Subject:
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Re: God and the Devil and forgiveness (was Re: POV-RAY orange color)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Wed, 25 Aug 1999 16:06:16 GMT
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Viewed:
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1147 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Todd Lehman writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, "Tom McDonald" <radiotitan@spamcake.yahoo.com>
> writes:
> > I don't believe that predestination is a process that shapes and guides us. • I
> > believe predestination has only to do with knowing what shall happen, not
> > altering or guiding what shall happen. This doesn't mean that it's pre-
> > planned, just foreknown.
>
> Say, if it took God six days to create the heavens and the earth and the sea
> and all that is in them, this would seem to indicate that God isn't
> infinitely fast...that good things take time. Maybe He could make the
> Universe blink *out* of existence instantly, but if Creation took six whole
> days, then how could everything after that be foreknown? (Unless part of
> Creation also consisted of the rigorous process of going about to foreknow
> everything, and maybe that took 5.9999999999 of the 6 days. :-)
Hehe. If you so intimately knew your creation, say Lugnet for instance,
wouldn't you know what it would do ahead of time given just about any
situation? Maybe you could anticipate what it would do 95, 96, 97, or even
100% of the time.
In God's case, I don't think creation is a function or subset of time (like
how we're constrained), but rather the reverse, in which case, creation is not
limited by time.
> Say, is a God day equal to an Earth day? Or is it something much smaller
> like an attosecond or something? If God could create the heavens and the
> earth in six attoseconds, then I'd be more likely to believe that He could
> foreknow everything.
The word "day" used in the creation context is under much debate. Some say
each day is a literal 24 hour period, while others say it's much longer or
even shorter. The Hebrew word that means "day" in this case has more than one
definition, which can mean literal 24 hour period or a period of unspecified
length, an example of the latter being when grandpa talks about "back in my
day".
Also, there's the much overused, "With the LORD one day is a thousand years,
and a thousand years as one day" phrase from 1 Peter 3:8. And the same idea
can be seen in Psalm 90:4.
Looking at the context of the creation accounts it could suggest that 24 hour
period is more faithful to the translation as each day has evening and a
morning, but those can also be used to determine longer lengths of time.
One idea that I've seen maintained from scripture is from Hebrews chapter 4
where it discusses the seventh day of rest as still being in effect as God is
still resting from his work. In this case, the seventh "day" would not mean a
literal 24 hour period, and there no implication that each day is the same
length of time as another.
-Tom McD.
when replying, check out "The Spamcake Chronicles" now at better booksellers.
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