Open Theism Debate | Does Scripture Teach That God Changes His Mind? || Will Duffy vs. C. Jay Cox

Standing For Truth Ministries hosts and moderates a formal debate between Will Duffy and C. Jay Cox on open theism. Does Scripture Teach That God Changes His Mind? Will Duffy says yes, and C. Jay Cox says no.



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[rooferonhigh]

Great seeing a Will Duffy debate on standing for truth.

[huey]

Duffy is one of my favorite debaters bcuz he almost always answers the question first with a yes or no, and then go on to explain as needed.

CJ very straightforward with answering questions too 👍

[FutureNotFixed]

I greatly enjoyed listening to CJ Cox while I am an open theist. Will's opening statement is one of his best, but I don't think he was in top form this time. I see he is trying to be 'tougher' but the aggression was not necessary. CJ is not Tyler Vela. CJ is thoughtful and is humble to admit what he doesn't know and that he is logically trying to work through tensions with what tools he has. I suspect that over time as new information comes to him, he will modify his views and language accordingly. I think he would enjoy reading Finney's Systematic Theology. I think the hand of God is on CJ.
Will should have brought attention to the fact that conditional prophecy is open theism when CJ affirmed conditional prophecy is taught in Jer 18. Will should agree with him when CJ is right on a point. When Will said he would be dealing with only two passages, one being Jer 18, it turned into a train wreck when he kept bringing up Jonah. Will should have made a point to argue that conditional prophecy is incompatible with Calvinism.
A brilliant question Will asked around the 1:18:46 mark is- are there Bible characters who believed God could change his mind?
Will is misinformed to claim that parables are lies. CJ is correct here. A parable is a story that is a teaching device. Scenarios in parables may or may not be fictional, and it is understood that parables are for moral teaching. A lie is presented as truth for the purpose of DECEPTION and for selfish reasons.
However, CJ needs to rethink ascribing to God insincere rhetoric in order to elicit what amounts to a timelessly decreed response. Also, if God changes his mind, it does not mean God is lying.
Will should have had Jeremiah 18 posted for examination. It would have prevented CJ from making the argument that God does not change his mind and making that ice cream analogy. Will waited till near the end of the debate to weakly state that God INTENDED to bring judgement and then changed his mind based on the nation's repentance. AND that a nation God INTENDED to bless may sin and bring about God changing his mind so that he ends up condemning that nation. That would have shut down most of the debate early. Sometimes Will was punching when unnecessary and not punching when it was.
Very enjoyable overall.

[lauromartinez]

It’s so telling when some one can’t say if something God said is true.

[billionllc]

CJ cross examines Will's open statement, before Will even makes his first argument, so CJ's influence is already making the debate out of order. Next, CJ insists on attempting to authorize God's Word, using man's word, while Will uses the Bible, CJ attempts to interpret the Bible with man's phylospohy.

[billionllc]

At 52:40 the debate is over, CJ admits that God can change His mind.

[dokidokibibleclub]

I had lot of fun watching! Thanks to Will and CJ 👍

[apilkey]

👉Starting @53:06 speaking of Exodus 6 and then @54:26 Argued that God is not actually changing His mind unless He actually rejects and reverses the original decision.

CJ said the definition of changing your mind is, “rejecting one decision in favour of another decision.”

Well this is actually what we see in Genesis 6 in that God DID in fact reject one decision in favour of another.

👉He rejected everyone that died in the flood in favour of 8 righteous souls.

👉He rejected His original plan in favour of starting over.

CJ said, “Logically those same evil people who died can’t still be here.”


…and they aren’t still here.

They died in the flood.

God destroying everyone save 8 people is an example of God regretting He made man and starting over.

Again, God did that in Genesis 6 where He destroyed the whole earth as a result of Him relenting and He started over.

[BandyAndysExcellentEssays]

How could anyone assume that prophecy being conditional means that God doesn't change His mind when He literally says that if the condition is met, He will change His mind. All prophecies are conditional. God can change His mind. You don't have to agree with these two ideas but to claim that they contradict is obviously false.

[Telkor]

Sounds like his Dog is an open theist and is vehemently disagreeing.

[ewallt]

I think Duffy is correct in basing his ideas primarily upon God’s character (i.e. being trustworthy and loving), as opposed to be being based on God’s “nature, ” as C.J. put it, including things like immutability and omniscience.

[davidszaraz]

Warren McGrew (his YT channel: Idol Killer) is also a huge deffender of open theism. There was a debate scheduled with Anthony Rogers on this topic but Rogers cancelled it. You should invite W. McGrew. ;)

[ChristisLord]

1:10:42 great line of questions here C Jay

[lauromartinez]

It’s incredible that this guy would rather admit God lied than admit God changed his mind

[JRey-rerl]

Kevin did well. He asked the right questions, too.

[UniteAgainstEvil]

This would have been hilarious if it started by Will opening with a statement and then immediately going into cross exam against CJ 😂

[ewallt]

I think the question about how could it be a sacrifice if Christ knew he would be resurrected. The short answer is that when Christ was actually passing through the experience of being made sin for us, He experienced what the lost will experience at the second death, exclaiming “My God, my God! Why are you forsaking Me?”

This is what Christ was experiencing at the time. Hope did not come to him of being resurrected at that moment, but He felt He would be lost forever, but He chose to go through with it anyway, so great was His love for us and desire to do His Father’s will, regardless of the cost to Himself, such is the wonderful character of God, self-sacrificing love. We see this in both Gethsemane and on the cross.

This doesn’t mean that Christ died in despair, because Christ gained the victory by faith, which psalms such as 22 and 69 show.

[Weissguys]

I have a humble question if anyone can answer. - How is God the Creator if he is hedged in by time and space? Do open theists deny Creation? Very confused.

[milkmeat]

Poor pups 🐶, needs attention WHAT WAS THAT?? At 1:35:14 🤣

[gherrocrucible]

I think you have to have knowledge of quantum mechanics in order to understand what Cox is saying.