My Final

         

Why God is not Omniscient in the Book of Genesis

          The Bible has been one of the most famous books throughout the

world. Even if someone has not actually read the Bible, they have at least

heard about it. If you have ever been to any hotel in New York City, you

have noticed that they keep a Bible in the draw that is right next to the

bed. I am not sure the reason behind that because not everybody

believes in God but, other writers as well as myself believe he does and I

have noticed the placement of the Bible a few times from my own

experience. “God not only has revealed himself in what can be observed

in nature, and in human life, but he has even more specifically shown

himself in the Bible.” (Marilyn Adamson) The Bible has been passed

down from generation to generation. The Bible is made up of verbal

stories passed down from the Pentateuch. Pentateuch is the Greek

name for the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. Hebrew Scriptures as

canon are divided into three sections, and Pentateuch is the first one.

They are the writings that were given to Moses. There are even some

Jewish groups who believe that the Pentateuch is the most important or

perhaps the only important part of their holy writings since they were

 given to Moses himself. One thing that is clear to me is that God

appears to be omnipotent throughout the majority of the verses and texts

in the sense of having unlimited, universal power and force. He is

all-powerful and all mighty. He shows us how strong he is and he also

shows us just how powerful he can be. However, to be omnipotent on

another note is having total knowledge and knowing everything infinitely.

We really cannot prove that God even exists but, I believe that God in

Genesis is not omniscient.

          The Bible was finalized 539-334 B.C.E. (before the Common Era.)

The Bible was originally written in Hebrew and then translated in

hundreds of languages in order for people of different cultures and

ethnicities to understand. Nothing seems to be impossible for God. This

we can see right from the start in the book of Genesis when he created

the universe and everything in it.”God created and sustains the universe

and, in particular, the human race. The nature of the creator/creature

relationships is central in understanding God’s dealings with human

life” (Bill Moore.) As I read and analyzed the Bible I realized that God is

portrayed many different ways. He has many different characteristics

and shows a ton of emotions. Each chapter reveals something different

about him. The one chapter that I wanted to focus on specifically was the

book of Genesis being that it was the beginning of time and creation. I

think that this chapter is important because it really points out a

number of quotes that backs up my beliefs. That’s why I decided to talk

about his omniscience in this chapter. One question that has been

brought up for decades is is God really omniscient? I believe that God is

not omniscient. Everybody does have their own opinion on this but; I

believe I have found a few quotes directly from the bible that makes me

believe he is not. Why not give us the whole truth about life from the very

beginning? As you may know, the Bible has two testaments, the New

Testament and the Old Testament. Something I find so interesting is the

fact that the Old Testament was canonized in 90 A.D. Meaning, scholars

decided which stories were going to be put into the actual bible. This

makes me wonder, why wouldn't they add each and every story? Were

they trying to hide something from us? The Bible is hundreds and

hundreds of pages long so why leave a couple more out? Most

importantly, why would God even allow this to happen if he really is

omniscient? Wouldn't he want everyone to know everything he did? Or

did he want it to happen?

                    Genesis (the first creation story) made me believe that God is

 not omniscient because after creating everything in the world; it says in

the Bible that God said “And God saw that it was good.” This quote is

repeated after every verse in the first chapter of Genesis. If God really

thought everything was good then why did he want to destroy his

creations? In Genesis 6:5-7 God said “The lord saw how great man’s

wickedness on earth had become, and that every inclination of the

thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The lord was grieved that

he had made man on earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the

Lord said, “I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of

the earth-men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground,

and birds of the air-for I am grieved that I have made them.” If God really

is omniscient, don’t you think that he would of known what was going to

happen eventually? He had this sadness in his heart, to see what

mankind had become. Anytime somebody regrets something, it means

they wish they would have never done it to begin with. Speaking of

regret, in Genesis chapter 1 verse 27, it says “God created man in his

own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he

created them.” When creating something in your image, why would you

want to destroy it with time? That is another reason that makes me

believe he is not omniscient.

