DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES? REAL ANSWERS TO A VALID QUESTION
By Rev. Juan M. Pérez
Did God Make Mistakes? Copyright © 2014 by Rev. Juan M. Perez. All rights reserved. ______No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law. ______"Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org) ______Book design copyright © 2014 by Rev. Juan M. Pérez, LLC. All rights reserved. Cover design by Rev. Juan M. Pérez Interior design by Rev. Juan M. Pérez ______Published in the United States of America ISBN: pending 1. Religion / Biblical Criticism & Interpretation / General 2. Religion / Biblical Studies / General
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
Preface By Pastor Juan M. Pérez
I woke up one morning with this question on my mind. I felt a strong urge to get up and start typing. I needed to get these concepts that started working their way around my mind onto paper (or on the computer in this case). Is it possible for God to make mistakes? On the surface, as a Christian, my immediate answer is a resounding, “NO!” But, the problem with just saying “no” is that I am not giving or getting a Biblical answer to the question. Some believers would argue that we don’t need any more information, just accepting that God does not make mistakes is enough. I don’t agree. I
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES? believe that we should always follow Biblical teaching. 2 Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.” 1 Peter 3:15 “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence.” Just these two verses alone are enough for me to be motivated to want a real and clear answer to the question. Not only do I want to know that God cannot makes mistakes, but I want to be able to give a real, practical, and true (as much as possible) answer that is Biblically based, and not dependent on my opinion of what God would or would not do. I have no problem challenging the teaching of the Bible. If they cannot stand up to my measly efforts at scrutiny then the
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
Scriptures are no more than just a bunch of fairy tales. If, on the other hand, the Bible is the true Word of God, as I believe, then everything written in it is worth studying, investigating, challenging, and applying it to my own personal life. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” I believe we must ask these hard questions so we may continue to grow spiritually and intellectually, while we are prepared by God for the work He has for us. To give and accept simple answers can have the debilitating effect of stunting our growth as believers. Some people may argue that they don’t have to get any more “new” revelations or knowledge. They may argue that what they have learned is enough and don’t necessarily need to ask any more questions,
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES? than just the ones for which they have already answers. I obviously do not agree with that. Ephesians 4:17-18 read like this, “So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart.” Christians who will not ask these hard questions are not too dissimilar from unbelievers. Christians may be “saved,” but they also are expected to grow up in their walk with God (and get going with their own personal ministry to the body). 1 Corinthians 3:1-2 “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able.” There is a clear concern in Paul’s words to the Corinthians. He was urging them to start learning the heavier things of God. There is obviously a place for basic Christian teaching. Some people need that “milk” for quite a while in their Christian walk, but there comes a time when it’s time to eat solid food, meat. This “meat” is what I call the heavier things of God.
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
Is it possible that God lost control of the creation, and so humans began doing things He really did not want them doing to begin with?
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
Chapter One WORLD PERSPECTIVE OF GOD
Below you will find a “List of mistakes made by God.” This list comes from “RationalWiki,” a spinoff of Wikipedia on the internet. This “list” gives us a fair idea of the perspective of non- Christians who are either upset with God or want the rest of us to stop believing in a God (this of course is my opinion of the writers, they may say something different in their own defense). Still, a book like this one would be insufficient if I left out the arguments that are made against God. Therefore, the alleged “mistakes” of God are listed here (by the way I changed or altered nothing in this list):
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
Creating Satan and not keeping a close eye on him[1]. Creating female counterparts for all the males of each species, yet forgetting to make a female human until at least a day later. Creating Eve out of Adam's rib, rather than out of thin air like his omnipotent self. First, the poor guy's missing a rib for the rest of his life. Second, Eve was then made out of Adam, so all love from then on out was reduced to narcissism, and all human sex and procreation reduced to masturbation.[2] Being unable to find Adam in the Garden of Eden. He also didn't realize that Adam and Eve had eaten the forbidden fruit until they complained that they were naked. Evidently, this God doesn't know everything. Having to ask Cain where Abel was. Omniscient, indeed.
