Yes, it's true. The Bible tells me so....
Throughout Scripture, we see God making mistakes and regretting His own choices. We cannot interpret these passages any other way without sounding ridiculous or irrational and I know many even famous theologians who REALLY give me a laugh with their ridiculous apologetics.
Genesis 6:23
3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”
Prior to this time man lived between 300 to 900 years on earth (read Genesis 5). Now as God "learns" the "extreme" wicked nature of man, He resolves to cut down man's life span to 120 years. This was the first recorded divine mistake. Noah lived 950 years after God determined this but he was born before God spoke this thought.
Genesis 6:5-6
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
The omniscient God knew that the man he created would be wicked. However, maybe hope against hope, God did not anticipate that man would be THAT wicked! So sacred writ records God regretting "that he make man on earth". It even hurt God, "it grieved him to his heart". This is the first recorded "regret" of God. Now the Hebrew word for regret, nacham, means "felt sorry" which obviously means that something he did went wrong.
Classicists and Calvinists would readily call this some kind of "process theology" because God seems to have LEARNED something, but let me hear a rational interpretation from them without going through their theological jargon.
Exodus 32:7-14
Numbers 14:11-20
Note that in the first occasion, Moses reasoned out that the Egyptians will accuse God of evil intent against His own people. In the second occasion, Moses argued that the Egyptians will criticize God's inability to take care of His own people. Both times, the God of kheced listened and relented.
1 Samuel 15:11
“I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.
1 Samuel 15:35
And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.
I have heard one famous radio Bible teacher say that "Saul was man's choice while David was God's choice". As we can plainly see, nothing can be farther from the TRUTH and such careless declarations should be called out as arrogance and false teaching regardless of their good motives. "I regret that I made Saul king". Who made Saul king? who chose Saul? In fact the most of the people had absolutely no idea who Saul was prior to his kingship. So how can he be the people's choice???
We cannot tell people to be honest and we ourselves are blatantly dishonest in dividing the word of truth! In fact, it is the other way around, if ever, we can be dishonest about anything but NOT the word of God, please.
Samuel actually grieved, and I am sure the Lord grieved too. Otherwise, NACHAM or REGRET does not mean much.
2 Samuel 24:16
And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
Plain and simple. God killed. God relented. Therefore, God made a mistake.
1 Chronicles 21:15
And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw, and he relented from the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Samuel recorded the actual event, the palace chroniclers recorded this one. That means that God's mistake is PUBLIC and everyone during that day was aware of it. However, nobody alive questioned it. In fact, they accepted the fact that God could make a mistake. That was because there was no such teaching coming from Augustine, the classicists, the scholastics and the Calvinists.
Psalm 106:45
For their sake he remembered his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
Yes, God loved but God still made a mistake from God's own admission. Now even the Psalmists confirm it.
Isaiah 38:1-4
Was God's will UNCONDITIONALLY fulfilled as per my Calvinist brethren? What saith the Lord?
Did God make a mistake? Here is the answer, assume that the one who commanded death was a human king, would you consider that the king made a mistake?....'nuff said.
Jeremiah 18:7-8
7 If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it.
The NRSV was honest enough to translate this as "I will change my mind..." By God's own admission, he can change his mind DEPENDING ON MAN
Jeremiah 26:19
Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, and did not the Lord relent of the disaster that he had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great disaster upon ourselves.”
Here we find Jeremiah himself declaring that MAN's BEHAVIOR can change the mind of God.
Jeremiah 42:10
If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I relent of the disaster that I did to you.
Here the Lord admits another regret, that of bringing the Babylonians against his people.
Joel 2:13-14
and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?
God's people were fully aware that God was open to the possibility of changing his mind. Why? No classical doctrine existed then. That's why.
Amos 7:1-6
This is what the Lord God showed me: he was forming locusts at the time the latter growth began to sprout (it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings). 2 When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,
We certainly should ignore any explanation from classical Hellenistic theologies!
Jonah 3:10
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
I have heard and read just about all the classical interpretations of this passage. All of them almost without exception paint God as a hypocrite. I know the intentions are good, but this is where we really need to use our God-given brains.
Jonah 4:2
And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.
The emphasis here is that Jonah, and perhaps all of Israel, knows the "human-ness" of God as well as his divine KHECED.
The choice of Judas
John 6:70
Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”
Jesus chose Judas!
If that was pre-ordained, where is that loving and merciful God? This is one big reason why quite a few atheists and non-Christians believe that Christians are a confused people.
So BIBLICALLY SPEAKING, does God make mistakes or not? The Bible declares with a resounding YES!
