February 18, 2011

Does God Get Tired or Have Regrets?

From 7/13/2009

Genesis 6:3,5-7
Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with humans forever, for they are mortal; their days will be a hundred and twenty years.” ... The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. The LORD regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled. So the LORD said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.”

Question: Did God get tired? Why did He have to "contend" with humans?
Answer: This is not that great of a translation. A better translation would say that God will not remain with man forever, for they are corrupt, and that He decided to give these particular people 120 more years to repent, before the flood comes and judgment occurs (see this). God merely accelerated judgment. (In the meantime, there's still common/deferred grace because death doesn't come to us right away.)

Question: Did God actually regret his decision? (If so then there are huge flaws to God's perfection and omniscience.)
Answer: It's possible to know something yet still feel sad about it. So it's not really "regret" in the sense that God made a mistake, but "regret" in that He's sad about it. Example... if you get a letter of rejection, it says that "we regret to inform you that blah blah blah" and it's talking about how they are sad to tell you that you're rejected, but it's not like they regret their decision in the sense that they believe they made a mistake.

No comments:

Post a Comment