Does God repent?(Christians)
- Thread starter 786
- Start date
Why would repent? What did He do wrong?
Repent:
What does the word repent mean?
What is its basic definition?
And what has it come to mean to the general public?
You see it is very important to establish what a word means before we can answer the question. "Does God Repent?"
So what does Repent mean. Well it is to change ones mind to change ones heart.
To some people to repent is to say sorry for wrongdoing and or to stop doing something because it is a sin/wrong. So to some repentance encompasses not only the change of mind but also the fruit of repentance, saying sorry and ceasing to do the sin/wrongdoing that one has changed their mind about.
You see there is a basic problem when dealing with this question and that is people have different definitions in their heads of what a word entails.
So now lets look at scriptures:
Numbers 23:19
"God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
It says clearly that God is not a sinner (lie) that he should repent as in say sorry and change His ways. But God has changed what He said He would do. This change is Not like the repentance because of wrongdoing but Relenting from doing something because of peoples being sorry and changing their ways in response to His warning.
Jeremiah 18
5Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: 6"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?" says the LORD. "Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! 7The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, 8 if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. 9And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, 10if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.
A classic example of this is detailed in the book of Jonah.
Jonah 3
Jonah Preaches at Nineveh
Nineveh Repents
1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2"Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you." 3So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. 4And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk. Then he cried out and said, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"
The People of Nineveh Believe
5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. 7And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,
Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. 8But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?
10Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
So if one sees the word repent to mean an act of contrition and a change in action because it is wrong/evil then No, God does not repent. But if one sees the Word repent as simply being a change of mind then yes God has changed His mind on doing something that He said he would do. God is merciful to those who are meek and listen to His will.
All praise The Ancient Of Days
What does the word repent mean?
What is its basic definition?
And what has it come to mean to the general public?
You see it is very important to establish what a word means before we can answer the question. "Does God Repent?"
So what does Repent mean. Well it is to change ones mind to change ones heart.
To some people to repent is to say sorry for wrongdoing and or to stop doing something because it is a sin/wrong. So to some repentance encompasses not only the change of mind but also the fruit of repentance, saying sorry and ceasing to do the sin/wrongdoing that one has changed their mind about.
You see there is a basic problem when dealing with this question and that is people have different definitions in their heads of what a word entails.
So now lets look at scriptures:
Numbers 23:19
"God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?
It says clearly that God is not a sinner (lie) that he should repent as in say sorry and change His ways. But God has changed what He said He would do. This change is Not like the repentance because of wrongdoing but Relenting from doing something because of peoples being sorry and changing their ways in response to His warning.
Jeremiah 18
5Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: 6"O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?" says the LORD. "Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! 7The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, 8 if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. 9And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, 10if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it.
A classic example of this is detailed in the book of Jonah.
Jonah 3
Jonah Preaches at Nineveh
Nineveh Repents
1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2"Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you." 3So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. 4And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk. Then he cried out and said, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"
The People of Nineveh Believe
5 So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. 6Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. 7And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,
Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water. 8But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?
10Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
So if one sees the word repent to mean an act of contrition and a change in action because it is wrong/evil then No, God does not repent. But if one sees the Word repent as simply being a change of mind then yes God has changed His mind on doing something that He said he would do. God is merciful to those who are meek and listen to His will.
All praise The Ancient Of Days
But God does sin (lie):Adstar said:
Ezekiel 14:9
And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
Jeremiah 20:7
O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me.
2 Thessalonians 2:11
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
Yet he does repent of his actions:
Genesis 6:7
And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
1 Samuel 15:10 - 11
Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying, it repenteth me that I have set up Saul [to be] king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments. And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.
2 Samuel 24:15 - 16
So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men. And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.
Jeremiah 15:6
Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.
~Raithere
Only false prophets - those who preach lies and believe them - experience God's truths as lies. As 2 Thessalonians 2:10 (the previous verse) explains: "They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved."Raithere said:
1 Kings 22
13 The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, "Look, as one man the other prophets are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably."
But Micaiah said, "As surely as the LORD lives, I can tell him only what the LORD tells me."
[then Ahab shows that he is willing to believe a lie]
20 And the LORD said, 'Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?'
"One suggested this, and another that. Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD and said, 'I will entice him.'
" 'By what means?' the LORD asked.
" 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,' he said.
" 'You will succeed in enticing him,' said the LORD . 'Go and do it.'
