is it possible that God is a little less omniscient than we assume ??
603569
I spent five years of my life trying to understand this andother parts of ideas like this.  And for all that searching, you come to realize that these is no absolute answers on a question like this.  However, you said you assume a God, one that created us.  From here on out is my thought process, no extra websites to look up, no extra references to any books.  \n\nWhy does one create,  and in God's case why did He create us?  Could it have been that it was a selfish act?  I don't believe it would be, since if it had been a selfish act why would we be given free will?  Free will gives us the right to do as we wish, if God had been looking for something solely for Him, He would have definately skipped the whole free will thing.  \n\nCould it have been that we were created for, and out of, love?  Our being so small, we couldn't hope to understand what God's condition was before the time of our creation, but we can assume that if He hadn't created anything yet that there was nothing there.  I don't know about you, but I would be darn lonely out there in a void of nothingness with not even a single thing to talk to.  In his wisdom, I am sure he wanted to have comapny, but company that would be itself and not something that would be a puppet.  He needed something that could experience things for itself, think for itself, love on its own terms and not on His.  I would be certain He could see that in creating something like this, there might have been the chance that it wouldn't choose to love Him.  The next obvious thought is make a lot of it, and I dare say He did, look at how many of us there are!  \n\nAnyway,  cutting a whole lot of details out,  God made us out of love so that we may love Him back.  Thats all He truely wants I believe, not that you go out and do these things this way and think that those guys over there are bad because they don't do it this way.  I think that He just wants our love, but He is a good enough person to give us the choice; to love Him or not.  If we have the choice of love or not,  then He couldn't be omniscient it would ruin the whole effect.  Even if he is omniscient, He could only see all our possible outcomes, not what we are going to choose, He'll have to wait with baited breath just like the rest of us.  \n\nI firmly believe that He is a lot more like a person you and I would be like than we give Him credit for.  He has feelings, He gets angry, sad, worried, feels love and pain as well.  Not in the same ways of course, He is a universial being and we're only little flesh and blood thingies right now.  But I say that He is waiting to see what all of us are going to decide about Him.  I say He's been one of the nicest people I've ever met, and I only met Him through a couple of books, a few other people, and just thinking about Him.  My mind bursts at the thought of a personal meeting one day.  \n\nAll in all, I think its up to you.  It sounds like you already have an answer.  I hope that maybe one day we can all know that God is a being of Love, and not debate the silly specifics about it. But I guess we'll see.  ^^\n\n(summary and disclaimers :P )\nGod is not omniscient.\nGod is a being of love.\nHe is waiting for us to decide if we like Him or not.\nI used He and Him just to keep it all simple and clean, I think that God is beyond gender or any qualifier that we have.  \nI also don't mean to attack any religion what-so-ever, because I think you are entitled to your beliefes, and I thank you for it because without it think how boreing all of us would be.  (gives me the chills thinking about a world where we're all the same.)\n\nSorry to ramble, and thanks for your time.  ^^
915558
And that assumes the god is ONLY watching our planet.  Imagine if there are billions of other planets with deluded species on them.  Now he/she/it has to keep track of trillions and trillions of pieces of data.... although TECHNICALLY, god supposedly knows all that was, is and ever will be, so he/she/it should know all this stuff innately.\n\n(I, for one, can't imagine there is much fun in being a god over this mess.)
