Numbers 23:19 -- "God is not a human being, that he should err, or a mortal, that he should change his mind."
with all due respect.
2007-07-12 15:44:43 · 20 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
jessica a - i was asking chrisitans because it seems to contradict their ideas about jesus. but you can answer if you wish.
2007-07-12 15:52:26 · update #1
All references to a being called God were written by men with too much time on their hands.
2007-07-12 15:48:07 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋
As I recall, the god of the christian bible did err. The story of the tower of Babel is one. If this god was all-knowing, it should have known that people would try to build a tower to reach it, never mind that they couldn't, which it also should have known. How about the story of the flood? The god in the story had screwed up so badly that it wiped out most of what it had created, and had to pretty much start again from scratch. In the Adam and Eve story, the god had to have known that the humans would eat the fruit, it being all-knowing, so why put it there?
I know that believers can find all sorts of excuses for whatever god they believe in. They're trained to do so from the time they're too young to understand, so that by the time they are old enough, many are incapable of freeing themselves. Kind of like Stockholm syndrome.
2007-07-13 00:17:18 · answer #2 · answered by YY4Me 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think what you are getting at is that we revere Jesus, born a human baby, as God the Son.
What I would say is that Jesus demonstrated the qualities listed in Numbers 23:19; His judgment was perfect, He lived without sin, and He steadfastly accomplished that which He was born to accomplish. And He is not mortal; He is alive today. He told the Pharisees who doubted Who He was to "destroy this temple" (his body) and HE would raise it in three days. And He did. He manifested the qualities of God while in human form.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word WAS God. HE was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made... In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it... John 1:1-5
"He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God...
And the Word BECAME FLESH and DWELT AMONG US, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:10-14
This is why we believe what we believe. Those verses say it very plainly: The Word WAS God; that same Word BECAME FLESH and made His dwelling among us. These words were penned by one of the Lord Jesus' best friends, someone who knew Him personally and deeply. It is one of the only existing firsthand accounts of Jesus, and as such, I trust what it says about Him. If the Gospel of John, the disciple of Jesus Christ, is untrue, then how can any other account possibly be reliable? Those who knew Jesus personally all agreed on Who He was and what He did. That is what I believe.
2007-07-12 22:54:01 · answer #3 · answered by hoff_mom 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Do you have to be a Christian to answer this question? As a non Christian with a healthy understanding of the Old and New Testament, I always imagined that the godhead was something beyond which all mortals could possibly ever understand. As in, trying to put parameters on the godhead, even saying that the godhead was limitless would limit it. St. Thomas Aquinas said something similar.
2007-07-12 22:49:08 · answer #4 · answered by Jessica A 1 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I think it's pretty obvious.
God surpasses all human qualities...He's smarter, stronger, wiser...etc..He is not limited to our feeble thinking, nor is he limited in resources & power; He is "God"!
The other point this scripture brings to light is that God does not change...He's forever the same.
...and if you're getting on the whole argument that "Jesus was man, and not God" theory, than before you even get started read Colossians 2:9 which states:
"For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form."
2007-07-12 22:50:18 · answer #5 · answered by redglory 5 · 2⤊ 1⤋
It's true! I don't see any conflict between that scripture and my belief in God and in His Only Begotten Son, Jesus, my Lord and Savior! Maybe you'd care to explain where you see some sort of conflict? I've been a Christian for 42+ years.
2007-07-12 23:10:07 · answer #6 · answered by trebor namyl hcaeb 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
God isn't a human being. He is a Supreme Being. He created us in His image. He sent Christ to earth in the form of a human so that He could reach out to humans.
2007-07-12 23:23:36 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
That is correct. God doesnt have the mind of a human being. He doesnt do evil or have second thoughts about doing what is right. He IS right.
2007-07-12 22:55:49 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
I have met non believers that have a lot of trouble with that verse. They don't seem to realize that Balaam who was asked to prophecy against the Children of Israel wouldn't do it becaue God had blessed them. And for Balaam to go against what God had don was impossible, so he told the opposing king:
God is not a man to lie, neither the son of man to repent. That which He says will He not do? That which He has spoken, shall He not make it good?"
In modern lingo that is like saying, " Hell no! You think God would diss His people? He's not a man full of crap like we are. "
2007-07-12 22:56:54 · answer #9 · answered by Christian Sinner 7 · 1⤊ 2⤋
I know that God isn't a human being. He doesn't make mistakes ever!! He never changes his mind either we just think that he has.
2007-07-12 22:47:57 · answer #10 · answered by momof5ks 2 · 2⤊ 1⤋