This is just a random thought I had that I wanted to share. I’m not even going to give you the hyper-specific situation that sparked the thought because I don’t want to limit whatever applications you might draw from this, if any.
The random thought is this:
God is not a computer. He is not an input-output machine.
“You input this, it outputs that; if you don’t input, you won’t get the output, etc.”
No. God is not a machine. He’s a person.
Granted, God is Divine, not human, but human ≠ person. God possesses cognizance, which is essential “the awareness of one’s place in reality.” In other words, God had a sense of self (Exodus 6:2), and an understanding that not everyone thinks the way He thinks (Isaiah 55:8).
With that out of the way, here’s what I’m getting at: Most of the Bible questions people have that involve weird hypothetical situations (“if the Bible says this, then what if this happens and then this happens before that can happen, then will God still do _____”) would be resolved if we would just understand this one critical idea: God is not a machine. He is a person, with thoughts not computations, deliberated judgments not mathematical results. He’s thinking, feeling, moving, and acting. He’s able to change His mind and respond with swift wrath or merciful patience at His own discretion.
Case in point:
And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
(Mark 2:23-28)
Here is Jesus pulling out and using the “if I say it’s okay then it’s okay” wild card. And He can do that. Why? Because God is not a computer, a slave to programming. He’s a person and able to apply both inductive and reductive reasoning, as well as make application from one event to another, even when the two events are not 100% the same. A computer can’t do that.
Be thankful your God is not a computer. Be thankful your God feels and thinks and reacts just as much as He knows and determines and acts.
~ Matthew