= Omni Properties
The claim is often made that God is //perfect// in some way; such as that God is maximally loving (perfectly loving) etc. and then the contention is raised that he cannot be both maximally just and maximally merciful, or the contention is raised that if God is all-knowing how can there be free will, etc.
The general answer to these questions is, **how do you know God is maximally //x//?**
== Maximal Knowledge
=== Scriptural Answer
So where then does it say God knows //everything//? You may be surprised to hear that there is no such passage in the bible. In fact, it is explicitly stated that God does not know **everything** explicitly in a sense which would remove free-will.
* The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps. (Proverbs 16:9)
This verse explicitly states that man has free will, but that God chooses how things will turn out (see 'External factors' below).
8 * “Remember this and stand firm, recall it to mind, you transgressors,
9 remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
11 calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a far country. I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it.Isaiah 46:8-12 (ESV)
In this famous passage in which God states he is the only one who can predict the future, he explicitly states that it is only in relation to the promises and prophecies he has made. He declares the end -- but not necessarily the mechanism or process by which it will play out. In some cases he does this by direct intervention such as the exodus (or the prophesied return of the lost 10 tribes). Humans may make their own choices but these events are outside the realm of human choice anyways.
So if 'perfect omniscience' is a misapplied quality, what does the scripture say about God's omniscience?
==== Superior knowledge and understanding
* Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? (Isaiah 40:14)
* Can anyone teach God knowledge, In that He judges those on high? (Job 21:22)
* He counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them. (Psalm 147:4)
==== Intercession and Prophecy
Not exhaustive (some are in other categories ex. Isaiah 46:8-12 above), Isaiah 44:7, Daniel 2:28, etc.
* “Behold, the former things have come to pass, Now I declare new things; Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.” (Isaiah 42:9)
Often the verse will show that intercession or prophecy was used to influence choices (because the choice was not altered directly) ex.
* But I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except under compulsion. (Exodus 3:19) (This verse could be listed below as well).
==== Seeing Man's Heart
//27 sources.// The following is NOT exhaustive; they are just some of the ones I've had time to write down. ex. Hosea 7:2, Amos 5:12, etc. These represent about //half// the verses I found doing searches on this topic; I found over 200 verses discussing the definition of all-knowing.
* “For His eyes are upon the ways of a man, And He sees all his steps. (Job 43:21)
* “He provides them with security, and they are supported; And His eyes are on their ways. (Job 24:23)
* “Does He not see my ways And number all my steps? (Job 31:4)
* The Lord looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men; (Psalm 33:13)
* You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down, And are intimately acquainted with all my ways. (Psalm 139:2-3)
* “Can a man hide himself in hiding places So I do not see him?” declares the Lord. “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:24)
* “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever. (1 Chronicles 28:9)
* If we had forgotten the name of our God Or extended our hands to a strange god, Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart. (Psalm 44:20-21)
* For the choir director. A Psalm of David. O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar. (Psalm 139:1-2)
* “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds. (Jeremiah 17:10)
* Then the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and He said to me, “Say, ‘Thus says the Lord, “So you think, house of Israel, for I know your thoughts. (Ezekiel 11:5)
* For My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from My face, nor is their iniquity concealed from My eyes. (Jeremiah 16:17)
* O God, it is You who knows my folly, And my wrongs are not hidden from You. (Psalm 69:5)
* “There is no darkness or deep shadow Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. (Job 34:22)
* “But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. (Job 23:10)
* The eyes of the Lord are in every place, Watching the evil and the good. (Proverbs 15:3)
* Then it shall come about, when many evils and troubles have come upon them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants); for I know their intent which they are developing today, before I have brought them into the land which I swore.” (Deuteronomy 31:21)
* The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. (Psalm 11:4)
* But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously, Who tries the feelings and the heart, Let me see Your vengeance on them, For to You have I committed my cause. (Jeremiah 11:20)
* Yet, O Lord of hosts, You who test the righteous, Who see the mind and the heart; Let me see Your vengeance on them; For to You I have set forth my cause. (Jeremiah 20:12)
* All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, But the Lord weighs the motives. (Proverbs 16:2)
* The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. (Exodus 3:7)
* then hear in heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive and act and render to each according to all his ways, whose heart You know, for You alone know the hearts of all the sons of men, (1 Kings 8:39)
* For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His. You have acted foolishly in this. Indeed, from now on you will surely have wars.” (2 Chronicles 16:9)
* “Then You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, Against all his servants and all the people of his land; For You knew that they acted arrogantly toward them, And made a name for Yourself as it is this day. (Nehemiah 9:10)
* “For He knows false men, And He sees iniquity without investigating. (Job 11:11)
These verses explicitly state that God sees into man's heart and knows his choices; but none of them say that God explicitly directs people's thoughts, their chocies, or denies them free will. The verses that do deal with God influencing human choices all indicate that God uses external events to influence choices and does not interfere directly with free will.