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
Letting things on Earth get so out of hand that he had to wipe the slate and start over.[3] While he's wiping the slate, He simply refuses to wipe the slate totally clean. He has to save Noah and family for the next round of inbreeding, instead of re-creating humanity from scratch. This leads to the next round of wiping the slate known as the Great Tribulation[wp] or Yawm ad-Din.[wp] Due to that aforementioned wiping of the slate, the unleashing of an ecological holocaust unlike anything the earth will ever see again. Going nuts because of the Tower of Babel, but doing nothing about Burj Khalifa, topping at 2,684 ft. Being unable to tell the first-born Hebrew kids from the first-born Egyptian kids, requesting a slap of blood on the doors as a friendly reminder.
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
In Jeremiah 18:4, God admits he screwed up in making man, calling into question whether we're responsible for our own sin. ("The vessel was marred in the potter's hand.") Fathering a son through an engaged virgin (secretly, and without any prior notice to her fiancé) in open defiance to the laws he himself set back in Deuteronomy 22:25[4], and expecting her to be honored. As a virgin, this would have been the most painful childbirth in history, where the hymen was broken not by being pushed in, but by being pulled apart by the expansion of the uterus.[5] Writing the Old Testament and then having to send his Only Begotten Son down to revise it, leaving everyone thoroughly confused. Still failing to get his message across properly even after his Only Begotten Son
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
had come and gone,[6] meaning that a few hundred years later he had to get some messenger call Gabriel to dictate[7] Version 3.0[8] to some bloke called Mohammed. Telling us (through clergies) that we will be judged on how we decide to act in life, while designing the world around the idea that how we decide to act has been predetermined. Since I will never choose to manipulate data to try to force it to my own perspective, I have included the footnotes as well. Please note that I do not agree with nor endorse any of the views of the above list or footnotes. With that said, here are the footnotes to the list. The footnotes to the above are these: This may or may not be a mistake from a maker's point of view as it is indistinguishable from contracting out all the
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
evil bad results and making Satan the scapegoat. To be fair, it can be argued that any method of creating Eve sequentially after Adam will suffer similar problems: creating Eve out of thin air → human sex is sex with air (similar to masturbation); Creating Eve from dirt just like Adam → Human sex is then self pleasuring with sex toys, with the catch that the sex toys themselves can become pregnant. Although this could be chalked up to giving humans the free will to get out of hand. If Trinity is true then yes, Jesus who is God is put to death. No word on how Mary is "punished", in that case. That, or it is not painful at all since she is not tainted with the original sin. However, it is not clear why the omnipotent God did not do that (immaculate conception) to other
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
people to stop them from being tainted with the original sin as well. Despite the attempt to lock the discussion with Revelation 22:18-19 Just utter brilliance to have things lost in translation somewhere in the middle. Or Version 4.0 (revision control was a mess back then), since you have the Tawrat(Torah), Zabur(Psalms), Injil(Gospels), and Qur'an as the holy books according to the view of Islam. This ends the list and its footnotes.
So, there we have it, as far as the writers of the above list, God may or may not have made mistakes, but He definitely got some things wrong. If we look at things from the writer’s perspective, then God did mess up. The problem with the above list and its point of view is that it is taking only one perspective, and likely
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES? possibility, into account. To better answer that question, we have to go to the Scriptures. It is not enough to just give our opinion that God never makes mistakes, we have to ask and answer the question as mature Christians who ready to give defense “to everyone who asks.” Several question come to mind: 1. Is it possible that God lost control of the creation, and so humans began doing things He really did not want them doing to begin with? 2. Did He not know that they were going to do all that “sinning” beforehand? 3. And, If God did know that “sin” would “enter” the world, was He not powerful enough to stop it before it got started? 4. And, finally, for the moment at least, why did He put that Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden when He presumably already knew that Adam would
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
eat of the tree? Did God really believe Adam might not eat of the Tree? 5. Did God make a mistake? These are fair questions. Especially because we are asking them of God Himself. We have all kinds of excuses why we do what we do, but God cannot have even one. The Bible teaches that He will never go against His own will, opinion, desires, and especially His own plan and purpose. Psalm 89:34 "My covenant I will not violate, nor will I alter the utterance of My lips.” To answer the question of whether or not God made mistakes, we must also come to an agreement of what we already believe to be true of God. Among God’s many character attributes we find the following: 1. God is Omniscient. This means He knows all things, including the past, present and future. (1 John 3:20) Do you agree?