Our tasks as Bible exegetes, theologians and/or interpreters should not be to change the meaning of the declarations and statements of Scripture ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY ARE CRYSTAL CLEAR, but our task is to understand, ask WHY? and resolve it, articulate it so that whatever statement or resultant theology that arises DOES NOT contradict other parts of Scripture.
Is there a contradiction based on the following CLEAR passages...?
YES! The Bible also declares that God does NOT change his mind or feel sorry for what he does! How do we reconcile this seeming contradiction?
CONCLUSION:
This is THE case for FREE WILL and God's love. For God to get genuine love from his creation, that love needs to be TOTALLY UNCONTROLLED, and UNPREDICTABLE or RISKY. There is no genuine love if there is no risk that you will not be loved back.
Hence, free will. Man is totally autonomous in his decisions. This is the reason for the Great Flood, for the world wars, etc.
But to God, the beauty of free will is that he will enjoy genuine love from the people who are willing to love him back the way he loves them. This is the kingdom of God, the kingdom he has been building since He called Abraham to make him a nation.
So God MAKES MISTAKES when free will is involved and/or His love for His people is concerned. When it comes to anything else like righteousness and justice, God does NOT make any mistake.
That is why we need to go back to Jeremiah 9:23-24 for it is loaded with more than what we see.
23 Thus says the Lord: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; 24 but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord.
Throughout Scripture, we see God making mistakes and regretting His own choices. We cannot interpret these passages any other way without sounding ridiculous or irrational and I know many even famous theologians who REALLY give me a laugh with their ridiculous apologetics.
Genesis 6:23
3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”
Prior to this time man lived between 300 to 900 years on earth (read Genesis 5). Now as God "learns" the "extreme" wicked nature of man, He resolves to cut down man's life span to 120 years. This was the first recorded divine mistake. Noah lived 950 years after God determined this but he was born before God spoke this thought.
Genesis 6:5-6
5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
The omniscient God knew that the man he created would be wicked. However, maybe hope against hope, God did not anticipate that man would be THAT wicked! So sacred writ records God regretting "that he make man on earth". It even hurt God, "it grieved him to his heart". This is the first recorded "regret" of God. Now the Hebrew word for regret, nacham, means "felt sorry" which obviously means that something he did went wrong.
Classicists and Calvinists would readily call this some kind of "process theology" because God seems to have LEARNED something, but let me hear a rational interpretation from them without going through their theological jargon.
Exodus 32:7-14
7 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” 9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.”
11 But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14 And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.
Here we see God at the verge of destroying the whole nation of Israel for their sin involving the golden calf. Moses, who was even reluctant to speak to Pharoah when first commanded by God at the burning bush, this time argues effectively with God against His intent and wins the reasoning game. The Bible again records the Lord relenting or regretting (yes, same Hebrew word, nacham) or ACTUALLY CHANGING HIS MIND about his intention. And you thought that was the only time? Think again....Numbers 14:11-20
11 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? 12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
13 But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, 14 and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. 15 Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, 16 ‘It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’ 17 And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, 18 ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ 19 Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.”
20 Then the Lord said, “I have pardoned, according to your word.
Note that in the first occasion, Moses reasoned out that the Egyptians will accuse God of evil intent against His own people. In the second occasion, Moses argued that the Egyptians will criticize God's inability to take care of His own people. Both times, the God of kheced listened and relented.
1 Samuel 15:11
“I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.
1 Samuel 15:35
And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul. And the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.
I have heard one famous radio Bible teacher say that "Saul was man's choice while David was God's choice". As we can plainly see, nothing can be farther from the TRUTH and such careless declarations should be called out as arrogance and false teaching regardless of their good motives. "I regret that I made Saul king". Who made Saul king? who chose Saul? In fact the most of the people had absolutely no idea who Saul was prior to his kingship. So how can he be the people's choice???
We cannot tell people to be honest and we ourselves are blatantly dishonest in dividing the word of truth! In fact, it is the other way around, if ever, we can be dishonest about anything but NOT the word of God, please.
Samuel actually grieved, and I am sure the Lord grieved too. Otherwise, NACHAM or REGRET does not mean much.
2 Samuel 24:16
And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
Plain and simple. God killed. God relented. Therefore, God made a mistake.
1 Chronicles 21:15
And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw, and he relented from the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Samuel recorded the actual event, the palace chroniclers recorded this one. That means that God's mistake is PUBLIC and everyone during that day was aware of it. However, nobody alive questioned it. In fact, they accepted the fact that God could make a mistake. That was because there was no such teaching coming from Augustine, the classicists, the scholastics and the Calvinists.
Psalm 106:45
For their sake he remembered his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
Yes, God loved but God still made a mistake from God's own admission. Now even the Psalmists confirm it.
