Bound Only Once: The Failure of Open Theism
Overview
Open theists like to picture the God of classical Christian theism as a distant, despotic, micromanaging sovereign. The god of Open theism, on the other hand, is ready to enter into new experiences and to become deeply involved in helping us cope as we, with him, face things we simply did not know would happen. They insist that God has knowledge, but not all knowledge, certainly not knowledge of the future acts of free beings. Such Open theistic inferences reveal a deep-seated devotion to Enlightenment categories and narrow unpoetic imaginations.
Ideas have destinations, and one of the consequences of our trying to read the Scriptures without any poetry in our souls will be the eventual destruction of any possibility of ministering to souls. Just imaging the hymn writer trying to lift up the downcast-"I know not what the future holds, but I know who also doesn't know much about it either."
Top Highlights
“Only the most profound kind of spiritual blindness can keep a man from seeing what Isaiah is doing here. ‘To whom then will ye liken God?’ Isaiah has been comparing God to all kinds of things throughout this chapter, and therefore the point of every comparison must be to show that all of them collapse under the weight of eternal glory.” (Pages 26–27)
“It is the part of humility to remain silent if God has left something unrevealed. ‘The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law’ (Deut. 29:29). But if God has revealed something plainly, as He has done concerning His knowledge of the end from the beginning, it is not humility to pretend that He said nothing about it. Nor is it humility to accuse of arrogance those who have heard and remembered the words of God.” (Page 28)
“And all forms of Openness theology most certainly are a new strain of theological liberalism.” (Page 23)
“Life is open, and dinner is not prepared because we have to help prepare it and we were too busy. Life is a process, they say, and so truth can be found at a convenience store near you. They want some help in getting the shrink-wrap off a package of Ho-Ho’s, and if we collect enough of the coupons, we might eventually solve the problem of evil.” (Page 19)
“Scripture never teaches libertarianism or even mentions it explicitly. Libertarians do try to derive it from the biblical view of human responsibility, but Scripture itself never does that. Judas is fully responsible for his betrayal of Christ, though we saw above that it was not a free act in the libertarian sense.” (Page 87)
Product Details
- Title: Bound Only Once: The Failure of Open Theism
- Author: Douglas Wilson
- Publisher: Canon
- Publication Date: 2001
- Pages: 232
Douglas Wilson (1953– ), a prolific author and speaker, has been the pastor of Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho for over 30 years. He is a senior fellow of theology, a permanent member of the Board of Trustees, and a professional in residence at New Saint Andrews College. Wilson graduated from the University of Idaho with a BA in classical studies and a BA and an MA in philosophy.
He is the editor of Credenda/Agenda magazine and has authored numerous books, including The Paideia of God: And Other Essays on Education, Standing On the Promises: A Handbook of Biblical Childrearing, Reforming Marriage, and Reformed Is Not Enough: Recovering the Objectivity of the Covenant, which can all be found in the Douglas Wilson Collection (17 vols.).