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
2. God is perfect. This means that no flaws exist in Him; that God is incapable of error or failure. (Matthew 5:48) Do you agree? 3. God predestined a plan for all believers. This means that God predesigned certain and specific results for those He saved. (Ephesians 1:4-6, and 11-12) Do you agree? You and I know that there are many other wonderful characteristics of our Lord, but for the sake of specificity, I will be using those I listed above. I believe those things, which I listed, to be totally true of the One Living God. But, if they really are true, then we have to answer the questions above. Just saying, “no, God does not make mistakes,” does not answer those questions. We must be able to, not only understand the answer ourselves, but to be able to obey 2 Timothy 2:15 and 1 Peter 3:15. Our Savior wants us to be prepared to give those answers.
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
Just because someone is not a believer doesn’t make them stupid. There are many intelligent, educated, and “wise” non-Christians. To treat them as stupid or dumb just because they have not been saved is, first of all, unfair. Even worse than that, it makes us Christians who give those trite answers look just as stupid as we may think they are. We are not robots who think and act the way God says whether we like it or not, and have no brains to think on our own. The contrary is true. God made us with self-will, and He knew we would use it. Along with self-will, God also gave us the ability to think on our own. God does not want believers to leave their brains at the door before they enter the church. He urges us to check things out. In 1 John 4:1, we are exhorted to test the spirits to see if they are from God. How can we do this is we don’t challenge the teachings of the Bible itself. If we are to test a spirit to see if it is from God, then we have to challenge the meanings of any “word” that is supposed to be from God to
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES? make sure it lines up with the (or the rest of), God’s true Word. God has no problem with us challenging His Word, as long as we are doing so to come to the full knowledge for application in our lives. Colossians 2:2-3 “That their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” I believe that God not only wants us to check out His Word and test it, but that He knows that if we do, we will grow and mature to become more useful tools in His hand.
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
“The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.”
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
Chapter Two Did God Make A Mistake?
Are there examples of God “making mistakes” in the Bible? Of course perspective is going to play a major part in discerning the truth. The question we will have to answer is, “What constitutes a mistake? With that said, let’s look at some verses and passages from the Scriptures. Genesis 6:5-8 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them." 1 Samuel 15:11 "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands." And Samuel was distressed and cried out to the LORD all night. 1 Samuel 15:35 “Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death; for Samuel grieved over Saul. And the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.” Each of these references include what seems to indicate that God made mistakes. In Genesis 6:5-8, “The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” The impression we get initially is that God is admitting He made a mistake by creating
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES? humans and because they turned out so wrong, he was “sorry” (that is, repentant), that He made them to begin with. The idea is strengthened by the threat that He would “blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them." It does sound like God made a mistake, right? This is not the only reference that seems to indicate the possibility of mistakes. In 1 Samuel 15, verse 11, the Lord says, “I regret that I have made Saul king.” The impression here, as well, is that God suddenly realized that something He planned out did not happen the way He wanted it to happen. It sounds like God blew it, made a mistake in judgment regarding choosing Saul as the King. This is emphasized further in verse 35 where it is repeated, “And the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.” The two references mentioned here are examples of what seem to be mistaken decisions on God’s part. But to have a better
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES? understanding of the argument as to whether God is even capable of mistakes we have to look further into Scripture to see what else is taught or said. God created Lucifer, the Arch-angel. Allegedly, Lucifer was created “perfect.” In the last chapter I listed three truths about God. The second one was: God is perfect. The question here is, “What does perfect mean?” In reference to God we don’t even hesitate to say that this means He is without flaw; that God cannot fail or err, much less “sin.” If this is what “perfect” means, then let’s investigate the following passage from Ezekiel 28:12-15. "… You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; the beryl, the onyx and the jasper; the lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; and the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, Was in you. On the day that you were
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES? created they were prepared. You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked in the midst of the stones of fire. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you.” Emphasis mine. Blameless in the verses above clearly implies that the one who is blameless has done nothing wrong to deserve blame. The Hebrew word is “tamim,” (meaning: complete, sound). It is used 91 times in the Old Testament. The many connotations imply that Lucifer was: 1. Blamel 6. Integrit 10. Up ess y rightly 2. Comple 7. Perfect 11. W te 8. Sincerit hole 3. Entire y 12. Wi 4. Full 9. Unblem thout 5. Intact ished defect.
