[theredpill]

Michael_legna....i like the way you think my man. I also appreciate the other posts....but Michael intuited the same thoughts i have had about God's all power, which is: What God CAN know, and what He chooses to know for the purpose of allowing free will to exist are two separate things.

I have come to what for me is a 'conclusion in progress', that God, in ORDER to allow free will to exist, has in fact LIMITED his own power out of his own choice. Obviously im putting a human spin on that concept, i have no other recourse....but for all practical purposes i think God limits the scope of his foreknowledge to make an allowance for our free will, to the extent we can experience it.

I think God does this in other ways, as he did with Moses when he showed Moses his back. Moses couldnt bear the full glory of God, so God veiled it with regard to Moses. Sometimes God withholds his power with regard to us, meaning that as far as God is concerned nothing has changed, but in other instances i contend that God limits his own power in a way that actually affects him in particular.

I think of it this way....God COULD be everywhere, i mean, he COULD envelope the totality of the universe, from subatomic particles to the outerlimits of the universe.....but DOES HE? I dont think so.....for the bible is illustrative of the idea that God is not part of or party to anything that is sinful. Thus in any specific time and place where sin takes place God is not there, for as it says 'light has no fellowship with darkness'. That being the case, its not that God is incapable of being in the same time and place as sin, but if he forced his presence that which is sinful would be obliterated. Thus, being sinful humans...God chooses to limit his presense for the sake of our continuing existence and opportunity to change our ways and bring ourselves into alignment with him.

One other thing that i have thought about is, why are christians so apparently bothered by the idea that God isnt all powerful in everyway? Is God only worth worshipping if he can do anything and everything he wants to? Obviously God IS limited, as he cannot sin, one could say thats a limitation, as well as whatever limitations he places on himself with regard to us. One could also say that God withholding himself isnt a limitation at all, and in a sense its not, for God certainly COULD do anything he wanted to, but he doesnt.....i dont know what you could call that...grace perhaps, im sure there are at least a few words.....but naturally they all fall short of explaining or describing just what that quality is.

Lots of departure points for thought in this topic......thank you all for participating.