Isaiah 38:1-4
In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.”[a] 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 and said, “Please, O Lord, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
4 Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 5 “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life
What was God's will in the above story? Hezekiah was to die! Did God know the future? If you say yes, then God was a hypocrite in this story pretending NOT to know.Was God's will UNCONDITIONALLY fulfilled as per my Calvinist brethren? What saith the Lord?
Did God make a mistake? Here is the answer, assume that the one who commanded death was a human king, would you consider that the king made a mistake?....'nuff said.
Jeremiah 18:7-8
7 If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it.
The NRSV was honest enough to translate this as "I will change my mind..." By God's own admission, he can change his mind DEPENDING ON MAN
Jeremiah 26:19
Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, and did not the Lord relent of the disaster that he had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great disaster upon ourselves.”
Here we find Jeremiah himself declaring that MAN's BEHAVIOR can change the mind of God.
Jeremiah 42:10
If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I relent of the disaster that I did to you.
Here the Lord admits another regret, that of bringing the Babylonians against his people.
Joel 2:13-14
and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?
God's people were fully aware that God was open to the possibility of changing his mind. Why? No classical doctrine existed then. That's why.
Amos 7:1-6
This is what the Lord God showed me: he was forming locusts at the time the latter growth began to sprout (it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings). 2 When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said,
“O Lord God, forgive, I beg you!
How can Jacob stand?
He is so small!”
3 The Lord relented concerning this;
“It shall not be,” said the Lord.
How can Jacob stand?
He is so small!”
3 The Lord relented concerning this;
“It shall not be,” said the Lord.
4 This is what the Lord God showed me: the Lord God was calling for a shower of fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land. 5 Then I said,
“O Lord God, cease, I beg you!
How can Jacob stand?
He is so small!”
6 The Lord relented concerning this;
“This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.
How can Jacob stand?
He is so small!”
6 The Lord relented concerning this;
“This also shall not be,” said the Lord God.
Jonah 3:10
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
I have heard and read just about all the classical interpretations of this passage. All of them almost without exception paint God as a hypocrite. I know the intentions are good, but this is where we really need to use our God-given brains.
Jonah 4:2
And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.
The emphasis here is that Jonah, and perhaps all of Israel, knows the "human-ness" of God as well as his divine KHECED.
The choice of Judas
John 6:70
Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”
Jesus chose Judas!
If that was pre-ordained, where is that loving and merciful God? This is one big reason why quite a few atheists and non-Christians believe that Christians are a confused people.
So BIBLICALLY SPEAKING, does God make mistakes or not? The Bible declares with a resounding YES!
Our tasks as Bible exegetes, theologians and/or interpreters should not be to change the meaning of the declarations and statements of Scripture ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY ARE CRYSTAL CLEAR, but our task is to understand, ask WHY? and resolve it, articulate it so that whatever statement or resultant theology that arises DOES NOT contradict other parts of Scripture.
Is there a contradiction based on the following CLEAR passages...?
1 Samuel 15:29
And also the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.”
Jeremiah 4:28
“For this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above be dark; for I have spoken; I have purposed; I have not relented, nor will I turn back.”
Jeremiah 15:1
[ The Lord Will Not Relent ] Then the Lord said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go!
Ezekiel 24:14
I am the Lord. I have spoken; it shall come to pass; I will do it. I will not go back; I will not spare; I will not relent; according to your ways and your deeds you will be judged, declares the Lord God.”
YES! The Bible also declares that God does NOT change his mind or feel sorry for what he does! How do we reconcile this seeming contradiction?
CONCLUSION:
This is THE case for FREE WILL and God's love. For God to get genuine love from his creation, that love needs to be TOTALLY UNCONTROLLED, and UNPREDICTABLE or RISKY. There is no genuine love if there is no risk that you will not be loved back.
Hence, free will. Man is totally autonomous in his decisions. This is the reason for the Great Flood, for the world wars, etc.
But to God, the beauty of free will is that he will enjoy genuine love from the people who are willing to love him back the way he loves them. This is the kingdom of God, the kingdom he has been building since He called Abraham to make him a nation.
So God MAKES MISTAKES when free will is involved and/or His love for His people is concerned. When it comes to anything else like righteousness and justice, God does NOT make any mistake.
That is why we need to go back to Jeremiah 9:23-24 for it is loaded with more than what we see.
23 Thus says the Lord: Do not let the wise boast in their wisdom, do not let the mighty boast in their might, do not let the wealthy boast in their wealth; 24 but let those who boast boast in this, that they understand and know me, that I am the Lord; I act with steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, says the Lord.
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