752616
Whether I believed in God or not, my behavior would change very little.  I believe that life is more pleasant when we treat each other with respect, compassion and generosity, and demand the same from our leaders.  It is worse when we seek to comfort ourselves to the detriment of others.  Promises of reward and threats of punishment are not necessary.\n\nIt's not a matter to me of whether I believe God exists but whether God, as presented, makes sense.  If God created us to endure a series of tests or a rule-bound game, with an absolute reward/punishment outcome, I'd consider that God unworthy of the concept.  If God is a co-witness and fellow traveller who values experience over obedience, whose concept of justice is based on compassion rather than rules, and who would never consider abandoning one of his creatures, I could buy into that.  \n\nGod is supposed to be omniscient and omnipotent.  They say knowledge is power, then they say power, especially absolute power, corrupts.  Not quite true.  As humans, we can never have absolute knowledge or power, only "more" of each.  It is the remaining ignorance and fear that corrupts us because our grasp is tenuous.  Were someone to have absolute control of all power and knowledge in the universe, that person would be invulnerable and would understand everything.  That person would have no needs or threats, and no obligation to "settle" others' conflicts.  That person would be free to either ignore the problems or to objectively show a better way out of them.\n\nIf you are a parent, you may have had an experience of children fighting among themselves, understanding both of them perfectly while realizing that their dispute is meaningless.  Or you may have comforted a child facing a new experience, or cautioned a child incapable of recognizing a danger.  That's what it would be like for God.  Dispassion, wisdom, and patience would be God's attributes.  Anger, revenge and score-keeping just don't fit the picture.  These are the attributes of weak, fearful, childish humans.\n\nThe omniscience we lack is the reason we are in conflict, because we don't understand each other.  The omnipotence we lack means some of us will be stronger than others and we would likely exploit that for the sake of our own security.  God would transcend all that.  Absolute knowledge is understanding.  Absolute power is compassion.\n\nIf God were presented logically, as a loving creator who calls us out of fear into confidence and sympathy, I could go for it. The petty, capricious autocrat painted by Bible-thumpers doesn't make the grade.
596593
To each follower, his God is always better. It is better to imbibe Godly qualities to the extent possible, than disputing about the better one.. One may spend / waste a lifetime trying to choose a better God !
678311
Easy, he can't.\n\nBut that is not too difficult to see once you realize that there is no God in the first place.\n\nThere are other contradictions as well. For example, God is supposed to be omniscient (all-knowing) as well as omnipotent. So if He knows everything He knows the future. So He knows what He will do in the future. So how can He be omnipotent if He can't do something other than what He knows He will do. He is not powerful enough to overcome His own foreknowledge.\n\nGod is supposed to be omnibenevolent, all-loving (in my opinion the weakest of all Christian characterizations of God). If so, God is not powerful enough to control His own emotions. He can't "not love" something.
230289
I was taught the same veiw of God when I was Growing up. Namely that an omnipotent creator was watching out for us. And you're right, given the vast amount of suffering we see, it's hard not to reach the conclusion that God is non-existent, not omnipotent, or non-interventionist. I lean towards the last.\nWhen you buy a car you don't pick one that will wind up in the shop every other month, so why do people automatically assume that God would have created a "high maintenance" universe?\nYou're right there is much suffering in the world, but in the end, the pain your body feels can't really touch or effect your soul (or animating energy). Animating energy, being energy, can't really die. When our body dies, this animating enrgy leaves the body, it's not wasted or destroyed. And if there is a creator behind this, then he/she would not automatically feel the need to alter the process.\nFurther, I really believe that man is in the "image of God". And to me this means (as God is self-eternal), that we have the ability to organize our animating energy into a permanent consciousness. and towards this, it would be a mistake for God to actually intervene in the process. So I guess I see it as all animating energy will eventually have that chance.\nLao-Tzu once said that "A leader is best when the world barely knows that he exists, and when his work is done the people way say, 'lo for we did the work ourselves' ".
848881
... and then not give us a clear sign that "yes, god is here. Worship!"\n\nYeah, this is the same question I keep asking, and I keep getting terrible answers for it. God made us to worship him, then made the careless mistake of giving us the option to not worship him. Either god is incompetent, god is malevolent, or god is not omnipotent.
293692
we are all equally close to god. However, some of us realize this, and others do not. For those of us who realize this, we feel god's closeness. but for the others who are close-minded, god appears far away and distant, when in fact, he is close at hand. Criminals may shun god their whole lives, and yet, when they need saving at some point during their lives, or at the end of their lives, god is there for them closeby. God never forsakes anyone. People can try to mentally distance themselves from him, but he is "omnipresent."
1013524
God is full of surprises to us.  In our 3 dimensional world, we can't begin to fathom the wonders and surprises of God.  Maybe billions of years in the future, after we have travelled the universe, we will have enough knowledge of God to predict  God's intentions.   I doubt if we'll ever know enough to predict God's actions.
