(cont.) In chapter two, the Elohim debate whether or not to destroy the world in the Flood. Do you think the Trinity really needs to talk things over when Jesus is not on earth? Do you think, when God expressed regret, he was admitting he made a mistake? In chapter four, he tests Abraham, saying, “I must know.” Again, the Prince and King argue, this time about whether or not to rescue Ariel. Does he know how everything will go, from beginning to end—is God omniscient? Does this first book of the trilogy reflect your theology, or are you using some artistic license here?
I do believe that God is omniscient, but biblically he does not always use his “power” of omniscience, such as in Genesis 18:17-18, 20, 21, where first he talks to himself (or perhaps ‘telepathically’ to his father), and then admits to Abraham that the whole reason he’s present on the earth is to check firsthand if the reports of Sodom and Gomorrah’s flagrant depravity are true. Surely, his omniscience would have told whether or not it was true even before he got the report.
I imagine God’s omniscience like a bunch of computer files. He has access to every single one, but he doesn’t always choose to access them. He could simply “know” that Abraham loved him enough to sacrifice his son, or he could go about finding the answer in a more personal way that deepened their friendship (God considered Abraham a friend).
Drawing on these two examples, I constructed a few scenes where God doesn’t “know” what was going to happen. So while it is a bit of artistic license, it doesn’t actually stray from how God portrays himself.
As far as whether or not God “repents” or changes his mind, He is the one who says He does, multiple times in fact—with Noah, Moses, Saul, and Hezekiah just to name a few off the top of my head. So, I think it’s rather preposterous of me to say God doesn’t change his mind. Amongst the myriad of verses that say he repented of a decision, there is only one where He says he doesn’t: “God is not a man, so he does not lie. He is not human, so he does not change his mind. Has he ever spoken and failed to act? Has he ever promised and not carried it through?” (Num 23:19) In context, He is saying that if He said something would happen, it will happen. In fact, that was how the people were to test whether a prophet was of God or not.
An example would be if God never sent the Flood, after Noah spent 100 years building the ark. Or, if he changed His mind and decided not to send the Messiah, after all. That is the type of “repenting” that God states he does not do in Numbers 23:19, but never does he imply that he doesn’t ever regret a decision, as evidenced by the myriad of other verses where He says He does.
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Ichthus77 