Can God Change His Mind?

So, it’s been a while since my last blog. I basically gave myself a break from writing as the busy-ness of life got to me and “the end of the world” seemed like a good place to take a break. As summer draws to a close, I’m finding myself getting back into a routine and wanting to get writing again.

In my last post, I expressed my doubts about Harold Camping’s prediction regarding the rapture. Obviously, I was right and he was wrong. The rapture did not happen – or did it? In the week following May 21, Harold would not admit he was wrong. At least not wrong about the date of the rapture. Apparently, the rapture happened, we just didn’t notice it. The world was judged, but God changed His mind and didn’t make a big deal out of it with earthquakes and people ascending into heaven. That’s Harold’s story and he’s sticking to it. He also reminds us that he’s still right about the world ending on October 21 of this year, so no need to do any Christmas shopping early this year.

I don’t know about you, but this is a pretty sad situation. Rather than admit he was wrong, Harold wants us to accept that God decided on a whim to change His mind about what would happen at the rapture. I wonder what lame excuse Harold will have on October 22 when the world is still here?

This got me thinking about whether it is even possible for God to change His Mind. On the one hand, God is Almighty and Powerful, and He is the Master of the Universe – so why couldn’t He change His mind. On the other hand, God is All-knowing and not bound by time so every moment of this reality is known to Him – so there would be no new information or circumstance that would give Him a reason to change His mind. This presents an interesting dilemma – could what we do have any influence on what God will do?

Consider the city of Nineveh. God sent Jonah there to warn them that they had 40 days until God was going to destroy it. But the people repented and God didn’t destroy them. (If you are familiar with this story, you’ll recall that Jonah didn’t think this change in plans was right.) From our human point of view, this seems to be an instance of God changing His mind, being influenced by the actions of His creation. So what’s going on?

To be honest, I don’t fully understand. I think a big part of the problem is that we can only compare God and His actions to what we would do in similar circumstances. If I knew that the people of Nineveh would repent, I don’t think I would have sent in a messenger telling everyone they were going to be destroyed. But maybe, they needed to be told of their imminent doom to be driven into changing their ways? Maybe God knew that unless they heard that particular message, they wouldn’t have changed their ways in which case He would have destroyed them. If that was the case, He didn’t really change His mind because He already knew what was going to happen. This stuff makes my head hurt.

I think what this really boils down to is that God is beyond our ability to fully comprehend, and we shouldn’t rush to place human attributes on Him. His promises are true. He will not change His mind about His love for us, and His plans for us. He might do things we don’t understand, but He can be trusted.

So what do you think? Can God change His mind? What are the implications if He can?

Jac