If all of the above does not give the impression that Lucifer was “perfect,” then I don’t
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES? understand the word in the least. The question again is, “Was Lucifer created ‘perfect?’” The answer is obviously, “yes,” but is it the same “perfect” as God’s. If the answer to that question is, “yes,” then if a “perfect” being like Lucifer can “sin,” can a “perfect’ God “sin?” We, of course believe that God is incapable of “sin.” So, if God created a “perfect” angel than ended up “sinning,” then either God intended that things turn out this way, or He made a mistake. Let’s look at another instance. Adam “sinned” by eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Because of this, “Sin” entered into the world, and death along with it. Since God created everything that exists, and because he is All-knowing, we have to assume one of two things. First, either God intended for Adam to eat of the Tree, and for “sin” and death to come into “the world.” Or, secondly, God made a mistake in judgment, thinking that maybe Adam might choose not disobey.
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
With just the above, we can understand why someone would come to the conclusion that God has made mistakes. This might sound like a matter of fact statement that would not hold much water, but the contrary is true. If mistakes were made, either directly or indirectly, then we have to question whether this entity we love and serve is truly God. When it comes to us humans, there is this huge grey area that we live in. We do not have to be either completely right or completely wrong. We are allowed, by virtue of our humanness to mess up, get it wrong, not be perfect, “sin,” and all that comes along with those things. But God, that is a whole other matter, He does not have the luxury of being 99.99% right, much less a lower percentage. God has to be 100% perfect all the time, at least by our human standards and by implication in the Scriptures, which means He cannot make even the slightest mistake. If He does, He is not God.
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
Much depends on this truth. We are believing that God’s Word is true. It is the means of God explaining things to us the He wants us to know. We have to be able to depend on God to make our decisions on how we will respond to the Lord. We also need the Word to be true in regard to salvation and the promise of eternity with God. If God is capable of making mistakes, then we are believing some fairy tale that will never accomplish more than just to lull us into a false sense of security.
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
“I will not relent, and I will not pity and I will not be sorry.”
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
Chapter 3 WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT THIS?
At this point we need to find out what the Bible also says about God in reference to His true character, relating to the subject of His possibly making mistakes or not. I found many verses, and selected those I have included here: 1. 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 it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” This first verse is quite explicit. The Scriptures clearly exhort that God should not be compared to a human. Just because there are some seeming similarities between God and humans
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(i.e. eyes, hands, and so forth), we should never confuse God with having human-like emotions. The contrary is true, we are like Him, but He is not like us. Therefore where a human would regret or repent from something they were unhappy they did, God does not feel or react to things anywhere near the way humans might. The word “repent” in the verse is the Hebrew word, “nacham,” (to be sorry, console oneself). The connotations that accompany this word are: “sorry,” “appeased,” “change mind,” “comforted,” “consoled,” “relent,” and “moved to pity.” In this case, I believe that the correct usage here is in line with the word, “sorry.” In other words, it is saying that God would never do something and then feel “sorry” for doing it, as though He made a mistake. In this case, the verse supports the belief that God does not make mistakes, and that would not. 2. 1 Samuel 15:29 “Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind.”
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
Once again, the Bible emphasized the distinction between God and humans. We were created in His image, He was not created in ours. So, for anyone to suggest that God would feel this way or that, just because it makes sense that a human would, is false. Any time that someone implies that God would actually feel about something the way a human would, that person is getting close to heresy. God is not anything like humans, and never will. Again, here we find support for the belief that God would change His mind, therefore He should never be able to “repent” for something He was “sorry” He did. 3. Psalm 119:89 “Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven.” The Hebrew word for “settled” in this verse is most interesting. It is the word “natsab,” (to take one’s stand, stand). The connotations are: “arises,” “charge,” “erected,” “fixed,” and “pillar.” From these we can get a good understanding that it refers to something that was done and completed with the intention of it not changing.
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
That is one reason Jesus taught His disciples to pray “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” The way that best works in the context of this book is to say that the verse makes it clear that God made all the decision in “heaven” that were necessary, and now we can trust that He will do as He already established He would. There would, in that case, be no change of mind, and no mistakes, because it was already “settled” in heaven, as to what would happen or not happen. 4. Psalm 145:3 “Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised, and His greatness is unsearchable.” 5. Psalm 147:5 “Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite.” One argument that has to be resolved is how much of God’s ways and thinking we can understand as humans. These verses, and Isaiah 55:8-9 (below), support the conclusion
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES? that God’s way of thinking, much more His reasoning, is not something we can easily put labels on. When we might think that God has “repented” or “felt sorry” or “regretted” something, because it seems to make sense from a human perspective, we simply got it wrong. Even when we do “get it right,” it is usually not because of any great insight on our part. Keep in mind that God is alien to us. No matter how much we humanize Him, He is not and never will be like us, or even think like us. This may be one big reason that we are told to take on the mind of Christ, instead of just being told to believe alone. I mean, wow, His understanding is “infinite.” 6. Ezekiel 24:14 "I, the LORD, have spoken; it is coming and I will act. I will not relent, and I will not pity and I will not be sorry; according to your ways and according to your deeds I will judge you," declares the Lord GOD.'"
