technical theological term and, in many respects it is. However, it is a theological term with tremendous impact on how people live and act. So what does it mean?
In the simplest of terms, an open theist is a person who believes that the future is "open" - that is, not determined before it happens. The extension of this is that an open theist believes that God does not have "exhaustive definite foreknowledge" (EDF) - a complicated way of saying that God does not know the outcome of free choices I have yet to make. In other words, God does not know what I am going to have for breakfast on my 35th birthday because I have not yet made that choice.
While I want to avoid turning this into a discussion of the detailed theological side of open theism (you can pick up Most Moved Mover by Clark Pinnock if you're interested in knowing more), there is an important comment I have to make. There are two schools of thought as to why God does not have EDF.
The first says that God cannot know because the future does not exist to be known. I'm not sure this view is accurate.
The second - to which I ascribe - is that God chooses to not know.
But why would God choose to not know? Simply put, for the sake of love.
God loves creation and desires to be in relationship with it. A relationship - as any good counselor will tell you - requires give and take. This is what God has with creation - God gives to creation and creation gives to God. If God is distant and removed from the world, there could be no relationship.
The God of EDF is more like a dictator than a beloved parent. The God of EDF is never wrong, never changes his mind and is, in many respects, unlovable.
Open theists - like myself - believe that God is not like that. We believe that God takes risks, that things don't always turn out the way God wants, that God adapts God's plans in response to the actions of humanity.
Before you write this off as "out there" and/or "heresy" (as too many have already done), take a look at the story of Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20. Here's the story in a nutshell:
Hezekiah gets sick and God tells him he will die. In response to the news of his impending death, Hezekiah prays to God and begs God to remember his faithfulness to God's desires. In response to Hezekiah's prayer, God changes God's mind! Hezekiah does not die as originally promised, but lives another 15 years.
There are two different ways to look at what happens in this story. If God had EDF, God would have known that Hezekiah was not going to die for 15 years, which leads to an uncomfortable reality - God was deceitful with Hezekiah...God lied to Hezekiah. Surely we cannot agree with such an idea.
The alternative view is that God genuinely interacted with Hezekiah and God changed the date of Hezekiah's death as a result of Hezekiah's prayer. God's honesty and goodness are preserved.
Thus we come to the crux of the issue for me - in reality, every Christian acts as an open theist. Whenever we pray, we are assuming that God hears our prayers and responds to them by changing God's actions. We pray that God will heal from cancer with the honest hope and belief that God can do it. If God has EDF, why pray?
Open theism makes sense, is supported by Scripture and has been found in some form or another throughout Christian history.
I'll leave off with the question that started the process that led me to become an open theist. I challenge you to think about it for awhile.
Could Mary have said no?
jB
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