 Genesis (the second creation story) basically made me look at

things differently because not only is that the first chapter that

starts off the Bible but, also points out what makes me believe that

God is not omniscient. I say this because first God creates Adam and

after seeing that Adam was lonely, he decides to create animals for

Adam. He created birds and many more. He thought that the animals

would keep Adam company and would make him happy. To my surprise,

this was not enough to keep Adam satisfied because he was still lonely.

Then, that is when God created Eve for Adam. After creating Eve, Adam

was definitely content. “The Lord said, “It is not good for a man to be

alone. I will make a helper suitable for him “Now the Lord God had

formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the

air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and

whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the

man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the

beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the

Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was

sleeping he took one of the man‘s ribs and closed up the place with flesh.

Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib. He had taken out of the

man, and he brought her to the man.” (Genesis 2:18-22).This makes me

really think. If God really does know everything then don’t you think he

would of known that animals weren’t going to be enough for Adam?

Think about it. He really thought that the animals were going to be

enough for Adam but, he was wrong. God was also surprised to see that

Adam was not happy with the animals. He made it seem like the animals

were going to be more than enough. He had to do things over twice. That

is one of the first things that stood out to me.

          Another thing that stood out to me during the creation story in the

book of Genesis was the fact that God told Eve not to eat from the tree of

knowledge but, she went and fed him fruit from it anyway. This was very

selfish because they were told that they could eat from any and every

tree expect for that one. Strongly disobeying God. Even though the snake

had a lot of fault in it and used its craftiness to persuade Eve to feed the

fruit to Adam, the fact that Adam ate from it happened. So again, if God

really is omniscient then he would have known that Adam was going to

eat the fruit even after being told not to. After this happened he was very

disappointed because he thought that they would obey him and his

rules. The fact that he was so disappointed makes u believe that he is

not omniscient even more because he made it seem like he was not

expecting this at all. Almost like the whole thing caught him by surprise

and off guard. “The Lord God said to the woman (Eve) “What is this you

have done? “(Genesis 3:13). One thing I noticed about this quote is that,

I am not sure if that was an outcry or a question. Either way, if he was

omniscient he should have known exactly what happened. The funny

thing about this is that Adam basically blamed things on God because he

created Eve and she was the one that made him eat the fruit. One more

thing I found interesting was the fact that God created every single

creature including the snake that convinced Eve to eat from the tree.

People talk about the snake being portrayed as the devil being that it is

so conniving and sneaky. It is such a coincidence that the animal just

happened to be a snake because it was said that the snake was the

craftiest of the bunch. One notion that gets brought up in the creation

story is that perhaps the snake is an interpretation of Satan. If this is

true then that would mean that God created Satan because the snake is

an animal which God created. Why in the world would God create evil?

That doesn’t make any sense. Either way, shouldn’t God have known

that Adam was going to blame Eve? I just really don’t think it was in his

plan for Adam and Eve to eat this fruit because God ended up punishing

Adam and Eve with hard labor and child bearing for being both

disobedient and selfish.

         

Two more examples of God not being omniscient are brought up in

Genesis once again. God called Adam asking where he was. After eating

the fruit of knowledge Adam and Eve hide and God calls out for them.

“The man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was

walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord

God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man,

“Where are you?” (Genesis 3:8-10). If he does know everything he would

have known where they were. If you look at the quote carefully again, he

has a question mark at the end which signifies that it is a question

meaning he did not know where they were. Also God tested Abraham

(one of his prophets) to see if he really loved him or his son more by

asking Abraham to sacrifice his son and use him as an offering to show

his love for God. “I swear by myself, declares the Lord, that because you

have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son I will

surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars

in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take

possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all

nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me” (Genesis

22:16-18). When God tested Abraham this really saddened me because

Isaac was his only son, and to do that to him it was very heartbreaking.

Just to know that Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son as an offering

for God says so much. At the end of the day he was willing to put God

before anybody. Abraham really loved God and respected him because I

don’t know anybody that would sacrifice their only child. That takes a lot

of guts. Abraham loved God enough to do this and if God was omniscient

he would have seen this from the beginning. Why make him go through

all that heartache? To see Abraham go through this pain and toy with his

emotions was not right to me. Abraham did not even hesitate one bit; he

listened to God and was willing to do it. Put yourself in his position. How

would have you felt having to kill your only child to prove the love of your

creator? Hard position right? I bet Abraham must have felt a ton of

weight off his shoulders after God told him that it was just a test.

