Is God Open?

Use this forum to discuss the June 2020 Book of the month, "Killing Abel" by Michael Tieman.
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_Lindsey_
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Re: Is God Open?

Post by _Lindsey_ »

It's such a complicated topic that it's very difficult to come up with an answer. I guess in the end we will never really know what is going on outside of our own world. We can only guess.
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Post by Topsey »

I think God constantly chooses to limit himself because of his love for us, his children. He makes sacrifices for us by sacrificing His power to interfere or manipulate situations. He could prevent us from suffering but instead uses it to make us growth and learn.
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Post by Elvis Best »

To some extent, I believe that God is open. But to go on to say that He has limitations is another thing.

In my opinion, I think you're trying too hard to humanise God, to bring him down to our level and to make Him feel familiar. Granted, everyone is allowed their opinion of God. And God, I believe, is what we make Him out to be.

Your challenge of the accepted Christian thought of God and your open portrayal of Him are both commendable, if you ask me. I believe we should all rethink who God is to us, instead of just accepting previously established dogma.
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Post by do20 »

I believe that God has the ability of limiting himself. He chooses what is right to do at a right time. I also think that all human beings are predictable to God. I believe that it is only human beings who find each other unpredictable for the simple reason that our nature changes due to circumstances.
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Post by Sushan Ekanayake »

The author has tried to portray the God as a loving father. If you are becoming a parent, you have to put some limits for yourself, and here also it is the same
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Post by Pendrick reckon »

So funny, well on my side I think the answer is yes. God is open but most of people what if they they anything from God they need it to be done at that time. The forgot that God take time to prove work and himself. congrats on BOTD.
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Post by kdstrack »

In a fiction novel, the author is free is portray the characters as he sees them developing in his plot. In Killing Abel, the author asks us to believe something about God that goes against what He has already stated about Himself. This mixes the fictional story with the established facts found in Scripture. The Bible is quite clear in saying, "I the Lord do not change" Malachi 3:6 and "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever," Hebrews 13:8. God's immutability gives believers confidence that all His promises are sure. I think readers can accept as fiction the author's filling in/imagining what was left unsaid (ex., in Genesis), as can be seen in the apple/fig and Nephilim discussion thread. The fiction story moves into a different area when readers are asked to question what has already been established - "I the Lord do not change."
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Post by Munachimso_Nwaogazie »

God can do whatever he pleases because he is God. He can limit himself because he has the power to do so and if we disagree, we are indeed limiting God.
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Post by angieray1 »

Nicole_Boyd wrote: 19 Jun 2020, 12:23 I think God does limit himself. I believe He is all-powerful but he chose to limit himself when he came to earth. Who could stand before Him in all his power and glory, he had to cover Moses’ eyes when he passed before him or else he would have died. It’s a beautiful tension isn’t it? An all-powerful God choosing to meet us where we are as humans in the form of Jesus Christ and yet still display what is possible when we partner with Him?
Beautiful post! I completely agree!!
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Post by angieray1 »

Crcraig wrote: 22 Jun 2020, 06:54 The only limits to God are what we, as humans, place on him. God has no limits. You can't put him in a box. Think about the universe, the complexity of nature and how it all seems to work together, about our bodies and how everything functions together. God can create anything. He gave us free will so we can choose to love Him, not blindly follow.
There is much truth in this! I agree!
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Post by angieray1 »

God is limitless and powerful beyond what we could imagine. Our mortal minds cannot completely understand God, but He always meets us where we are.
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Post by angieray1 »

ohlendorfbe wrote: 22 Jun 2020, 10:36 God doesn't make mistakes. Even when the Son became a man, He made no mistakes because He was sinless. So God didn't make a mistake when He created man. Your idea of an open God is very interesting, but I don't think "open" is the right word. God is immutable, unchangeable - but He is also all-loving and forgives us for any wrongdoing. Sometimes that's hard to understand, but God is God and therefore we can't limit him to what our finite minds can understand.
Very true post!
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Post by Imperio »

Well, there is that interesting philosophical paradox that is as follows: if God is all-powerful, can he create a weapon that could kill Himself? If he is all-powerful he should be able to create such a weapon. But if such a weapon can exist that could hurt him, then he is not all-powerful.

Perhaps, this connects to what you were saying about His decision to limit Himself. The only way I could reconcile such a paradox with Christianity is by thinking of the definition of all-powerful in another way. Maybe it is the ultimate show of power to allow the creation of such an item, to control and to decide to create or not to create such a weapon. Maybe it is power itself to grant the existence and allowance of such a demise.

Either way, this talk of God's "open" ways brings this to mind.
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Post by BookLoverMC »

I think that God does decided to limit himself, and uses his extraordinary powers wisely.
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Post by Marty_Kelly »

Interesting thoughts here. I believe that God is limitless but kind of limits himself by allowing us freewill. In the same vein, even in freedom, there are limitations otherwise one being will completely overrule another's from (as is evident in our world).
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