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
7. Malachi 3:6 "For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.” 8. Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Notice that in these three verses it is emphasized that God does not change. This is not to say that God would not seem to change, from our perspective. Where we might think the He changed His mind, He may just be implementing the next phase of whatever He has in mind. It may look different, but it is not. For example, the Old Testament seems, in general, to emphasize one distinct characteristic of God, and the New Testament seems to emphasize another. In the Old we see the push toward compliance with the Law, and in the New we see a push toward the grace of God. It can look like a change of mind or direction. Many persons see it that way.
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
9. Isaiah 55:8-9 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Now we come to one of my favorite verses. If there were no other verses or references in Scripture that make the point of how different God is in His thinking, this verse serves the purpose perfectly. Just in case we didn’t get the point that He is nothing like us, nor will we ever come close to being like Him, this verse makes it clear. How “high” is heaven from earth, well, that is how different He is from humans. If it were not for the Bible, we would have no clue as to the thinking of God. This is why it is so important that we ask these difficult and hard questions, and look for the answers. The better we can understand His motives, whichever they be that He allows us to understand, the more motivated we will be to trust His Word.
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
Isaiah 46:9-10 “Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, 'My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure.”
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
“According to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will.”
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
Chapter Four WHAT ARE THE MOTIVES OF GOD BEHIND THE SEEMING REGRETS?
Since Isaiah 46:9-10 makes it clear that “there is none like” God, and that we do not think as He would. Along with that we have to accept that God does not react to or make choices as we would. Because of this we have to wonder what His motives were for including in His Word confusing the statements that seem to imply that God might have been confused or in error. Since ALL of His Word may be used for our instruction, what is it we can learn from these seeming inferences of feeling “sorry,” “repenting,” “regretting,” and “changing” His mind.
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
We learned in the last chapter that God does not change. He does not “repent,” and that He does not feel “sorry” for anything He has done. So then why include those words in the manner in which they are presented. If God is not admitting failure, confusion, or error on His part, then there is something different that we are supposed to understand about these things. As we are not able to “read” God’s mind, and as we are limited to the human way of thinking, then we have to go back to the Scriptures to try and find the answer. Jeremiah 18:7-10 "At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it; if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it. Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice,
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless it.” Since God does not change or sway concerning His decisions, the Jeremiah verse is emphasizing something else. Why would God have the prophet make the type of declaration as in this verse? What would be the benefit, in God’s view? Is He just making threats, or is He expecting certain reactions from people? Notice the same kind of inflections in these next three selections. Jonah 3:9-10 “’Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.’ When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it.” Romans 9:22-24 “What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to
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make His power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? And He did so to make known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy, which He prepared beforehand for glory, even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.” Ephesians 3:9-11 “And to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God who created all things; so that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ETERNAL PURPOSE The last sentence of the Ephesians passage gives us, I believe, the biggest clue of all.
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
“Eternal purpose.” I was watching a television show where an architect was explaining the way the house they were building would turn out. As he explained, the producers used graphics to illustrate how the house would be built on the background of the empty lot. As the architect spoke, the graphics slowly evolved. The architect mentioned the foundation, and the graphics drew a foundation over the ground area where it would be going. This continued until the architect finished speaking, and the graphics also completed “building” the house. What caught my attention was the specific parts that were displayed as the graphics drew the house out. Each part was emphasized. For example, when the architect mentioned the kitchen area, each item (refrigerator, stove, countertop, and so forth), was drawn separately. This helped me, the viewer, get a good idea of what the finished product would look like. As I read through the Bible, it works much the same way for me. I see parts, and often don’t
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES? have a clear and complete picture of the whole meaning, but I gleam enough of an idea to extrapolate an assumption. As I read more, or as in most cases regarding me, much later when I study a subject which brings up the same thing I had read before, I get a better understanding of the same material. I get a closer look at the complete “build,” as it were. The last sentence of Ephesians that I mentioned, is one of those. Because that phrase is included, I have to consider it as I look at the main question of whether God makes or can make mistakes. In other words, are what seem to be mistakes, errors, regrets, feeling sorry, or repentance on God’s part actually intentional within the framework of what They (the Trinity) will be accomplishing? So, since we already know what God wants to end up with humans with self-will in eternity with Them, then there must be a reason God allowed the writers of the various Bible books to make Him seem as though He did make a mistake or regret what He did.