A case study of this is how the Pharaoh did not relent until several plagues had come to pass; despite God using plagues to influence him he was still able to choose not to let Israel go out of Egypt. In fact the statement of 'hardening his heart' was explicitly to allow Pharaoh the opportunity to decide not to let them go in the face of powerful supernatural miracles.
==== Explicit Free Will
// 26 sources -- not exhaustive!//
* Psalm 54:6 Willingly I will sacrifice to You; I will give thanks to Your name, O Lord, for it is good.
* Deuteronomy 23:23 You shall be careful to perform what goes out from your lips, just as you have voluntarily vowed to the Lord your God, what you have promised.
* Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,
* Deuteronomy 30:15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.
* Deuteronomy 11:26 Helpful? “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse:
* Deuteronomy 4:26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed.
* Psalm 119:30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.
* Psalm 119:173 Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts.
* Deuteronomy 31:28 Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them.
* Isaiah 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.
* Psalm 110:3 Your people will volunteer freely in the day of Your power; In holy array, from the womb of the dawn, Your youth are to You as the dew.
===== Freewill offerings
The idea here is that not only does one have a choice to fill a law or not, but one may also choose to do more.
* Psalm 119:108 O accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord, And teach me Your ordinances.
* Leviticus 22:23 In respect to an ox or a lamb which has an overgrown or stunted member, you may present it for a freewill offering, but for a vow it will not be accepted.
* Leviticus 7:16 But if the sacrifice of his offering is a votive or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day what is left of it may be eaten;
* Ezra 7:13 I have issued a decree that any of the people of Israel and their priests and the Levites in my kingdom who are willing to go to Jerusalem, may go with you.
* 2 Chronicles 31:14 Kore the son of Imnah the Levite, the keeper of the eastern gate, was over the freewill offerings of God, to apportion the contributions for the Lord and the most holy things.
* Ezra 8:28 Then I said to them, “You are holy to the Lord, and the utensils are holy; and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord God of your fathers.
* Amos 4:5 “Offer a thank offering also from that which is leavened, And proclaim freewill offerings, make them known.
* Exodus 36:3 They received from Moses all the contributions which the sons of Israel had brought to perform the work in the construction of the sanctuary. And they still continued bringing to him freewill offerings every morning.
* Ezekiel 46:12 When the prince provides a freewill offering, a burnt offering, or peace offerings as a freewill offering to the Lord, the gate facing east shall be opened for him. And he shall provide his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he does on the sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and the gate shall be shut after he goes out.
* Deuteronomy 16:10 Then you shall celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with a tribute of a freewill offering of your hand, which you shall give just as the Lord your God blesses you;
* Ezra 2:68 Some of the heads of fathers’ households, when they arrived at the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly for the house of God to restore it on its foundation.
* Exodus 35:29 The Israelites, all the men and women, whose heart moved them to bring material for all the work, which the Lord had commanded through Moses to be done, brought a freewill offering to the Lord.