         

“But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the

men were building. (Genesis 11:5.) This is a quote that was used in the

Bible when the people of Israel were building the Tower of Babel. It

clearly states that God had to come down to see what the people were

building. If he really knows everything and can see everything from

anywhere , then why would he have to come down from the skies to view

what was happening?  Wouldn’t he be able to see anything from

anywhere if he was really omniscient? This quote just shows me that he

had to come down in order to see things for himself. You know how

people always use the saying “Don’t believe it until you see it.” This is

how I interpret this quote from the Bible. This quote also made me start

to think about prayers. I say this because if God had to come down to

see things for himself then, does that mean he can’t hear our prayers?

Are we supposed to say our prayers out loud in order for him to hear

them? No one can prove this but, if it is true then that just gives you

more to think about because everybody has this notion that he is

supposed to be able to read minds and know everything that goes on in

our minds.

          I know that there are people who might disagree with me and say

that God is omniscient and I believe that they would bring up the notion

of God being the creator of everything; therefore he controls everything

and knows everything. People might think he is omniscient in the sense

he can see every outcome of every choice that we make, and he can

influence our decisions, and try to push us towards the right future.

There might even be some people who disagree with God’s existence. Yes,

I agree that God is the creator of all but, as powerful as he may be I think

the book of Genesis as well as Bible scholars have helped me prove my

point and back up my beliefs. The world today is imperfect, full of

suffering, not just because it is necessary for us to appreciate goodness,

but because God still cannot comprehend every bad thing that will

happen. Omniscience is all knowing infinitely wise. God has not proved

to be all knowing especially in the book of Genesis. There is more

evidence that shows God is not omniscient. If you were to read more into

the rest of the stories that the Bible holds you would find this evidence.

“If God is a “perfectly undifferentiated, completely homogeneous,

immaterial essence,” and if God works in any sense within the realm of

physical law, then it follows that God can neither store nor process any

information, much less be omniscient.” (Greg Tidwell)

         



What is it that you're greatful for?

          I am greatful for many things in my life but, I would have to say that the person I am the most greatful for is my mother Dalila. I am greatful for my mother because not only is she a great parent but, she is a great friend as well. She is always there to give me advice and to help me through problems. She puts me first before she puts herself and she has given me a great life. Everything that I have ever wanted in life she has given me and she has also taught me things that I will need to know for the future like cooking, and managing money. My mother has showed me what its like to work for what you want and she has given me great morals. Respecting my elders is something extremely important that she taught me.
         One of the things that I admire the most about my mother is the fact that she is a single parent. She raised both me and my sister on her own and has given us the best life ever. I had such a great childhood growing up and she is the reason why. She has always been a hard worker. She worked extremely hard to give me and my sister the life she never had. Growing up in Colombia times were hard for her and she had to work since the age of ten. She never really had much because all of her money went to her parents to help raise her brothers and sisters. My mother also never got a chance to finish school and I think thats why she pushes me and my sister to finish school and strive for the best. I think I get alot of my characteristics from my mother because she is one of the most loyal people I know and thats probably why her friends have been friends with her for over twenty years. That right there says alot.
       There has been times where me and my mother have disagreed on something, which is only natural because nobodys perfect but she tries to teach me right from wrong. I try to take in as much I could from her because she is somebody I look up to alot. I know nobody is perfect in this world but, she is the closest thing to perfection in my eyes. My mother never complains about anything even though she has a few health problems like osteoperosis and high blood pressure.I know sometimes shes in pain but she doesn't show it.  I love my mother unconditionally and one day I hope that I can grow up and be at least half of the woman that she is. She is a role model, a wonderful mother, a hard worker, and a great friend. Dalila Melaik is what I am the most greatful for in life and It is a blessing to have such a wonderful mom.

