Theology
The following analogy captures the core of where I feel myself to be in my understanding.
This story takes place in three big steps. The first is centered on Jesus, His teachings and crucifixion.
In studying various interpretations of The Bible including Bob Enyart’s “The Plot” which has inspired a couple of essays here, one question continues to nag: Do I trust The Bible to be “the word of God”? That is, how much of it is to be accepted as God’s message to us: 100%, 50%, 10%, none?
The main tenet of Open Theism is that man has free will and, consequently, God does not know what we are going to do.
I’m studying Bob Enyart’s the Plot, the premiss being that God not only responds to what humans do, but also that God may, over time and in response to what we do, change His mind. That is, He may promise that if we do something, He will then do something, but if we don’t hold up our end of the bargain, then He is not obligated to do what He promised in return.
A contract basically says that if one party does something, then the other party promises to do something in return. It implicitly acknowledges that the first party could choose to do otherwise but, if they do as stated, then the second party will then respond in a certain way.
If you believe that praying for something works, that praying for God to intercede and save a child’s life, or to help warring factions agree to a cease fire, or simply that God will help you find a way to help others this day, then you are an Open Theist.