Can you trust a “God” who can’t know
the future?
A new theology is trickling down from
the lofty halls of academia to the pews
of evangelical churches. Called open
theism, this novel view of God denies
that he fully knows the future and
insists that he takes risks by giving
humans wide-ranging freedom. This view
has disastrous consequences for the
everyday faith of ordinary Christians,
consequences you can’t afford to ignore.
Their God Is Too Small explains some of
the beliefs of open theism and shows
their practical implications. Using
biblical truth and personal anecdotes,
Bruce Ware demonstrates how open theism
undermines trust in God for everyday
life, particularly in the midst of
suffering. This is no dry academic
discourse; if you care about God’s
glory and your confidence in him, then
this book is for you because it
concerns the everyday issues of faith.
There is a new heresy making
its way into the Church. It’s
called Open Theism. The
proponents of it would have us
think that God doesn’t know
the future. They want us to
believe that he cannot make a
decision until we, as free
agents, let him know what we
are thinking. I’m not
kidding. They use such
language as “God took a risk”,
“Don’t think that God had
anything to do with the
tragedy that intrudes your
life” and “God is waiting for
us to act so he will know what
to do.”
Thankfully, men of God are
taking a stand against this
heresy. Bruce Ware, Dean and
Professor at Southern Baptist
Theological Seminary in
Kentucky, has written a solid,
logical, biblical defense of
the True God of the Bible
while exposing the so-called
‘god’ of Open Theism. He
gives a short overview of Open
Theism and the Christian Faith
using good examples and
anecdotes in the first chapter
of the book.
The second chapter begins a
series of chapters that set
Open Theism against three of
the most cherished truths of
Scripture: 1)God’s
Foreknowledge, 2)Suffering and
3)Hope. The Open Theist
destroys the doctrine of God’s
Foreknowledge – that God not
only knows what will happen,
but that He ordained it to
happen (not to be confused
with foresight). When dealing
with suffering, Open Theists
claim that suffering is
pointless, and not something
of which God would have any
part. Ware gives sufficient
examples from Scripture of
exactly the opposite.
Then, when dealing with Hope,
the Open Theists strip the
Christian of any hope or
confidence in God. If God
cannot know the future, he is
bound to make mistakes
(something else the Openness
proponents claim), making His
advice and leading no
different from Fallen man’s.
If you’ve not heard of Open
Theism, you will. It is
becoming a very popular belief
among the higher critics and
elites. However, it is slowly
creeping down into our
churches as well. Consider
this: Wild at Heart is
perhaps one of the worst books
to hit the Christian market in
a long time. Along with all
of the other false teaching
that is in it, there is also a
foundational belief in Open
Theism. For example, Eldridge
states plainly that God took a
huge risk in giving man free
will. That is the core of
Open Theism.
Be prepared to confront this
heresy. It is essential that
believers know what is going
on within the Church. Ware’s
book is a good introduction,
easy to ready, very anecdotal.
Read ‘em & Reap!
-
Brad
