Today’s Scripture Reading (June 1, 2018): Job 11
Is God omni?
By this I mean to ask if God is omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient
(all-knowing), and omnipresent (always with you.) Ever since my childhood, I have been taught that this is true. And
yet, as I grow older, I begin to wonder if God really possesses all of those
omni characteristics. One of the books I would like to write might be called “What God Doesn’t Know: A Conversation
About an Omni God.” The problem is that our theology seems to tell us that God
is omni, but at the same time, it appears to argue against an omni God. The God who we understand to be the
one who created the heavens and the earth just
might not be omni. Is God omnipresent? One of the versions of hell is that it is a place where we, by our own choices, choose to spend eternity totally devoid of the presence of God. We can’t imagine what that might be like because he is always present in this world, even when we don’t recognize him. He influences us every time we choose love over hate. But if hell is a place where God is not, then God cannot be omnipresent, because there is a place I can go where he is not.
Is God omnipotent? It is the question of the
simple brain teaser that I would guess we have all pondered at some point: Can
God create a rock so heavy that even he can’t lift it? Silly, yes. And yet it
is still an argument against an omnipotent God. Oh, there is no doubt that he
is stronger than anything our imaginations might conjure up, but there are
limitations. Even if these limitations are self-imposed, placed on him by his
gift to us of our free will.
Is God omniscient? I don’t think so. Of the
three omni qualities of God, this is the
one that I doubt the most. In my mind, I
have a fantasy of the moment that I stand before God based on Zechariah 3. In
my imagination, I am brought before God and
Satan stands with me. Satan simply means
“The Accuser” because making accusations is what he does best. And so at that moment before God, Satan will begin to
list off all of my transgressions and sins; and all of the reasons why I should
be banned from heaven. The list is long.
And at the end of the list, God looks down on me and asks a question of me. “Is
this true? I don’t remember?”
And I will be truthful at this moment. Satan has not had to make
anything up. My life does not require Satan to have to lie. The truth is all
there. All of these things I have done. And it will be in that moment that
Jesus will take the stand in my defense. “Father, I died on a cross to pay the
penalty for just those sins.” And at that moment God will issue the order to
strip me of my old soiled clothing and place a new clean garment on me, and he will welcome me home
Why is God not omniscient? Why can’t he
remember? While Zophar means to accuse Job, arguing that Job’s punishment
should be much worse if only God could remember all of his sins, once again the
words of Job’s friend contains some truth. God, speaking through the prophet
Isaiah admits that in some ways his memory is not all that good. “I,
even I, am he who blots out your
transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers
your sins no more” (Isaiah 43:25). God knows much more than
collectively we will ever know. And he remembers many things with great
precision. But your sins are not one of them. Once they have been dealt with, they are removed from his memory. Satan likes to bring them up from time
to time, it is what he does best, but God no longer remembers. Zophar is right.
We serve a God who has forgotten our sin.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 12
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