* Ezra 1:4 Every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.’”
* Ezra 3:5 and afterward there was a continual burnt offering, also for the new moons and for all the fixed festivals of the Lord that were consecrated, and from everyone who offered a freewill offering to the Lord.
* Numbers 29:39 ‘You shall present these to the Lord at your appointed times, besides your votive offerings and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings and for your grain offerings and for your drink offerings and for your peace offerings.’”
=== Abrogation of Free Will
In one and only one explicit case, God does not interfere with free will. The one and only explicit case is the new covenant in Jeremiah, which only applies to the righteous remnant of Israel by grace, and after a long period of **choice:**
* Jeremiah 32:39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.
=== Apparent contradictions
If someone brings a verse such as Psalm 139:4, the answer is always nearby. Ex.
1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
Psalms 139:1-4
The intent of this passage is clearly that the Lord has searched his heart and (just before) the word is spoken he knows it; this is stated in v.1, v.2, v.3, and this is the context of v.4.
There may be other examples I will include here later if the response is not directly obvious from the context (as above).
=== Omniscience does not limit Free Will
If a person is not aware of the scriptural response above, they will often fall into logical problems by misapplying human concepts of perfection on to God. For example:
//"If God is omniscient, how can there be free will -- because, if God is aware of what we will choose, we will not be able to choose otherwise."//
This is, in general, a failure of the human intellect to understand temporal mechanics. First, we must not limit God by assuming he is limited by time; if the contention is that there is a T1 where a choice has not been made, and a T2 where a choice has been made, then we must assert that God does not change between T1 and T2. The first conclusion is then that regardless of whether God is aware of what we will choose, it is our choice to make: we change, not God.
We do not necessarily need to be aware of the mechanism by which God allows us to have free-will, but it is possible to create an analogy to prove such a thing is possible. We may note that in the running of a computer program which generates a random (or unknown) choice, that there are two classes of time; there is real time (our time) and simulation time. As we run the program from our perspective there is a T1a and a T2a which mark the before and after of our running the program, and there is a T1b and a T2b which, during the running of the simulation, represent before and after the random choice is generated. However, Ta is not bound by Tb -- rather, Tb is bound by Ta -- such that there is a T3a which has no parallel in Tb and represents our complete knowledge of the simulation bound by Tb.
==== External factors
It may further be seen that we may alter the results of the simulation to affect certain events without necessarily removing the capacity for individual choice; external factors bound to the simulation may force events to occur regardless of human or personal choice. For example, someone may choose to be a doctor, but might fail medical school. He may then choose to try again or not, but depending on the external factors put into the simulation he may have an easier or harder time; he may have or not have the money or the time to do so, etc. A rabbi once put it this way; it is your choice whether or not to apply for the job, but it is not your choice whether or not you will be hired.
We also see that God can run the simulation any number of times until the results are closer to what he wants.
We then see that there is no logical problem with God being all-knowing and there also being free will.
== Maximal Good
// not exhaustive -- over 100 verses available.//
Is the LORD perfectly good? Is he 'maximally' good? Good and not evil? What does this mean? Where in the bible does it say God is 'perfectly good'? This is a human misunderstanding. What is said is, God is **holy:**
* Leviticus 11:44 ...therefore consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am holy. ...
* Leviticus 11:45 ...thus you shall be holy, for I am holy.’”
* Leviticus 19:2 “Speak to all the congregation of the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.
* Leviticus 20:26 Thus you are to be holy to Me, for I the Lord am holy; and I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine.
* Psalm 99:9 Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy!
* Exodus 15:11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
What is holiness? It is a special spiritual quality of God that manifests in various ways such as the ability to exercise [[Ecumenical Authority]]. But what about good and evil?
* Isaiah 45:7 KJV, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.”
* Amos 3:6, “Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?”
