The Emperor's New Clothes
I remember as a young child, there was a story told about a king who was duped by his tailors into believing they had made some fine clothes for him to wear, when in fact they hadn't made him any clothes. They helped him dress up in the "pretend" clothes, and although he himself could see in the mirror that he was naked, he was afraid to sound foolish by questioning them, so he decided to trust their word, and ventured out in public. The people in the kingdom, afraid of upsetting the king, kept their mouths shut as he paraded around town looking like a fool. Some little children would question why the king was walking around naked, only to be sharply told to "hush up" by their parents and elders.
This story is actually a good parable about false teachings promoted in the church throughout history, and applies to many myths that persist even today. Modern Pharisees and Sadducees parade around teaching nonsense that is plain to children and even the unbelieving world, yet most people within the church that see the truth are either too intimidated to say anything, or else they are severely censored or labeled a heretic when they do. Thousands of people in the dark ages were tortured and killed for pointing out simple truths...today they are usually just labeled some negative term and driven out of their fellowships.
Today's Pharisees and Sadducees reside in two basic camps, called Calvinists and Arminians. While these groups don't correspond to each other exactly, my point is that there are basically two theological positions held firmly today and promoted by the "powers to be", much like two thousand years ago during the time of Christ. And just like it was back then, both groups are wrong, and woe to anyone that dares to point it out to them.
You see, both groups claim that God knows the future exhaustively, but have different reasons for believing this to be true. The Calvinists claim God knows the future because He has preordained the entire future from the eternal past. They say God sovereignly, mysteriously controls everything that ever occurs in His entire creation. Free will is merely an illusion that we think we exercise, yet God still holds us accountable for our actions. God creates men to do evil, then punishes them for doing His will. This doctrine makes God not only the author of all that is good and glorious, but also of sin and evil.
The Arminians, quick to see the flaws of that perspective, instead claim that God does not control us, but only knows the future because He has the ability to "see" the future, so that way God is able to escape the accusation that He's created the mess we see all around us. This puts the blame and responsibility squarely on Satan and mankind instead.
While the Arminian perspective makes more sense on the surface, the real problem with both points of view lies not in how the future is exhaustively known, but that God even knows the future at all. You see, if God knows the future in its entirety, whether by preordaining or seeing it, then either way the future is fixed, totally set in stone. If this is true, then there is nothing we can do to change what God already knows is going to happen. God would already know everything you would ever think, do or say before you were even born, before He even created the world for that matter. Your supposed "free will" practically amounts to nothing since you cannot do anything except what God already knows you will do.
Even worse, if God knows our future, then He also knows His future, which means that if God sees anything at all in the future that He doesn't like, He is powerless to change it. We would have to strike out the word "Almighty" from the phrase Almighty God. If God already knows everything that is ever going to happen, then there is no point asking Him to change anything. What will be, will be. But if God could change the future, that would mean He didn't truly see the future in the first place. The idea of a God who both knows the future and is the Almighty God able to answer our prayers is an incoherent idea.
Here's where the naked truth of the emperor's new clothes come into play. Everyone pretends God knows the future even though when examined logically and Scripturally, the doctrine just doesn't hold water. In fact, just about everything we read about God in the Scriptures has to be discarded if God already knows the future. Due to wrong assumptions and unfounded presuppositions, most people don't even notice this, but just a little digging makes this clear.
Let me just give you a few of many examples to illustrate this. If God already knows the future in all its entirety, then why do we read the following in the Bible?
Genesis 2:19 "Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called a living creature, that was its name." NASB
Here we plainly see that God wanted to see what Adam would name the animals. This makes no sense if He already knew what Adam would name them.
Genesis 6:5,6 "Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart." NASB
We see that at this point in time God saw something terrible was happening with mankind, and He became grieved, something that makes no sense if He always knew what would happen.
Genesis 22:1-2 "Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am." He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you." NASB
Genesis 22:12 "He said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." NASB
These verses reveal that God was testing Abraham, and that after passing the test, God then knew for certain that Abraham truly trusted Him. Again, this is another example of God acting as if He doesn't know what will happen until it actually happens, leading us to believe that God experiences reality at the same time as we do. We've just barely looked at the book of Genesis here, yet you will find that the Bible is literally full of examples like this, even examples of God changing His mind. If God already knows the future, His behavior just doesn't make any sense.
But wait...what about all the prophecies? You probably think that they prove conclusively that God knows the future. The answer to that is very simply, no, they absolutely do nothing of the kind. God gives us prophecies by another way...and maybe I'll tell you how He does it in my next article, time permitting...
Can I show this to a Pastor friend? He is very open and bright. I am interested in his thoughts. I know you did not get good reception from pastors, but it really is so different from what we have been taught.
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You may show this to anyone you like, however their response will vary according to their background, beliefs, and so on. Someone seeking truth will honestly think it through and make a decision accordingly. Church pastors, however, will be quite resistant to changing their views on any topic, especially if they have previously taught on that topic from their pulpit. Imagine what it would be like for them, claiming to represent and speak for God on any particular subject for years, and then having to admit they were wrong about it after all. While they may privately admit they may be wrong, it is extremely rare for a pastor, especially of a large, successful fellowship, to publically change his views on any biblical or doctrinal issue. Why? Because it will cast doubt on everything else he's been teaching, something he is very unlikely to risk doing. Also, it may jeopardize his position in the particular group or denomination he currently represents. When he was ordained, he probably agreed to or made an oath to embrace a particular theological view. He may lose his job, his friends, and even worse just by simply changing his view. For example, imagine a Catholic priest that comes to realize that the bread and wine are only symbols, and really don't change into the actual body and blood of Christ. If he expresses his revised view publically, he will soon be looking for a new job. People build their lives on what they believe, so any changes have to be weighed carefully before changing their beliefs. Jesus called it "counting the cost". The Pharisees & Sadducees found themselves in this very situation.
Thank you for your question. May you always be led by the Spirit into all truth,
-nOFuTuRe
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Great insight, great article, and thanks for sharing it.
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