God Can be Wrong

[Skwim]

In another thread it is said that "God, who is never wrong about anything." and "God is Holy, all-knowing and never wrong." Because I didn't want to clutter the thread with my reply I've created this one to explain why these claims are in error, and if their author had read his Bible he would know this. In any case, just so there's no misunderstanding about the following three examples I've quoted below---and there are others---a couple of definitions from Merriam Webster.

"regret"
regretted; regretting

transitive verb
2: to be very sorry for
​

"sorry"
sorrier; sorriest

transitive verb

2. feeling sorrow, regret, or penitence​

Pretty much synonyms aren't they.

Q. So why do we regret or feel sorry for the things we did? Because they were the right things to do? Hardly. We regret and feel sorry because they were the wrong things to do. We were wrong to do them, as was god for what he did.


On to the three:

Genesis 6:6-7
6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

1 Samuel 15:11
11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.

Jeremiah 42:10
If you will only remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant
you, and not pluck you up; for I am sorry for the disaster that I have brought upon you.

​

In short then: GOD WAS WRONG.

.​

 

[Muslim-UK]

Verses written by men who likely lamented at their fellow man's disregard for the Commandments of GOD.

 

[Skwim]

Verses written by men who likely lamented at their fellow man's disregard for the Commandments of GOD.

You mean the Bible writers just made up stuff?

Never thought of that.

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[idav]

What you don't realize @Skwim is that Humans are much too powerful for an almighty creator of the pffft Universe. God tries do destroy us with some global flood, pffft, child's play, we built a boat singing "I'm on a Boat" all the way to some sick island where evil managed to even survive, yeah as you guess that meant party time. Humans keep on truckin!! God keeps threatening with global genocide and thinks some dude Witt a mouth sword is going to stop us, ain't going to happen. Mans already proven to be pesky little critters like roaches that just get used to nuclear sludge. So yeah if I see God I'm telling him "Wrong!".

 

[Lucian Hodoboc]

Have you considered that it might be an issue of mistranslation or misinterpretation?

 

[The Kilted Heathen]

There's also a passage in Exodus or Deuteronomy where their god basically says he screwed up.

 

[Skwim]

Have you considered that it might be an issue of mistranslation or misinterpretation?

A possibility, sure, but if these are mistranslations or misinterpretations (and there are quite a few others in the Bible that are very similar) then what else in the Bible are mistranslations or misinterpretations? It wouldn't speak well of the reliability of the Bible would it.

But, your choice.


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[Evangelicalhumanist]

A possibility, sure, but if these are mistranslations or misinterpretations (and there are quite a few others in the Bible that are very similar) then what else in the Bible are mistranslations or misinterpretations? It wouldn't speak well of the reliability of the Bible would it.

But, your choice.


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Still, Ecclesiastes is some pretty great stuff, in the philosophical sense. And I really think that Song of Songs (Song of Solomon) had some pretty decent understanding of human romantic and sexual love: "My beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door, and my bowels were moved for him. I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock." Oh, yeah!

 

[DavidFirth]

In another thread it is said that "God, who is never wrong about anything." and "God is Holy, all-knowing and never wrong." Because I didn't want to clutter the thread with my reply I've created this one to explain why these claims are in error, and if their author had read his Bible he would know this. In any case, just so there's no misunderstanding about the following three examples I've quoted below---and there are others---a couple of definitions from Merriam Webster.

"regret"
regretted; regretting

transitive verb
2: to be very sorry for
​

"sorry"
sorrier; sorriest

transitive verb

2. feeling sorrow, regret, or penitence​

Pretty much synonyms aren't they.

Q. So why do we regret or feel sorry for the things we did? Because they were the right things to do? Hardly. We regret and feel sorry because they were the wrong things to do. We were wrong to do them, as was god for what he did.


On to the three:

Genesis 6:6-7
6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

1 Samuel 15:11
11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night.

Jeremiah 42:10
If you will only remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant
you, and not pluck you up; for I am sorry for the disaster that I have brought upon you.

​

In short then: GOD WAS WRONG.

.​

Good try, Skwim. Tobad you are the one who is wrong, not God. You wish He were wrong in your heart and badly wish to believe it but you know better deep down. That's why you keep creating these threads.

No matter how much you try to convince yourself you're right you'll still be wrong. Know this.

 

[The Kilted Heathen]

Stellar defense of what's clearly written in your scripture.

 

[Kenny]

Have you considered that it might be an issue of mistranslation or misinterpretation?

That's good... or, it could also be western thought trying to interpret eastern culture.

 

[Skwim]

Good try, Skwim. Tobad you are the one who is wrong, not God. You wish He were wrong in your heart and badly wish to believe it but you know better deep down. That's why you keep creating these threads.

No matter how much you try to convince yourself you're right you'll still be wrong. Know this.

Your tactic of Ignore + ad hom has grown stale and ceases to be entertaining. It's now just pathetic.

.

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[Tumah]

Answered in your previous thread on this subject.

