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)