13 The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, "Look, as one man the other prophets are predicting success for the king. Let your word agree with theirs, and speak favorably."
But Micaiah said, "As surely as the LORD lives, I can tell him only what the LORD tells me."
[then Ahab shows that he is willing to believe a lie]
20 And the LORD said, 'Who will entice Ahab into attacking Ramoth Gilead and going to his death there?'
"One suggested this, and another that. Finally, a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD and said, 'I will entice him.'
" 'By what means?' the LORD asked.
" 'I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets,' he said.
" 'You will succeed in enticing him,' said the LORD . 'Go and do it.'
In all these verses the word is Nacham (5162) - to be sorry, regret or relent, to comfort.
That is quite different from Shub, to turn (from sin, to God), restore. Although they are used synonymously, only Shub implies sin. Also see Can God change his mind?
“Nacham” can be translated “repent” but only in the loosest possible sense and a potentially misleading sense. The New Oxford Annotated Edition of the NRSV adds an important editorial note to its translation of the word “naham” as “repent”: “Repent, a verb that is often used to indicate a change of mind on the Lord’s part (Exodus 32:14; Jeremiah 18:8, 10). Here it does not mean repentance for sin (see vv. 7-8, where Job is said to have spoken what is right).” (The New Oxford Annotated Bible, New Revised Standard Version with the Apocryphal/ Deuterocanonical Books, Edit. B.M.Metzger and R.E.Murphy (Oxford University Press, New York, 1991) footnote to Job 42:6).
“Shub” is the normal Hebrew word for a repentance that involves a confession of wrongdoing or sin. (Harris, R.L., Archer, G.L. and Waltke, B.K, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament: Volume 2 (The Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, 1980) pp. 571, 909) “Shub” means “turning away from sin and returning to God through repentance.” (Harris, R.L., Archer, G.L. and Waltke, B.K, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament: Volume 2 (The Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, 1980) p. 909.; Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament: Volume 3, Edit. E. Jenni and C. Westermann; Trans. M.E. Biddle (Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, 1997) pp. 1312-1317.; New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis: Volume 4, Edit. W.A. Van Gemeren (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, 1997) pp. 55-59.)
In the NT they are represented by:“Shub” is the normal Hebrew word for a repentance that involves a confession of wrongdoing or sin. (Harris, R.L., Archer, G.L. and Waltke, B.K, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament: Volume 2 (The Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, 1980) pp. 571, 909) “Shub” means “turning away from sin and returning to God through repentance.” (Harris, R.L., Archer, G.L. and Waltke, B.K, Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament: Volume 2 (The Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, 1980) p. 909.; Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament: Volume 3, Edit. E. Jenni and C. Westermann; Trans. M.E. Biddle (Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, 1997) pp. 1312-1317.; New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis: Volume 4, Edit. W.A. Van Gemeren (Zondervan Publishing House, Grand Rapids, 1997) pp. 55-59.)
Metamellomai – a change of heart, sorrow.
Metanoeo or metanoia – to change one’s mind.
God can do all these things, but they don't amount to lying - He can change his mind still doing what he promised He would. You can change your mind in order to lie, or repent in order not to. We are sorry for what we did wrong; God can be sorry for what He did right, such as punishing sin, or creating man. But did He punish or destroy without hope of repentance? Every time God changes His mind, it is an eternal change, something He does not go back on. Sin is going back on your word - something God never does.
My belief is that God knows all History from the foundations of the earth. That is to say God knew all History before He created the universe. i believe He knows the path of every proton and neutron from its start point till the end.
This is one of the most difficult concepts of God to explain. Now lets use the example of the city of Nineveh God knew before hand what the people of Nineveh's reaction would be to His stated judgement against them. That is they humbled themselves and acknowledged the truth of Gods Judgement against them by performing those acts of contrition. Now would they have done those acts if Jonah had just walked into the city and said "repent and turn away from your sins because they are against the will of God " ? I doubt it. But because Jonah carried with Him the message from God that God was going to destroy Nineveh it sparked in them fear of God and therefore they reacted appropriately to that fear and God did not destroy their city.
You see God does not really change His mind because He know everything before hand. But He is seen from our point of view to change His Judgement/mind because of our free will reaction to His will. God knows what choices we are going to make but He must provide us with choices and with warnings of the consequences of our actions so as to be justified in carrying out those consequences when His will is rejected.
Reading through this post i feel i have not done a good job in explaining things, i have written up something about free will and fate for someone else, i will find it and post it for you.
