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Does God Change His Mind? – Part 3
This is the final post in a series called Does God Change His Mind. The first installment can be found here and the second here.
In the first post, I explained that God cannot change His mind because He is both Omniscient and Omnipotent. Since He knows everything that will happen and has the ability to make anything happen, there is no reason for God ever to change His mind about anything.
Yesterday, we learned there are accounts in the Bible where it might appear God had changed His mind. However, upon closer examination, we found these events fell into two categories: 1 –God didn’t change His mind but the subject of His focus changed, 2 – God didn’t change His mind but knew all along what was going to happen and simply played His part.
In conclusion, God does not change His mind. God’s reaction to sin is the same forever. His response to holiness never changes. Following are some examples.
Angels are destined to live with God forever. If any angel turns and follows Satan, God will bring down His wrath upon those angels. Those angels will no longer live with God. Instead, they will be thrown into the lake of fire for eternity. God has not changed His mind; the angels have changed. God acts exactly as His attributes demand.
I would be a cruel parent if I said I would reward my children but then punished them instead. Yet, parents do this all the time. “Let’s go get some ice cream! Yea!” Then on the car ride to the store, the child starts acting up. After a couple attempts to stop their behavior, we say, “If you don’t stop, I’m turning this car around!”
Whether you make the u-turn and punish the child or continue on to the shop does not depend on you. It will be determined by your child’s behavior. You haven’t changed your mind. You would be a bad parent if you rewarded bad behavior.
You are just acting in a way consistent with being a good parent. You have done exactly as you should. You would do the same thing next time. You haven’t changed your mind or your behavior; your child changed.
A final example: Water is good. We would die if we were deprived of it for several days. Water quenches our thirst. It puts out fires. It causes lawns to become lush and crops to grow.
Yet, that same exact water is dangerous. It causes a person to drown and another to be killed by an electrical shock. Water floods neighborhoods. It causes erosion.
Has the water changed? Not at all. The water remains the same even though the situations and the outcomes differ greatly. In the same way, God does not change even as He acts differently when situations change. It is the situation that has changed, not God.
Your turn
Did these examples help in understanding how God does not change His mind? Do you have any other examples that would be helpful? Share in the comments below.
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