If the Bible is the word of God, can't God change his/her mind?

Question

Or is it all just frozen in a book and God never changes his mind. This seems entirely unreasonable that thousands of years ago God said well folks this is all I have to say and here's a manual.
I am a Buddhist and feel that all things both sentient and other are flexible. Do you think God(s) has an open mind? Why doesn't he/she/they? I'm interested in everyone's thoughts. Namaste

Answer 1

That is an interesting question....it's not really a matter of Him "changing His mind"...

Look at Jonah 3:10: And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of [or changed his mind concerning] the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

Other similar passages are: Genesis 6:7; Exodus 32:14; 1 Samuel 15:11; Psalm 106:45; Hosea 11:8; Joel 2:13.

Some people view these Scriptures as contradicting other statements like Malachi 3:6: I am the Lord, I change not or other passages like James 1:17 or 1 Samuel 15:29.

This contradiction is not real, only apparent. In logic this is called a fallacy of equivocation, i.e. using a word which has two different meanings.

In one sense, God never changes in His "character".

However, God does change in his dealings with people.

Take the example of the Ninevites in the Jonah passage quote above. God's character towards the Ninevites has not changed (Jonah 3:10). He is still the same holy and righteous God that He was before Jonah's preaching. But when the Ninevites changed, God's dealings with them must change. God decided not to punish them based on a change that happened in the people (e.g. Nineveh's repentant attitude). What changed was the people, not God's standards or God's nature.

So we may say that God's character never changes, but His dealings with men change as they change from ungodliness to godliness. When a man bicycling against the wind turns around and goes with the wind instead of going against it, the wind seems to change, although it is blowing just as it was before.

Answer 2

Well... If you use the Bible itself as the standard for the changeability of God, there are plenty of examples of him changing his mind, notably involving whether or not he's going to kill large groups of people.

As to the rest of your question, I like this quote:

"It is reported in the supplement of the council of Nicaea that the fathers, being very perplexed to know which were the cryphal or apocryphal books of the Old and New Testaments, put them all pell-mell on an altar, and the books to be rejected fell to the ground. It is a pity that this eloquent procedure has not survived." -- Voltaire

Answer 3

I think God's intentions for mankind are never changing. But I think God's method may change over time. If you read the bible from cover to cover you will see a sort of progession of thought, especially in regard to violence. I think God dealt with bronze age people with bronze age means and will continue to speak in ways that we can understand and follow. God does not stop speaking. This is why I believe in latter day revelation.

Answer 4

If you see it another way that God has infinite wisdom then what he decides and says is the ultimate decision and truth. So why would He want to change anything that is completely perfect?

On the other hand if God was fickle minded, like the stories of the Greek gods, would you want a God like that? Happy one day and next he sends rain of fire.

You want a God who is never changing especially his love for you and what he has promised you, you would want him to remain faithful no matter what happens or how you treat him.

Answer 5

Tashi Deleg (tibetan for welcome)
Anybody who says god can not change his mind, will go to hell. God can do everything he wants and no religious hypocrite is going to stop him.

The openness of the mind of god is the average of the openness of all the people on earth. On a scale from one to ten, I would say: 2,5.

I like many things in budhhism. I do not like the difficult words you ahve to learn. They are a narrow gate. I do not like that buddhism seems to feel very comfortable with lots of money.
Buddhism needs gadflies I think and court jesters.

I sure hope you have a nice day.

Answer 6

Open mind....I think since God knows all ideas..new and old..his mind need not be open (as with human minds)

Minds are only open, when there might be a better point of view then you already hold. (impossible for God)

God is creative however...his Spirit is always active and moving..so the Christian life is not at all what you conceive.
It is a wonderful exciting life.

Answer 7

God's word as recorded in the scriptures of the Bible never change. But when you read the things he said, you will find that he left room for "flexibilty".

For one, he gave us prayer. That is our right to hear from God on a daily basis on what his specific will is for that day. For example, in the Bible he says for the church to preach the Gospel throughout the whole world. That is an unchanging principle. But in prayer he can tell me which of my neighbors to talk to that, or what good deed to perform to get an opening to talk to a friend.

Within the scriptures are general guidelines of truths which never hcange through out time. In prayer we get the day to day step to walk out the guidelines.

Answer 8

i never thought about God changing His mind. If He were anyone else writing a book on how humans should live, i might have doubts, but as God, he has the foresight to know that certain things that apply to humankind at one time will apply to humans any other time in the future.
I think that God is all-knowing. And since He is, who's to say that he didn't know what would and wouldn't apply to us since he gave us a manual on life?
I don' know if that made sense to you, but i hope you see my point!

Answer 9

He only would give us doctrines that are acurate! He will give us scriptures when we are ready! The bible may not be finished because we might not be ready for the sayings to come! But infact it is permanent! God wouldn't give us something that wasnt right! In the scriptures it says that God would never make us do anything we incapible of!

Answer 10

I believe the Bible shows God did change His mind, but not His principles.

He was going to destroy the Israelites, but Moses humbled himself, so God let them live. But God is all knowing. This is why he will never change His principles.