1162480
No he only works in obvious ways. god works in mysterious ways because he is a sneaky bastard.
26409
Is it intelligent to deny the possibility of something simply because it is beyond the grasp of our puny little minds. Do you know what is at 3.3 degrees lattitude 2.7 degrees longitude on the most distant planet in the universe? I'm pretty sure such a place exists, but you'll never see it. There was a time when humans could not detect atoms or microbes. Did they not exist? Do you think you can know every fact of the universe? Is there something that you don't know? The truth is that human intellect is extremely limited, this is obvious. The Bible says to not depend on your own understanding. In the Bible, Job tried to figure out things which were beyond him, so God quizzed him on simple things, just like I did you, to show him how limited his ability to know and understand really is. We humans think we're so smart, but in fact we're so tiny, so finite in an infinite reality. If one mistakes  their ignorance for evidence and limits reality to their puny intellect then they live in a very very small place. Ever heard of Albert Einstein? He believed in God. Was he dumb or ignorant, or did he think a little bigger than you? There are things that I know from science that are mind boggling, I have no problem with the concept of God. The very first thing that you need to decide is do you really want to know the truth no matter what it may cost you. Those that are blinded to the truth don't want it in the first place. God offers it to those who truly want it. This includes you if you humble yourself and seek with an open heart and mind. Pride, arrogance, and a hard heart will blind you quicker than anything. You must have the faith and humility of a little child to see the ultimate reality. This is not a matter of the head, but a matter of the heart. It is the human heart that is the problem. Our hearts are polluted and our minds darkened by evil, but God sent a great light into the world to cleanse the human heart and enlighten the mind. This light is The Son of God, Jesus Christ. He was innocent yet He was put to death to satisfy the just demands that a righteous and holy God had AGAINST YOU. Now if you can humble yourself before Him and in faith, gratefully accept this unspeakable and FREE GIFT from a kind and merciful God, then you will be born again by His Holy Spirit and given eternal life. Your first birth is physical, your second birth will be spiritual. Now you are capable of grasping only physical concepts and thinking and living only in the physical realm of reality, which as I have pointed out is a very very small place, but then you will become spiritually alive and able to live in the spiritual realm of reality where their is truth and wisdom, and not just knowledge. Well, you say you want to be enlightened. I have given you the truth. What are you going to do with it?><>Sir Brian
1178642
God is a little "bigger" than we are. We don't understand everything about Him and most of us go through life recognizing that there are things that our human minds cannot comprehend. We just accept the simple teaching of the Bible and wait until we will see clearly as I Cor 13 tells us,"12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
368222
That is like asking if he can create a wall that he can not destroy. And if He choose to make a mistake, then is it a mistake? Any time the question is "Can God..." then the answer is going to be an uneducated guess. We don't know.\n\nNow if the question was, does God make mistakes?, then the answer is no. He is the only being that is perfect and infallible. \n\nMost peoples answers to this question says more about themseleves then it does God. Our opinion of God does not effect Him, but it does effect our life and our existence after this life is over.
756324
Interesting.\n\nI agree with you whole heartedly as an atheist myself.\n\nBut, to defend the Xtian mindset a little (just for the sport of it):\n\nGod is omniscient: all knowing.  So that means He knows what you, I, and every other scholar in the world knows.  So, He just leaches off of our knowledge.  \n\nConsidering that the Xtian God is not on a linear timeline, He is omni-present, He knew the stuff we know now, and everything else that has ever been learned in the past or will be learned in the future.  \n\nSo, He knew everything at the same time as knowing nothing!\n\nI think I just gave myself a headache.
645111
No.\n\nEven God is still trying to figure that out.
703739
I very much doubt it.\n\nMy own suspicion is that God's mightily PO'd with George.  He hasn't made very good witness by his actions.
164382
I agree with you. When i see some people saying...follow this or god will hate you or punish you and so on, i feel the vibe of ignorance. This is my interpretation but I think god is formless since that divine energy is not just confined to our physical realm. But characterizing or defining God in human terms is an ignorant and self-centered way of interpretation.