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
I am reminded of a parent dealing with a small child. We know that there are various ways to affect the behavior of a child. There is the tried and tested spanking, there is also the more recent “timeout,” and the list can go on. The chief idea of any of these is that the child’s behavior is to be guided to have the desired results. The Scriptures speak of this in Proverbs 22:6. Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Here we are instructed to “train” up a child, not “bring” up a child, in the way “he should” go. The Hebrew word is “chanak,” (meaning: to train up, dedicate). There is a special emphasis on the word dedicate. One of dictionary’s definitions for this word is: “devote (time, effort, or oneself) to a particular task or purpose.” The concept here is of an intentional action with a particular purpose in mind.
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
Also in that Proverbs verse we have the word “depart,” which in the Hebrew is, “sur,” (meaning: to turn aside). This word speaks of someone turning away from something that was intended for them. The Proverbs verse says that if we train up a child in the way that “he” should go that he will not “turn aside” from the “way” even when he is old. The question that begs to be asked is this, “What does this “training” involve? Just using those two Hebrew words to help us understand the Proverbs, we already start getting a better understanding of what God may have been intending by allowing Himself to be portrayed as have regretted, repented, or made mistakes. God was using the teaching of Proverbs 22:6 to achieve a much needed effect on the behavior of mankind in its entirety. Ask yourself this question? If it was your job to train ants to not only behave in a particular manner, but to get them to choose to do so willingly, how would you go about it? Right, it
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES? would seem impossible. The truth is that it is possible to “train” ants, to a point at least. With plenty of time and patience on your part, you could accomplish quite a bit. The main problem is that ants will never willingly do anything, because they don’t have the ability to grasp that concept to begin with, as humans can. God is tasked with the same type of situation. While on the one hand, They (the Trinity) could have created mankind in such a manner that humans would just automatically behave and choose as God could have wanted them to do. To a God, this would be an easy thing to do, right? The fact that God did not choose this, to begin with, is the biggest clue as to Their intentions and purpose. They did not want to end up with “robots.” The other option, at least to a mind as limited as mine, is to want to end up with humans who would be self-willed. The problem with self-will is that these humans could end up messing everything up, and never conforming to the intent and purpose which God
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES? established from the “beginning.” So, with that in mind, we ask this question, “How does God “train” humans to willingly want to do what He wants them to do, so that when they are “old” they won’t “turn aside” from it? Let’s look at the BIG picture. God’s job is not just to “train” you or me, it includes “training” the human race as a whole. Because we are self- willed, that means we all have our own specific way of looking at things. Though we are human, we are not all alike in everything. In fact, the opposite is true, from the point of view of what we believe makes us tick, we are more dissimilar than alike. Keep in mind that I am speaking of self-perspective, not actual truth. As a counselor, for over 24 years, I have come to learn that humans are much more alike than we prefer to believe. We tend to tell ourselves that we are so different from everyone else, but then resort to the same behavior patterns as the rest of the world. But, while we may not argue for too long about how different we are from other
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES? humans, we know deep down inside that we are alone in these bodies. There is no other human in here with me. I am different from every other human who has ever lived by that virtue alone. I am the only human who has, or will ever live in this body. We may be alike in many ways, but it is the difference that makes us special to God. They (the Trinity) created us unique, in that aspect, from all other humans in history. The result is that God is faced with an incredible job. Yes, of course, one that only He can accomplish. That job is to “train up” some humans “in the way they should go” so that when the time comes, these humans will not “turn aside” from the purpose God intended for them. So, how does God “train” these humans? Regressing for the moment to the idea of child raising, let’s use that concept in our answer. As God’s offspring, at least from the perspective that They created us, there is inherent in humans a latent desire to either please God or rebel against him. This is an obvious trait seen in
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES? many children, right? Just as many times we will show our displeasure to our children to have them learn that their behavior was not acceptable, God uses the same technique. As parents we know that spanking our children all the time will not produce the desired results we truly want. Sometimes we have to use different techniques to accomplish the same goal with them. In the same way, God has used these “training” techniques on humans. Keep in mind that He is not copying us, He has taught us in Scripture how to “copy” Him. God intended to use these “training” techniques even before the creation of the world. Ephesians 1:3-14 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He
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predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.” All emphasis are mine.
