Does God ever change his mind or not?

Question

Numbers 23:19 - "God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?"

Compared to Exodus 32:14 - "Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened."

So, does he change his mind or not?

I don't understand folks. The verse from Numbers tells me he does not change his mind. Most of you are saying he does.

Answer 1

It could be a translation problem. In my New American Standard it reads "God is not a man that He should lie, nor a son of man that He should repent."

Yes, I believe that God could have plans that can be changed, or adjusted, to meet the needs of those praying for something different. Otherwise what would be the value of praying for anything.

But when God decides that something will certainly happen, and follows it up with a definite promise, then God obligates Himself to follow through on that promise.

The 1st passage teaches that once God says that it will definitely happen (makes a promise) He will follow through. Therefore, God does not tell any lie, which would be a sin from which He would have to repent.

The 2nd passage is an O.T. example of how God can be flexible in order to accommodate the wishes of His godly ones, even if He has something else in mind already.

Answer 2

if God is not man, how can Jesus be God by being a man. its very clear

In islam, regarding chaning mind,, no .. God will never change His mind.

Al-Quran (33:62)
You will never find a change in the nature of Allah.

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think about this.. God said that He is not a man,, then how can He changes His mind and comes in the form of man .....


"... if there were a complete set of laws, that would infringe God's freedom to change his mind and intervene in the world. It's a bit like the old paradox: Can God make a stone so heavy that he can't lift it? But the idea that God might want to change his mind is an example of the fallacy, pointed out by St. Augustine, of imagining God as a being existing in time: time is a property only of the universe that God created. Presumably, he knew what he intended when he set it up! " [Page 176, "A brief history of Time" by Stephen Hawkings]

Answer 3

The bible was inspired by God but written by men and has been copied several times by Hebrew scribes before Christ. Then it has been translated and then retranslated over the centuries from one language to another. Moses supposedly wrote both Genesis and Exodus but he was human and prone to error. Also, the wording at that specific spot could have been incorrectly translated.

I do know one thing for sure. As much as the writer may have tried to personalize God and say how his wrath came upon his "chosen" people and intended to destroy them and then felt compassion for them over and over many, many times from Genesis down to Judges, the truth of the matter is that God knew ahead of time what was going to happen and he lets these things happen so that we may learn. He does not create man, is proud of his work and then later regrets what he has done. Fickleness is a human emotion and God is complete. I think that Moses was trying to make God appear to have emotion like humans so the Hebrews at that time could understand him more.

God created the whole universe and everything in it. He set the laws of physics which everthing goes by and he does not go against those laws that he himself set. He is a person of virtue and is complete in every way. He is a person of his word. And he believes now every single thing that he believed 10,000 years ago. We are the ones who grow and change and evolve in cycles. God is eternal.

Answer 4

the Hebrew word "relented" there, means literally "to have pity on secondly the version that you used incorrectly tranlated that word "threatened" it is better translated thought.
God DOES not change His mind. He is perfect, which means that He has already made up His mind. He wanted His people to change in this passage, and that is why He told them that He would judge them. When they had learned their lesson; He made it clear that He would not judge them for this.
Oh, and to that guy who said that the Bible was written by man, not God
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: that the man of GOd may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works."~2 Timothy 3:16-17

Answer 5

Yes. And he was also sorry that he made man. He repented for that. And out of man, he picked the most faithfull man he could find, and started over. A new world. The rainbow should remind you that he will not change his mind again. You sound like Jonah, when he got the news that Ninevah had not been destroyed.

Answer 6

Yes, he has didn't he give his son to the world for their sin. But we are still going to be judge. And those how don't repent will be cut off. Remember he is merciful. How many times did he forgive the people of Israel for all the time they turn their backs on him, he knows that we are of little mind. Even the Messiah said that we should forgive our brother 77x7 times. So compassion is truly in him.

Answer 7

The Word was not relented but repented.
Which means to take a different course of action.
Just shows the power of prayer and intercession.

Answer 8

There are many instances of God changing His mind in the Old Testament. When His people repented of their sins and He decide to not destroy them or send them away.

Since I believe in the power of prayer, that He listens to the prayers of the faithful, I believe that God does change His mind. I think that when people of faith pray that God oftentimes decides, for instance, to let someone recover from serious illness and return to their family. I believe this has happened many times with my husband.

Answer 9

First of all you are quoting from a book, that was supposed to have been written as the word of God. But you are not told that God wrote the book.
So the human beings that wrote the book, made him love slavery, not to allow sexual contact during menstruation and no to eat pig.
So you have your conclusion, the bible was not written by God just by man.

Answer 10

Very good question. I've often found it very hard to believe that He told mankind to do all those things in the Old Testament, and then changed His mind because the Jews were so evil. Is he omnipotent or not???