All Praise The Ancient Of Days
Fate Free will and Predestination
Let us think about Prophesy. If the future can be accurately foretold (which Christians must believe if they agree with what’s in the bible) than we must believe in a type of fate. Now free will supporters will say that yes the future has been foretold in the bible, in the book of Revelation and elsewhere, but they are mayor world events, we still have free will on an individual level. So its up to us what our future is.
Lets look at the book of Revelation. John was on the island of Patmos when God revealed the future to him, he saw the final judgment in process, now did he see a representation of what was to happen or was he actually transported through time to the final judgment and actually saw the final judgment in progress?
You may be thinking what does it matter? Well if he was actually there at the final judgment and saw the great multitude standing before God then he would be looking at real people some of whom would not have been born until 100’s or maybe 1000’s of years after his lifetime. So he was looking at people who had not been born yet, (in his time) that had been born lived their lives believed or not believed, died and raised, which were being judged. He saw the angles dividing the multitudes and casting some into the lake of fire. So even before they were born it was known what choices they were going to make and therefore their ultimate fate.
It may seem to you that I am supporting the predestination view; well in a way I am and in another way I am not. Let me explain. If God knows the future to the detail that I have suggested above, than he knows what choices people will make during their lives even before they are born. So we still have free will it’s just that God already knows what choices we are going to make.
So to use an analogy The history of existence is like a real life documentary and God has got the tape and can F-Forward it and knows the outcome beforehand. The people who are in the documentary are free to say and do what they want and they say and do what they want. From that tape he has already written down in his book (the book of life) who he has selected for his next production and who gets the chop.
I hope I have explained my thoughts clearly enough. I can tell you it’s not easy explaining something like this using words.
All Praise The Ancient Of Days
Let us think about Prophesy. If the future can be accurately foretold (which Christians must believe if they agree with what’s in the bible) than we must believe in a type of fate. Now free will supporters will say that yes the future has been foretold in the bible, in the book of Revelation and elsewhere, but they are mayor world events, we still have free will on an individual level. So its up to us what our future is.
Lets look at the book of Revelation. John was on the island of Patmos when God revealed the future to him, he saw the final judgment in process, now did he see a representation of what was to happen or was he actually transported through time to the final judgment and actually saw the final judgment in progress?
You may be thinking what does it matter? Well if he was actually there at the final judgment and saw the great multitude standing before God then he would be looking at real people some of whom would not have been born until 100’s or maybe 1000’s of years after his lifetime. So he was looking at people who had not been born yet, (in his time) that had been born lived their lives believed or not believed, died and raised, which were being judged. He saw the angles dividing the multitudes and casting some into the lake of fire. So even before they were born it was known what choices they were going to make and therefore their ultimate fate.
It may seem to you that I am supporting the predestination view; well in a way I am and in another way I am not. Let me explain. If God knows the future to the detail that I have suggested above, than he knows what choices people will make during their lives even before they are born. So we still have free will it’s just that God already knows what choices we are going to make.
So to use an analogy The history of existence is like a real life documentary and God has got the tape and can F-Forward it and knows the outcome beforehand. The people who are in the documentary are free to say and do what they want and they say and do what they want. From that tape he has already written down in his book (the book of life) who he has selected for his next production and who gets the chop.
I hope I have explained my thoughts clearly enough. I can tell you it’s not easy explaining something like this using words.
All Praise The Ancient Of Days
Raithere
Good point Raithere. God does allow those that reject the love of the truth to be deceived and He does send them strong delusions.
But i am not so sure about your reference to Ezekiel 14 in context it does not seem to carry the same meaning as it does in isolation.
Ezekiel 14
1 Now some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. 2And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 3"Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let Myself be inquired of at all by them?
4"Therefore speak to them, and say to them, "Thus says the Lord GOD: "Everyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him who comes, according to the multitude of his idols, 5that I may seize the house of Israel by their heart, because they are all estranged from Me by their idols."'
6"Therefore say to the house of Israel, "Thus says the Lord GOD: "Repent, turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations. 7For anyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, then comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me, I the LORD will answer him by Myself. 8I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.
9"And if the prophet is induced to speak anything, I the LORD have induced that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel. 10And they shall bear their iniquity; the punishment of the prophet shall be the same as the punishment of the one who inquired, 11that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me, nor be profaned anymore with all their transgressions, but that they may be My people and I may be their God," says the Lord GOD."'