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I am not going to try to argue, in this context, whether or not some of us humans are “predestined” to be saved, or whether the whole world has to make a choice to accept salvation. That is an argument for another book. My argument is that God did decide ahead of the creation to accomplish certain and specific things with those humans who did get saved. And, to accomplish this, He uses “child training” techniques that are effective in producing the desired results, even though it takes Him thousands of years to do so. After all, God is in no hurry. Psalm 90:4 “For a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday when it passes by, Or as a watch in the night.” 2 Peter 3:8 “But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.”
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When we look at things from the perspective of God’s plan and purpose, we can start to understand the intention of these seeming regrets.
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
Chapter Five TRAIN UP A CHILD
As I mentioned in the last chapter, children can be taught to learn certain character traits by the way they are reared. If you spank a child too much, they will just grow to be angry people. Never spanking a child regardless of his actions can also have negative results, an undisciplined selfish person. Proverbs 13:24 “He who withholds his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him diligently.” Proverbs 22:15 “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of discipline will remove it far from him.”
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Proverbs 23:13-14 “Do not hold back discipline from the child, although you strike him with the rod, he will not die. You shall strike him with the rod and rescue his soul from Sheol.” These three verses above support the concept of spanking, while the following one speaks to the result of withholding spanking altogether. Proverbs 29:15 “The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child who gets his own way brings shame to his mother.” So there is merit to using the “rod” to train a child, though it must be done with care. Colossians 3:21 teaches that children can be pushed to the point that they “turn aside” from their training. As a pastor I was always watchful of parents interacting with their children. I remember one situation where a young boy was misbehaving with other children. The little boy pushed another child and made her cry. When the boy turned to
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES? face his mom, he had a look of anger in his face. I looked to her and noticed that she had seen what he did. Instead of jumping up and going to him and spanking him, she frowned, and purposefully turned her face away from her son. The look of anger on his little face disappeared, and was replaced with confusion, which then turned to remorse. The mom did not look back to her son, until he came to her and tried getting her attention. At first she ignored him, and then she turn to face him. “Mommy is not happy that you pushed the little girl like that,” she said to him. The little boy’s eyes filled with tears, and said, “I’m sorry, mommy.” After he said this, she reached down and picked him up and hugged him. She then put him down again and told him to behave better from now on. The little boy smiled and ran back to play with the other kids. I noticed that he did not misbehave again that day. I believe that God put into the human race this character trait, that of wanting to please
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God, but with the equal ability to rebel against Him. Throughout the Old Testament we seem to see a picture of a powerful God that gets angry when His people did not do what He wanted them to do, and even when they just did what they thought was the “right” thing to do. The Old Testament is full of wiping out whole nations, the ground swallowing up rebellious people, armies attacking other armies, angels and “great” men killing thousands of people, and on and on. We can view all of this as just what it seems, or we can look at all of this through the lens of the intention and purpose of God. In similar manner, we read of God regretting he did this or that, repenting for some action or decision, feeling “sorry” for still other things. We can decide that this implies that something went terribly wrong with God’s plans and that possible He lost control of everything, or we can look at these things through the lens of Their intention and purpose.
