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MPhil 2003
Statement twenty-eight:
This statement was: God is unchangeable.
Within the Church of England, 74% agreed, 12% were not certain, 14% disagreed. With the Baptists 90% agreed, 6% were not certain, and 4% disagreed.
I do not believe God is changeable within his substance or character and I do not think that either of these change as he interacts with his creation. I do believe God can change his mind as conditions change, and that God can see all the sides of an issue. For example, God can be said, in a sense, to love humanity because he created them in his image and yet, in another sense, he can also be said to hate humanity because it is sinful. This is not a contradiction. He can love the qualities he manufactured within human beings which still remain, yet hate the corruption which has taken place.
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November 26 2019
In other words, God is immutable. My modest proposal reasons since God is infinite and considered immutable, God is not changeable in nature as ontologically infinite and eternal. It is impossible for God to suffer in the exact way that human beings do.
Theoretically, as an infinite entity, God could feel (and intellectually reason) sadness for willing problems of evil and problems of suffering, directly or indirectly, upon a human being, while simultaneously remaining unrepentant of what has been willed; as it is for the greater and overall good. God remains perfectly good and holy.
God, while immutable, could also withdraw certain problems of evil and problems of suffering from a person.
Even as God is infinite and eternal, he incarnated God the Son, in a sense, to be viewed as relatable, by his human creation.
1 Peter 2: 21
English Standard Version
For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps.
New American Standard Bible
For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps,
King James Bible
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
And of course from Hebrews, Jesus Christ is the mediator within the New Covenant through his atoning and resurrection work for those in him.
CALVIN, JOHN (1539)(1998) The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book II, Translated by Henry Beveridge, Grand Rapids, The Christian Classic Ethereal Library, Wheaton College.
CALVIN, JOHN (1539)(1998) The Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book IV, Translated by Henry Beveridge, Grand Rapids, The Christian Classic Ethereal Library, Wheaton College.
CALVIN, JOHN (1543)(1996) The Bondage and Liberation of the Will, Translated by G.I. Davies, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.
ERICKSON, MILLARD (1994) Christian Theology, Grand Rapids, Baker Book House.
ERICKSON, MILLARD (2003) What Does God Know and When Does He Know It?, Grand Rapids, Zondervan.
HUGHES, PHILIP, EDGCUMBE (1990) A Commentary On The Epistle To The Hebrews, Grand Rapids, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
SPROUL, R.C., AND ROBERT WOLGEMUTH (2000) What’s In the Bible, Word Publishing, Nashville.
SURIN, KENNETH (1986) Theology and the Problem of Evil, Oxford, Basil Blackwell Ltd.
THIESSEN, HENRY C. (1956) Introductory Lectures in Systematic Theology, Grand Rapids, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