Blog #4 Editing

       Editing someone else's paper was a bit difficult. I say this because I did not want to write anything that was going to hurt the person's feelings. I learned that when you critisize somebody it can bring their self esteem down so it is nice to compliment them too. It was also difficult because I did not want to write so much negativity to the point where they end up thinking that their paper is not good. I think a good way to help someone develop their paper is saying something like " I think this is a good paper but, to make it a great paper you can...." Trying not to hurt someone's feelings is probably the hardest thing to do when ur correcting things is difficult but, aside from that I like editing papers. I like editing papers because it gives me a chance to express my feelings on the paper. I can talk about what I liked and what I did not like or what were the strongest point of the paper. My favorite part about editing papers probably has to be the spelling mistakes. I think I am good at catching most of them. It also lets me help someone out which is good because sometimes it is hard to be a critic to your own work. When two people look at the same thing, they usually have different views on it. This is a good thing because different opinions open up different ideas.
     Editing someone else's work also helped me look at my own work differently and can help me point out what I may need to change. You are your toughest critic so if you can jude another person's work then you should be able to really push yourself to your limit to know what needs correction on your own work. The comments that I used for editing another person's paper is helpful now for me because I can look to see if my paper has a strong thesis, a good introduction that catches the readers attention, good organization, selection of evidence, weak or strong quoteing styles, developing body paragraphs and a good conclusion. I can also look at my paper with fresh eyes since I know what needs to be done. I can make certain points stronger and I can cut unecessary information that is just going to bore the reader. I say this because If you have run on sentences or information that has no value, the reader will get bored (I have witnessed some of these things today editiong papers.) In a funny way, editing someone else's paper is like a lesson learned because you viewed it for youself, you saw what was wrong and now you know better so you wont make that same mistake.

blog #3 introduction

                The Bible has been one of the most famous books in the world that has been passed down from generation to generation. The Bible is made up of verbal stories passed down from the Pentatuch and written by five different writers. It was finalized 539-334 B.C.E. (before the common era.) The Bible was originally written in Hebrew and then translated in hundreds of languages in order for people of different cultures and ethnicities to understand. One thing that is clear to me is that God appears to be omnipitant throughout the majority of the verses and texts in the sense of being all mighty. This we can see right from the start in the book of Genesis when he created the universe and everything in it.As I read and analyzed the bible I realized that God is portrayed many different ways. He has many different characteristics and emotions. Each chapter reveals something different about him. One question that has been brought up for decades is is God really omnichient? I believe that God is not omnichient. Everybody has their own opinion on this but, I believe I have found a few quotes directly from the bible that makes me believe he is not. Why not give us the whole truth about life from the very beginning? As you may know, the Bible has two testaments, the new testament and the old testament. Something I find so interesting is the fact that the old testament was canonized in 90 A.D. Meaning, scholars decided which stories were going to be put into the actual bible. This makes me wonder, why wouldn't they add each and every story? Were they trying to hide something from us? The Bible is hundreds and hundreds of pages long so why leave a couple more out? Most importantly, why would God allow this to happen if he really is omnichient? Wouldn't he want everone to know everything he did? Or did he want it to happen?

blog #2 Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography

Whether or not God is Almighty

Jennifer Melaik

Eng 103

1. Biblical Studies journal vol. 9, Number 2 From Dust, Again by Bill Moore, August 24, 2008

This journal gives a personal view of the authors beliefs. I can use this towards my paper because I am going to mention my personal beliefs on the topic as well as other people's opinions. I can show different views from different people.

2. Biblical Studies journal volume 5, Number 1 The Nature of Deity: God the Creator by Greg Tidwell, March 28, 2001

I am using this journal because it gives a good explanation of God and the beginning of things. It talks about his being and what his purpose is.

3. www.parentcompany.com/awareness_of_god Awareness of God-attributes of God, God is Omnischient lesson 12

I did not want to use books only so I chose this website. I like this website and it looks like it can be helpful because this is the main topic of my paper. The post on the website does talk about why God is omnischient so i can use references from here as well as my other sources.

4. Information Storage and the Omniscience of God draft:2003-08-15 by Hollis R. Johnson (Indiana University) and David H. Bailey (Lawrence Berkeley National lab)

I need information on the idea that wraps around God being Ominscient and this book is perfect for it. It gives examples as to why one would or would not believe whether he is almighty. Again. I need to bring up both sides in my paper so this should be a good one.

