What is Open Theism?
Open theism is the Christian doctrine that God exists within time, that He is alive, eternally free, and inexhaustibly creative. Because God is free, the future must be unsettled and unestablished.
The Motivation.
Christians today are falling away from the faith at record rates. When terrible things happen, they hear, "this is just part of God's plan." With this false information, they conclude, "How could a good God want such a terrible thing? God must not be a good God." God did not decree us to sin, nor does He desire it. Because of this bad theology, thousands are pinning blame on Christ and turning away from the Lord. Our goal is to pull as many Christians out of this slanderous theology as possible.
The Meaning.
Open theism gives meaning to scriptures when they say God is:
-Patient
-Enduring
-Slow to anger
-Longsuffering
-Faithful
-a God of hope
Whereas theologies that teach God is timeless and unchanging cannot explain why these descriptions are meaningful.
The Mindset.
Love must be freely given, and a god who is not free could not truly love us, and we could not truly love him. Through an open theist lens, we understand that God is personal, relational, good and loving. That we can affect Him (by either worshipping or sinning against Him) and He can affect us. The open theist mindset is one of responsibility. With an open future, it's up to us to have humility and turn towards God and accept the gift He has offered us. Theologies that teach a settled future remove responsibility- "because after all, your actions are already set in stone."
Open Theism Explained
The Importance of an Unsettled Future
The Problem:
Since Plato, many believers have thought the future is settled, that God decreed our actions since before the foundations of the world. This idea originated as a way to exalt Christ and to give Him more power, and more glory. Unfortunately however, that theology has severely backfired.
The Bible makes it clear that our good God is a God of hope, and that it is His will that everyone would love Him. However, according to settled view theologians, we have a god who created billions of lives for the sole purpose of living, dying, and spending eternity in hell. With a settled future, these people never had an option to be sorry, to repent, or to love God.
Now, obviously a god who creates people for the purpose of sending them to hell cannot be the God of the Bible. We know that God desires everyone to go to heaven, and if it really is God calling the shots on who goes to heaven or hell, we know that He would have everyone enjoy His fellowship forever.
So their god isn’t biblical, but more importantly he’s an immoral god. There is no justification for creating someone only to have them suffer eternal torment.
The Solution:
We should not worship a god who creates people for hell. Instead we should worship the God who creates free people, who have the ability to love or reject Him. That’s open theism.
The idea that God is free, that He creates free will agents in His image (humans) solves this problem. Of course, there are still untold billions going to hell, but with open theism, God is not creating & choosing them for hell. Instead, God tells His children He loves them and He desires their fellowship for eternity, but all too often they reject Him.
Open theism also solves another problem. When tragedies occur, Christians are not shy to foolishly blurt out “it’s okay- it’s part of God’s plan!” Now they say this hoping to comfort whoever might be affected, but what they’re essentially saying is, “God wanted your dad to be shot and go to hell!” And that’s how it’s usually received, which is one reason thousands are falling away from Christ.
Open theism acknowledges that God’s plan is a more general "I will win over evil" plan. He doesn’t plan for people to be shot. He doesn’t plan for people to suffer needlessly. Instead, the true God of the Bible despises the wicked and He is holding back judgement. The God of open theism offers people His love and forgiveness, and allows each and every person the opportunity to accept that gift.
"Love must be freely given." ~Bob Enyart
Make Sure to Check Out Our:
Articles
Articles
Articles
Read up on theology! Here we give answers to open theism objections as well as provide some rock solid arguments for the freedom of God.
Verses
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Articles
Courtesy of Will Duffy from opentheism.org, we've posted the world's best list of open theist, verses. This verse has scared many settled view theologians out of public debate.
Debates
Articles
Debates
Open theism is a hot issue! We don't want you to agree just because we say so. Check out some high profile debates between open and settled view theologians.