 

[Skwim]

Answered in your previous thread on this subject.

And it wasn't convincing then. But just to refresh your memory, here was my reply.

I checked 50 translations of Gen. 6:6 and . . .

..1 said."very sad"
10 said "repented"
16 said "regretted"
23 said "sorry"

Obviously, none of the translators or scholars gives your notion any credence in regard to Gen. 6:6. So why did these 50 versions choose to use these particular English words, with their particular English meanings? Because it's what their scholars feel best conveys the intended meaning of the ancient writers. Had they felt נָחַם (nacham)---the Hebrew word from which the English words above were translated---meant something else they would have used that something else.

So, Nope! god did repent/regret/was sorry/or sad for what he had done. Which adds up to having committed a mistake.

.​

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[Tumah]

And it wasn't convincing then. But just to refresh your memory, here was my reply.

I checked 50 translations of Gen. 6:6 and . . .

..1 said."very sad"
10 said "repented"
16 said "regretted"
23 said "sorry"

Obviously, none of the translators or scholars gives your notion any credence in regard to Gen. 6:6. So why did these 50 versions choose to use these particular English words, with their particular English meanings? Because it's what their scholars feel best conveys the intended meaning of the ancient writers. Had they felt נָחַם (nacham)---the Hebrew word from which the English words above were translated---meant something else they would have used that something else.

So, Nope! god did repent/regret/was sorry/or sad for what he had done. Which adds up to having committed a mistake.

.​

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And as I pointed out to you, not only does this interpretation solve your problem, it also solves another problem you weren't even aware of, that I explained there, about the same word being used in other contexts where "sad, regret" wouldn't make sense.

Out of 21 Christian translations of Daniel 9:26, 20 of them either capitalize the word "anointed" or "messiah" (unlike by Isaiah 45:1 when the same word is used in respect to Cyrus, where its the opposite: only one capitalizes it), adds the definite article "the" into the text or do both. Hebrew has no capitalization and there is no definite article in that place. Are you going to make an ad populum there too?

 

[Kenny]

So, Nope! god did repent/regret/was sorry/or sad for what he had done. Which adds up to having committed a mistake.​

.

I'm not so sure although I know, by the multiplicity of all your threads, you want it to say so. "sorry/sad" doesn't necessarily translate into "mistake".

 

[Skwim]

I'm not so sure although I know, by the multiplicity of all your threads, you want it to say so. "sorry/sad" doesn't necessarily translate into "mistake".

And I know by the multiplicity of all your threads you want "sorry/sad" to not necessarily translate into "mistake." However, if one is truthful to oneself, and honestly acknowledges the significance of the passages, god does mean he was mistaken.He was wrong.

Simply think about the implications of "sorry" and "regret" outside the context of the Bible and within a secular setting.

"And Bob regretted that he had driven into the swamp, and it grieved him to his heart to hear his wife and children scream in terror. So Bob said, “I will never, ever put my family in such peril again, for I am sorry for what I have done to them.”
​

Q. Think Bob did the right thing by driving into the swamp, or did he do the wrong thing?

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[Kenny]

And I know by the multiplicity of all your threads you want "sorry/sad" to not necessarily translate into "mistake." However, if one is truthful to oneself, and honestly acknowledges the significance of the passages, god does mean he was mistaken.He was wrong.

Simply think about the implications of "sorry" and "regret" outside the context of the Bible and within a secular setting.

"And Bob regretted that he had driven into the swamp, and it grieved him to his heart to hear his wife and children scream in terror. So Bob said, “I will never, ever put my family in such peril again, for I am sorry for what I have done to them.”
​

Q. Think Bob did the right thing by driving into the swamp, or did he do the wrong thing?

.

ROFL... I don't think so. I'm sorry Hitler was born, but I can't say his birth was a mistake. But you are welcome to think that God made a mistake. Yet, He called David a friend and doesn't seem to think he was a mistake and certainly He didn't make a mistake when He sent Jesus. I'm sure He was sorry that Jesus had to go through the suffering but both knew is was for the greater good.

 

[Skwim]

ROFL... I don't think so. I'm sorry Hitler was born, but I can't say his birth was a mistake.

Mistakes are decisions over which one has control to carry out or not carry out. So a birth or a car going into a swamp are not mistakes. What are mistakes is Klara Hitler deciding to give birth to Adolph, deciding to drive into a swamp, and god's decision to make man.

But you are welcome to think that God made a mistake.

Thank you for your hospitality.

Yet, He called David a friend and doesn't seem to think he was a mistake and certainly He didn't make a mistake when He sent Jesus.

And David Koresh once helped an old woman across the street, and donated a dollar to the Salvation Army.

I'm sure He was sorry that Jesus had to go through the suffering but both knew is was for the greater good.

Why? the whole Jesus "suffering" thing was part of the plan. Being omniscient, before Jesus even arrived on earth god knew exactly what Jesus would be going through.

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[Mister Silver]

God is the primitive fictional concept created by man; of course his character can be wrong.