5. Concise Theology- A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs by J.I. Packer (Tyndale House publishers, Inc, Wheaton, Illinois-1993)

This book explains different beliefs about Christians. For example, why one would believe something and what pushes them to believe that. I have to talk about why people believe some of the things they do and also there are quotes from the bible backing up their beliefs.

6. www.equip.org/perspectives/omniscience Omniscience: Does God know all things?

I really want to use this website because it kind of messes with your head a little bit. It brings up ideas and points out certain things like "If God is omnishcient then why wouldn't he stop the devil and his evil ways before hand?" It brings up a few examples and leaves you really thinking about things.

7. The Possibility of an All-knowing God volume XCVIII No.1 by Jonathan L. Kvanvig, St. Martins Press, 1989.

This book may be a little old but, I think it will be a very useful one because unlike the journal above this one that gives doubts, this one gives you security. You can say it persuays you in a way to believe why God would be all-knowing and also, it shows quotes from the bible so back up beliefs.

8. http://www.everystudent.com/ Exploring questions about life and God- Is there A God? by Marilyn Adamson

This journal basically questions the notion of whether there is even a God. In my paper I will be talking about God and why people even do believe in him. I also will be talking about why people do not believe in him.

9. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology- Journal Homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jesp

Science and God: An automatic Opposition between Ultimate Explanations By Jesse Preston- Dept. of Psychology (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaigh) and Nicholas Epley (University of Chicago)

This book is probably the most unique from the rest. Not only does it talk about religion but, it also talks about science. Science and religion have come into conflict throughout history, and one reason is because the two have explanations that go against each other for many of the same phenomena. I can use this book to talk about why one person would believe that there is a God that created the universe or why one would believe everything is based on science and evolution.

10. The Holy Bible New International Version -Containing The Old Testament and The New Testament, Zondervan Bible Publishers, Grand Rapids, Michigan

The Holy Bible is going to be my favorite source to use because this is a book from stories that have been told and passed down from biblical scholars. The Bible explains everything from the beginning, when God created the universe. I will be using many direct quotes from the bible on why one would think he is omnischient or why one would believe that he is not.

blog #1

     One of the classes that I am taking this semester is an English 205 class. This class is a bible as literature class. It is not a religion class in the sense that it is targeted to encourage me to analyze and respond to the language of texts. I am supposed to understand, talk, and write about literature. I am also supposed to read things and look at them from different point of views. When i first came into the class, the professor told me to forget everything I was ever taught about the bible and look at things in a new light. Being that the actual bible is the only book used in this class,we read and discuss chapters and verses from the bible on a daily basis. The bible clearly states that God is omnipotent because he tested people to see if they would obey him. God also created everything and said "Andit was good." at the end of every creation clarifying that he knew what he was doing but, there is some skeptical in believing whether he is omniscient. The bible brings up many situations as to why one would believe that he isn't, and that is what I would like to write about.
     The most reliable source that I have in order to bring up references is the bible, being that it is made up of verbal stories that were passed down and recorded. The main chapter that I will be using is Genesis because I believe that Genesis has a few examples that will back up my beliefs. The best part about using the chapter Genesis as a reference is that the beginning of Genesis is supposed to be the beginning of everything. When God created the world and everything in it. That is why most people think that he is perfect from the start because it was in his power to create every single living species. Being that he is said to be the creator of everything, he is supposed to know everything good from bad. But, the bible states something different as Genesis goes on showing us that maybe he is not perfect after all. There is some speculation with that and I want to write about my opinion.
     I think that this is a good topic to write about because it is making me look at things from two different point of views. Many different people have many different views on God and his knowledge so, this paper helps me give a wide variety of opinions from others as well as my own. I do have many questions and you can say that most of them are answered in the bible but, it is up to me to analyze and try to break down the messages that have been written through this book. One of the most important questions I have is if God is almighty and knows everyting, then why did he have to remake two of his creations? Wasn't he supposed to get things right the first time? This is just an idea of where I am going with this. This is where many people disagree because like I said before, everybody has their own different point of views on God and his knowledge as well as power. He is characterized differently in everone's eyes. I am looking forward to this paper to share  my opinions and views.