God seems to be saying that people who have idols in their hearts must not seek a prophet to inquire about Gods will or they will be punished. He also seems to be saying that if the prophet does respond to the inquirer then the response will be from God (The prophet that God causes to respond could well have idols in his heart as well?)
Well my Jeramiah 20 seems to be different from the one you have quoted:
Jeremiah 20
7 O LORD, You induced me, and I was persuaded;
You are stronger than I, and have prevailed.
I am in derision daily;
Everyone mocks me.
8For when I spoke, I cried out;
I shouted, "Violence and plunder!"
Because the word of the LORD was made to me
A reproach and a derision daily.
9Then I said, "I will not make mention of Him,
Nor speak anymore in His name."
But His word was in my heart like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
I was weary of holding it back,
And I could not.
10For I heard many mocking:
"Fear on every side!"
"Report," they say, "and we will report it!"
All my acquaintances watched for my stumbling, saying,
"Perhaps he can be induced;
Then we will prevail against him,
And we will take our revenge on him."
11But the LORD is with me as a mighty, awesome One.
Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail.
They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not prosper.
Their everlasting confusion will never be forgotten.
In context it seems to have a different meaning, Jeremiah seems to have not liked being a prophet. Its never a pleasant job being the messenger of bad news. LOL
As for 2 Thessalonians 2:11 you will get no dispute from me. That is a prophecy of the times before the return of the Messiah Jesus. God will cause all those who dwell on the earth who have rejected the love of the truth to be deceived by the Anti-Messiah and His false prophet by the great wonders and lying signs that He will grant them to do.
All Praise The Ancient of Days
Good point Raithere. God does allow those that reject the love of the truth to be deceived and He does send them strong delusions.
But i am not so sure about your reference to Ezekiel 14 in context it does not seem to carry the same meaning as it does in isolation.
Ezekiel 14
1 Now some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me. 2And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 3"Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts, and put before them that which causes them to stumble into iniquity. Should I let Myself be inquired of at all by them?
4"Therefore speak to them, and say to them, "Thus says the Lord GOD: "Everyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him who comes, according to the multitude of his idols, 5that I may seize the house of Israel by their heart, because they are all estranged from Me by their idols."'
6"Therefore say to the house of Israel, "Thus says the Lord GOD: "Repent, turn away from your idols, and turn your faces away from all your abominations. 7For anyone of the house of Israel, or of the strangers who dwell in Israel, who separates himself from Me and sets up his idols in his heart and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, then comes to a prophet to inquire of him concerning Me, I the LORD will answer him by Myself. 8I will set My face against that man and make him a sign and a proverb, and I will cut him off from the midst of My people. Then you shall know that I am the LORD.
9"And if the prophet is induced to speak anything, I the LORD have induced that prophet, and I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him from among My people Israel. 10And they shall bear their iniquity; the punishment of the prophet shall be the same as the punishment of the one who inquired, 11that the house of Israel may no longer stray from Me, nor be profaned anymore with all their transgressions, but that they may be My people and I may be their God," says the Lord GOD."'
God seems to be saying that people who have idols in their hearts must not seek a prophet to inquire about Gods will or they will be punished. He also seems to be saying that if the prophet does respond to the inquirer then the response will be from God (The prophet that God causes to respond could well have idols in his heart as well?)
Well my Jeramiah 20 seems to be different from the one you have quoted:
Jeremiah 20
7 O LORD, You induced me, and I was persuaded;
You are stronger than I, and have prevailed.
I am in derision daily;
Everyone mocks me.
8For when I spoke, I cried out;
I shouted, "Violence and plunder!"
Because the word of the LORD was made to me
A reproach and a derision daily.
9Then I said, "I will not make mention of Him,
Nor speak anymore in His name."
But His word was in my heart like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
I was weary of holding it back,
And I could not.
10For I heard many mocking:
"Fear on every side!"
"Report," they say, "and we will report it!"
All my acquaintances watched for my stumbling, saying,
"Perhaps he can be induced;
Then we will prevail against him,
And we will take our revenge on him."
11But the LORD is with me as a mighty, awesome One.
Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail.
They will be greatly ashamed, for they will not prosper.
Their everlasting confusion will never be forgotten.
