Does God Learn?

Namaste Jesus

Namaste Jesus

Praise the Lord and Enjoy the Chai
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After hearing about the creations of God, one of my grand children asked, "How did God learn to do that?" This particular boy has a way of rendering the most learned among us speechless.

My first thought was that God is all knowing and all seeing and all that is or ever was or will be is of God. Therefore, learning would be the burden of man not God. Then however, I began to wonder if it were possible for something to take place on Earth or in the universe that would cause God to know more today than he did yesterday.

Any thoughts?
 
Namaste Jesus said:
After hearing about the creations of God, one of my grand children asked, "How did God learn to do that?" This particular boy has a way of rendering the most learned among us speechless.

My first thought was that God is all knowing and all seeing and all that is or ever was or will be is of God. Therefore, learning would be the burden of man not God. Then however, I began to wonder if it were possible for something to take place on Earth or in the universe that would cause God to know more today than he did yesterday.

Any thoughts?
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Yeah, I am not of the 'learning' camp. Of course I am not of the camp that G!d 'knows'...G!d is...G!d is all there is... I'll be interested in replies...
 
I believe in the concept of immutability. It means that "God" does not change, "He" does not learn from "His" experiences, "He" does not experience changes in mood (one moment being happy, the next moment being sad), nor is "He" affected by what happens here on earth or any happenings anywhere in the universe. So my answer is, no, "God" does not learn how to do anything.

The idea that "He" does these things, in my opinion, is only anthropomorphising.
 
Abrahamic Tradition: No, God does not 'learn'. It's an anthropomorphism.
 
If God is Love and Love is ever growing and expanding then, yes, God does "learn" just like a doting parent "learns" when they see things through the eyes of their children as they are learning.

Not necessarily new facts, principles, or bits of wisdom but how we see and experience things from our perspective. God is not less for not "learning" this but within God we are infinitely more for God having done so -- and since there is nothing but God and anything we are is God's being being us one would have to say that, if we "learn", then so does God.

It is just that we "need to" and God does not.
 
Ah! I was about to suggest that an omnipotent God cannot learn, as that would be an oxymoron.

But God is experiencing its Creation through every living thing, so therefore there's room for the argument. :)
 
Depends on whether you accept Scripture as the final Word. Here are two of many examples that are categorical.

For God be sovereign over His creation of all things, whether visible or invisible, He has to be all-knowing. His omniscience is not restricted to any one person in the Godhead -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all by nature omniscient. God knows everything. (1 John 3:20)

For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. (Malachi 3:6)
 
Good point ED. Indeed much is written in scripture regarding the omniscience of God. There are also passages like this however,

Genesis 22:12
"The angel of God said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me"

that tend to suggest that God had just learned something he did not know or was previously unsure of.
 
The argument can easily be wide open....G!d searching for Adam and Eve in the garden? That metaphor implies that omnipotence isn't there...where other passages indicate it is.

G!d is love? Sure...does that mean G!d learns? Does Love learn? Or do we learn from love? or lack of it? or losing it? or falling in it? but being Love...

G!d is.... Love is...
 
iBrian said:
... God is experiencing its Creation through every living thing, so therefore there's room for the argument. :)
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As a Deist, this is how I perceive the concept of God. As the biosphere is the entire Earth, and all that lives on it, could be considered a single organism made up of trillions upon trillions of 'individuals', where every living thing would be considered an individual -

So do I perceive the Universe upon which we base what we perceive as reality. It is not self aware in any sense that a person could understand, anymore than a bacteria can understand how it fits into the biosphere of the planet. At the cosmic level, everything within the Universe; not just living creatures; everything; all of matter/energy makes up a Cosmicsphere. The Universe exists to learn about itself.
 
Namaste Jesus said:
Good point ED. Indeed much is written in scripture regarding the omniscience of God. There are also passages like this however,

Genesis 22:12
"The angel of God said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me"

that tend to suggest that God had just learned something he did not know or was previously unsure of.
Click to expand...


Oh believe me, I understand. You are right. Most any position can be supported by scripture.


I don't mean to "kick a dead" horse but --- if all Christians interpreted Scripture the same way there would not be ±1000 U.S. separate Christian groups. :)
 
Devils' Advocate said:
So do I perceive the Universe upon which we base what we perceive as reality. It is not self aware in any sense that a person could understand, anymore than a bacteria can understand how it fits into the biosphere of the planet. At the cosmic level, everything within the Universe; not just living creatures; everything; all of matter/energy makes up a Cosmicsphere. The Universe exists to learn about itself.
Click to expand...

And all understanding of the individuals go somewhere to form some sort of conciousness?
 
Devils' Advocate said:
As a Deist, this is how I perceive the concept of God. As the biosphere is the entire Earth, and all that lives on it, could be considered a single organism made up of trillions upon trillions of 'individuals', where every living thing would be considered an individual -

So do I perceive the Universe upon which we base what we perceive as reality. It is not self aware in any sense that a person could understand, anymore than a bacteria can understand how it fits into the biosphere of the planet. At the cosmic level, everything within the Universe; not just living creatures; everything; all of matter/energy makes up a Cosmicsphere. The Universe exists to learn about itself.
Click to expand...
G!d is all there is...
 
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