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
When we look at things from the perspective of God’s plan and purpose, we can start to understand the intention of these seeming regrets. Like the mom I mentioned above, I believe that it was not that God blew it and get mad at humans because we messed up His plans. I believe that God has been using these “training up” techniques on humans the whole time. If it true that They put into humans a desire to please God, then there needs to be something that will tug at the heart to get the person to actually try to please God. You might argue that God doesn’t need us to please Him. Okay, maybe not need in the needy kind of idea, but then how would you respond to the following verses? Romans 8:8 “And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” 1 Corinthians 7:32 “But I want you to be free from concern. One who is unmarried is
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concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord.” Colossians 1:10 “So that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” 1 Thessalonians 4:1 “Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.” Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” There is no question that it is part of God’s purpose that we learn to please Him. The biggest problem with this is that since God
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES? created us and They gave us self-will, we have the tendency to want to please ourselves more than please Them. I believe that this is the crux of the whole process. How can God “train” humans, as a whole, to learn to want to please Him over themselves? This, in my opinion is where the process get a bit clearer. In light of the intended purpose of God, and if we throw in the intent to cultivate and promote the desire to please God, They are left with certain techniques which will be effective on humans, which must be used. One of those techniques is the art of showing displeasure. For those people who actually care (not the others), if God shows His displeasure to them they feel remorse. This remorse can become conviction, and that will produce change. Conviction is the “the act of convincing a person of error,” according to Merriam-Webster Dictionary. What would God’s intention be to “convince humans of error?” The obvious result, at least as we can see in the Bible, is to get
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES? humans to choose to submit themselves to God, and live as He wants. This is not minor effort, even when we speak of God, He had to work within the framework of the limits He had established, allow these humans self-will, and still produce the results He intended before They even began creating anything. Without forcing it on humans, which God is more than capable of doing, He has to develop in us the propensity to obey and be changed when our “sinful nature” works adamantly to fight the change with all of its essence. Even the Scriptures agree on this point. Romans 8:7 “Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so.” Emphasis mine. So, instead of just snapping His fingers and creating humans who already “want” to do what God “wants” and who would never choose anything different from what God would choose,
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They (the Trinity) decided differently. They chose to create us already flawed, put us in dire straits, give us all the reasons and excuses we wanted to rebel against Them, and then stepped into history to provide us with the way out of the mess. God wanted to demonstrate His power to us so that we would have a clear and evident choice. To deny ourselves to a God that we believed was either flawed or somehow playing around with our lives, or to choose to embrace a God who would “work all things together” to end up with those humans who, though “self-willed” would rather deny themselves , and place God above their own selfish desires. This may sound like an easy choice to long-time Christians, and especially “churched” people. But for those of us who are honest and truthful with ourselves, and still love our Lord with all our hearts, we admit we have had many questions that bother of minds like gnats flying around a light bulb at night. Does God really exist? Is the Bible really His Word? Does He really love me?
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
Why would God even care about me? Can I really trust His Word? Why are babies born deformed? Why is there evil in the world? Where did “Sin” come from? And so many other questions.
DID GOD MAKE MISTAKES?
Last Word -Pastor Juan M. Pérez
I have shared the concepts that are found in this book with other Christians, Bible teachers, and pastors. Interestingly, it has been the pastors and teachers who tend to struggle with these concepts much more than the other believers. Why? I am not sure, but I think that it is probably because the pastors and teachers have already developed their own doctrine and teachings. Anything that does not line up with their established doctrine is usually disregarded outright without much consideration. Questions like those at the end of the last chapter are usually either ignored or hastily lumped in together with a quick, “Those things have nothing to do with our salvation.”
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The Bible says something different: 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” If God intended for us to limit our knowledge and questions to the topic of our salvation, then why include the last phrase in those verses, “equipped for every good work?” If all we are to be concerned with is our salvation, why bother people to get equipped? And, what is this “good work” that someone needs to get equipped to do? Obviously there is more to the teachings of the Bible than salvation. Jesus spoke more about money and finances than He did about getting saved. If salvation was the thing we are to focus on, then why did Jesus allow Himself to be distracted with speaking about money, hell, tithing, being kind to others, and so forth.
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Truthfully, the only real reason some people ignore these questions, or just sweep them under the rug of easy answers, is that they themselves have reached a plateau, and are stuck there. And, so that they won’t feel bad about themselves, they want others to stay on the plateau with them. If enough people end up on the plateau, that will make it seems as though it is the right thing to happen. The Bible argues deeply with that lie. 1 Corinthians 13:11-12 “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.” 1 Corinthians 3:1-2 “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for
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you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able.” There is a clear message in the Scriptures exhorting believers to keep growing in the Lord. This is not an instruction to get smarter, it is an instruction to develop your skills and become trained in the various ministries for service to other Christians. God wants workers, not just “saved and lazy,” always learning, but never doing anything of value, children. A pastor once said, “I have been called of God to comfort the troubled, and to trouble the comfortable.”