In context it seems to have a different meaning, Jeremiah seems to have not liked being a prophet. Its never a pleasant job being the messenger of bad news. LOL
As for 2 Thessalonians 2:11 you will get no dispute from me. That is a prophecy of the times before the return of the Messiah Jesus. God will cause all those who dwell on the earth who have rejected the love of the truth to be deceived by the Anti-Messiah and His false prophet by the great wonders and lying signs that He will grant them to do.
All Praise The Ancient of Days
This is just apologetics. It states quite explicitly, "God shall send them strong delusion"(KJV). It doesn't say that God shall send them the truth and they shall be deceived.Jenyar said:
Other translations still indicate the same thing
"God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false" (NASB)
"God sends upon them a strong delusion, to make them believe what is false" (RSV)
"God sends (sendeth) to them a working of error, that they should believe what is false" (Darby, (ASV))
Interesting editing of your own reference, here's the full entry:
"1. to be sorry, console oneself, repent, regret, comfort, be comforted
a. (Niphal)
(emphasis mine)1. to be sorry, be moved to pity, have compassion
2. to be sorry, rue, suffer grief, repent
3. to comfort oneself, be comforted
4. to comfort oneself, ease oneself"
2. to be sorry, rue, suffer grief, repent
3. to comfort oneself, be comforted
4. to comfort oneself, ease oneself"
Nacham
The two words are indeed different but I don't see where it makes any difference. We have to consider the question in the initial post. The word Shub would make the question absurd; "Can God turn back to God?" The question is either open to modern interpretation or we can ask 786 to let us know what he meant.
What about when he doesn't do what he promised?
Okay, that makes no sense at all. If God says he'll do something then changes his mind he's not going back on his word and if God does something and then regrets doing it he's not repentant but if I do it, I am? I guess there is a different standard for God's behavior, huh?
~Raithere
Adstar said:
Genesis 6:6
"And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart."
Genesis 6:7
"And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them."
Could you please give me your remarks on these verses.
Genesis 6
5Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." 8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Why do you want me to comment on the above scripture? God was sorrowful that mans thoughts where evil continually and He decided to destroy the men of the earth, But as it says Noah found forgiveness/grace in Gods eyes. I was under the impression that islam acknowledges the story of Noah as correct?
All Praise The Ancient Of Days
5Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." 8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
Why do you want me to comment on the above scripture? God was sorrowful that mans thoughts where evil continually and He decided to destroy the men of the earth, But as it says Noah found forgiveness/grace in Gods eyes. I was under the impression that islam acknowledges the story of Noah as correct?
All Praise The Ancient Of Days
Adstar said:
Yes, there is a Chapter on Noah in the Quran. I don't think you got my question.
Here is the verses you provided.
"5Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7So the LORD said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." 8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD."
Look at the words I put in bold. You, yourself, just said that he felt sorry for making man. Feeling sorry for something, is the same as regretting.
So God regrets?
As I said above, God is all knowing and can see the future. God would have known the actions of his creation. Even though we have a choice (free will). He would not have created us, if God was going to regret, or feel sorry for creating us. This is an obvious answer.
@ 786
You are misinterpreting the meanings of the words. See here:
http://www.christiancourier.com/notes/doesGodRepent.htm
You are misinterpreting the meanings of the words. See here:
http://www.christiancourier.com/notes/doesGodRepent.htm
§outh§tar said:
The site has good points but I still think it didn't answer my question.
What does repent mean? Adstar gave two choices. Change of mind, or be sorrowful. change of mind does not fit this verse, so it has to be sorrowful because it makes sense, doesn't it?
If I were to believe, that site, then that is a complete confusion.
Adstar's explanation is unfortunately incomplete. You should look up more on "anthropomorphism" and "anthropopathism".
God obviously cannot "feel" sorry for man's sin when He allowed man to sin. These feelings are human emotions attributed to God. When God destroys, He is said to be angry. Now obviously no man can understand God, much more His temperance, or emotions. Therefore we can only view his qualities by our own. As we are finite, we cannot fathom His infinite nature. You must also remember, from the other thread that because of the limits of the English language, certain ambiguities may arise in the translations, but this is the fault of the language, not the translator.
God obviously cannot "feel" sorry for man's sin when He allowed man to sin. These feelings are human emotions attributed to God. When God destroys, He is said to be angry. Now obviously no man can understand God, much more His temperance, or emotions. Therefore we can only view his qualities by our own. As we are finite, we cannot fathom His infinite nature. You must also remember, from the other thread that because of the limits of the English language, certain ambiguities may arise in the translations, but this is the fault of the language, not the translator.