The above are well-known passages but they do not insinuate that God has created evil. This is the 'Cain and Abel' fallacy; Cain says 'Isn't Anokhi my brother's keeper?' and God says 'No, you will be punished for the things you yourself have done.' As we see, god does not //approve// of evil in that sense:
However, the dichotomy of evil -- the idea of free will and free choice including evil -- is a specific part of creation:
* Genesis 2:9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
* Genesis 3:22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil.
However -- this is not to say God approves of Evil. It is in fact the nature of God to reject evil and choose good. It is in fact Man's choice to do the same;
* Genesis 1:4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness.
* Habbakuk 1:13 “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and Thou canst not look on wickedness with favor,”
* Genesis 4:6-7 The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.”
* Deuteronomy 32:4 “The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He,”
* Psalm 34:15-16 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
=== Conclusion
As it turns out, God created the dichotomy of Good and Evil, however it is his nature to choose the Good and reject the Evil, and thus he is Holy and holds ecumenical authority. He has given us the freewill choice to do the same thing, but as holder of ecumenical authority we have the choice to choose, but not the choice to define the difference between, good and evil.
== Maximally Loving
God is not maximally loving. This is a human misunderstanding and misapplication of our human concept of perfection onto God. To wit:
16 There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him:
* 17 haughty eyes,
* a lying tongue,
* hands that shed innocent blood,
* 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
* feet that are quick to rush into evil,
* 19 a false witness who pours out lies
* and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.
Proverbs 6:16-19
God also hates cheating and deception, among other thins:
* Proverbs 11:1 A false balance is an abomination to the Lord, But a just weight is His delight.
* Psalm 5:5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.
* Psalm 11:5 The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence.
* Isaiah 61:8 For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
* Hosea 9:15 Every evil of theirs is in Gilgal; there I began to hate them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house. I will love them no more; all their princes are rebels.
* Malachi 1:2-3 ..“Yet I have loved Jacob, 3 but Esau I have hated, ... (quoted by Romans 9:13)
* Leviticus 20:23 And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them.
* 1 Kings 11:9 And the Lord was angry with Solomon, ...
* Micah 5:15 “And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath on the nations which have not obeyed.”
* Isaiah 54:8 “In an outburst of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, But with everlasting lovingkindness I will have compassion on you,” Says the Lord your Redeemer.
* Psalm 85:3 You withdrew all Your fury; You turned away from Your burning anger.
== Maximally Just vs. Maximally Merciful
The idea that God is maximally merciful and that this conflicts with maximal justice can be rejected out of hand. The issue is explored in depth in Ezekiel 18 and in many other places (again, this is not an exhaustive list of passages).
* 20 The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
* 21 “But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die.
* 22 None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live.
* 23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?
This central message is so important that it is repeated several times in this chapter and in others (ex. Ezekiel 33:11).
The conclusion is that God is perfectly Just in his definition of Justice, which includes the ability for us to make full restitution for our sins via honest repentance. This is how we learn;
* Ezekiel 18:25 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?
== Maximally Personable
Maximal friendliness, maximally loving, etc.
This argument is often made in support of the Trinity and has absolutely no scriptural basis. In fact we can raise the following verses against it, not exhaustive:
* Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!
* Deuteronomy 4:35 To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, He is God; there is no other besides Him.
* Deuteronomy 4:39 Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.
* Deuteronomy 32:12 The Lord was the only one who led Israel. No other god was with them.
* 1 Kings 8:60 that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other.
* 1 Chronicles 17:20 There is none like you, O LORD, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
* Zechariah 14:9 And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, and His name the only one.
* Isaiah 43:11 I, I am the Lord, and beside me there is no savior.
* Isaiah 44:6 ... This is what the LORD says: I am the first and the last, and there is no God except me.
* Isaiah 44:7 Who is like me? Let them proclaim it, let them declare and set it forth before me. ...
* Isaiah 44:8 ...Is there any god besides me? There is no other rock; I know not one.
* Isaiah 45:14 ...‘Surely, God is with you, and there is none else, No other God.’”
* Isaiah 46:9 I alone am God. There are no other gods; no one is like me.