Passages in the Bible where God changes his mind

created by bdubeck

(thing) by bdubeck (6.7 y) (print) ? (I like it!) Thu Aug 09 2001 at 2:38:06

This node was inspired by a comment in one of the omniscience, omnipotence and free will discussions, which suggested that not only did God not know the future, but that humans had convinced God to change God's mind. (yes it's awkward, but the sentence is ambiguous otherwise.) Here is a short list with references and comments, feel free to add others.

Genesis 18:20-32 Abraham interceds for Sodom. God said that he would destroy the place if there was iniquity there, and Abraham argues him down to sparing the city if 10 good men could be found. Whether this is God changing his mind is debatable, as Sodom gets destroyed in the end. (side note: God speaks of "go(ing) down to see" if Sodom was as bad as he had heard, suggesting that he is at least concealing omniscience)

Several times in Exodus. Generally God getting fed up with the Israelites and threatening to destroy them. Moses usually intercedes. (these are not clear, as sometimes it seems that Moses is angrier than God.)

Ezekiel 4:12-15 God tells Ezekiel to cook his bread over human excrement as part of a prophecy of the Hebrew exile. When Ezekiel protests that he has never been defiled, God allows him to use cow dung instead.

Matthew 15:22-28 and Mark 7:25-30 A Gentile woman asks Jesus to cure her daughter and Jesus responds with "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" after further argument Jesus heals the woman's daughter because of the woman's great faith. Some commentators believe this incident encouraged Jesus to extend his ministry to the Gentiles.

Of course the tricky part of any of this is figuring out if God was saying what God meant, just testing the person God was conversing with, or if the account was edited later to make God seem more "human." (After all, what's the point of prayer if it doesn't change anything?)

printable version
chaos

Bible Contradictions	Omniscience and free will are contradictory	Skeptic's Annotated Bible	Seven words you can never say on television
Leisure Suit Larry 4 The Missing Floppies	Ee By Gum, Lord!	Adam was a rough draft	Blessed are the Downvoted
Ezekiel 4	i^i	Human Education Against Lies	gentile
Madonna / Whore complex	Julian and Maddalo	The Point of Prayer	The Vantage Point
omnipotence	Free will	Sodom	Israelites
Defile	50/50 rail	transvestism	Throne of Blood

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