Open theism? Open Muppetry!

Imagine the following scenario - two friends, we'll call them James and John, often met together to discuss their hopes and aspirations for the future.   One day, James proudly announced that he had bought a plot of land and was "going to build a house".   "I've ordered all the materials and hope to start next week", he said.  "That's interesting", came the reply,  "let's have a look at your building plans".    James looked incredulous -  "plans", he said "I've got no plans, I'll just put one brick on top of another, and see what emerges.  Don't you think that's a good idea?".   "No" said John "I think you're mad!!"

In a nutshell, that would be the builders' equivalent of Open Theism.

Open theism is a theological line of thought that states that God is not in control, and He doesn't even know the future.   His actions are entirely dependant upon what we do, and He has no actual plan that is being infallibly carried out in accordance with His "unthwartable"  will.  (Unthwartable is not a proper word - it's a bobism, I made it up, see Job 42 v 2 in the ESV).

To suggest that God does not have a plan that is being carried out is to deny the truth of Genesis 50 v 20.  This is where Joseph acknowledges that the evil perpetrated against him by his brothers, in selling him into slavery, was ordained by God to bring about a greater good. Throughout the Bible we see instances of God ordaining events in accordance with His sovereign will for a specific purpose.  Moreover, we read, in Ephesians 1 v 11, that God works all things in accordance with "the counsel of His own will"; and who can forget the famous Romans 8 v 28 where we read that "all things work together for good.....".  In fact, in the New American Standard Version it states that"God causes all things to work together for good...."

As far as knowing the future is concerned, God is outside of time, having created it in the first place.  To suggest that He doesn't know the future is a form of blasphemy!

In short, if God is not in control of all things then, put simply, He is not God.  Open theism then becomes A-theism!

As Christians we can have complete confidence that God is in control of all things, that He does ordain everything in conformity with His sovereign will, and that His plans will be infallibly carried out with no hindrance from mere man.