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Matthew 28:20 Good News Translation
20 and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will
be with you always, to the end of the age.”
A colleague of mine, Richard Rice, wrote the book entitled The
Openness of God: The Relationship of Divine Foreknowledge and Human Free Will.
It was published by the Seventh-day Adventist press Review and Herald in 1980.
It generated a fair amount of controversy in the Adventist Church. He argued
that if God knew the future perfectly, then humans do not possess free will. If
humans do not possess free will, then they should not be held accountable for
being sinners. And therefore, Christ’s death was not necessary. The fact that
Christ died for our sins is a strong argument that God cannot know the future
perfectly. Rice called his theory “open theism”.
The openness of God has been taught at the Adventist
Universities such as Loma Linda University and La Sierra University ever since
the 1950s. This was before Rice was out of high school, so he did not originate
the idea, but he certainly gave it a logical status with his book.
Rice presented his openness theism very persuasively in a
senior class for physics, math, and computer majors that I co-taught with Ed
Karlow about 30 years ago. Adventism was founded on prophetic interpretation of
the books of Daniel and Revelation. Adventism grew out of a movement that set a
date for Christ’s return on October 22, 1844.
Christ did not return on that date, nor has He returned as I write this
blog. How do I know He hasn’t returned—because when He returns, the Bible says
in Revelation 1:7, every eye will see Him, even those “who pierced Him.” I
specifically asked Dr. Rice what his openness theism did for God knowing the
date when an event would happen in the future. He stated categorically that God
cannot know specific dates for future events. That was undoubtedly the reason
for the controversy Rice’s book raised within Adventism.
Personally, I have trouble with the argument that
foreknowledge is equivalent to predestination. However, I have not spent the
time studying the logical reason carefully enough to convince myself of the
validity or lack of validity of Rice’s basic premise. I accept at face value,
as does Rice, that when God promised that He would be with His followers “always
even to the end of the age,” He was definitely including me in this promise. If
He is with me, then He will also save me. This promise is also made to you; therefore,
God will save you if you let Him, no matter who you are or what you’ve done.
Thank You, Lord,
that You have saved us, if only we allow You!
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