Ok, then you already know the answer to your question.

We can both interpret passages regarding the future in a fixed (single-threaded) or open (multi-threaded) way. The same thing applies to Scripture. So what are the implications of seeing the future as fixed/single-threaded vs. open/multi-threaded. I mentioned a few things in my last post above.

What I'm saying is God knowing the future like history does not make it single-threaded or multi-threaded. It doesn't make it anything. It doesn't change anything about time.

Are you suggesting God knows thousands of possible "day and hour" dates, but He doesn't know precisely which one it will be? If so, how much time is there between the earliest and latest possible dates - 200 years? If so, that limits the possible "day and hour" dates to 73,000 (200 X 365).

Thank you for clarifying that. It's confusing when at one time you believed that God knows the future and it's multi-threaded without saying you no longer believe that way. That makes me ask many questions needlessly since I was trying to figure out this single and multi-threaded stuff.

But now this opens up a new question. Does single and multi-threaded mean nothing regarding the future? Or put another way, what is the definition of those terms or do they have no real meaning?

Do you think anybody here believes that God's knowing the future to be a certain way changes it?

The following insights seems applicable:

Today the voice of mercy is calling, and Jesus is drawing men by the cords of His love; but the day will come when Jesus will put on the garments of vengeance. . . . The wickedness of the world is increasing every day, and when a certain line is reached, the register will be closed, and the account settled. There will be no more a sacrifice for sin. The Lord cometh. Long has mercy extended a hand of love, of patience and forbearance, toward a guilty world. The invitation has been given, "Let him take hold of my strength. . . ." But men have presumed upon His mercy and refused His grace. {Mar 55.3}

Why has the Lord so long delayed His coming? The whole host of heaven is waiting to fulfil the last work for this lost world, and yet the work waits. It is because the few who profess to have the oil of grace in their vessels with their lamps, have not become burning and shining lights in the world. It is because missionaries are few. . . . {Mar 55.4}

Every week counts one week less, every day one day nearer to the appointed time of the judgment. Alas that so many have only a spasmodic religion--a religion dependent upon feeling and governed by emotion. "He that endureth to the end shall be saved." Then see that you have the oil of grace in your hearts. The possession of this will make every difference with you in the judgment. {Mar 55.5}

R:Jesus said God knows the day and the hour of Christ's coming. Is this true or not?

T: Yes, this is true. God knows the day and the hour of Christ's coming in the same way He knows any conditional event, in a multi-threaded way.

R: If God can't know the exact date, He doesn't know the date.

T:Are you suggesting God knows thousands of possible "day and hour" dates, but He doesn't know precisely which one it will be? If so, how much time is there between the earliest and latest possible dates - 200 years? If so, that limits the possible "day and hour" dates to 73,000 (200 X 365).[/quote]

I don't believe the time for Christ's coming is fixed. I think there are certain things that have to happen to prepare it, such as a revival along the lines of what God tried to start in 1888. I don't know what all plans God has, or what all possibilities God foresees, as He has not made me privy to such things.

I'm reposting the following, as I'm interested in discussing the ramifications of the viewpoint we hold.

We've been discussing the possibility that the future is fixed (which I've referred to as "single-threaded", or that it is open ("multi-threaded"). I've made the following argument:

1.God knows things as they are.
2.Therefore, if God knows the future to be fixed (single-threaded), then the future is fixed (single-threaded).

Now we all agree that we experience the future as open, or multi-threaded. That is, from our perspective, we can alter the future. And this is the real issue were are dealing with. Can our decisions alter the future, or impact what God will do?

If the future is fixed (single-threaded), the answer is "no." Nothing we can do can alter the future, nor impact God's decisions, which are already set in stone, as God has already taken into account what we will do. If this is the case then:

1.We cannot hasten or delay Christ's coming.
2.We do not have free will, under the libertarian definition of the word.

Free will can be defined in different ways. One way is that we are free to do what we please. This is a less restrictive definition, and the definition that Calvinists use. One can read Edwards or Luther's work on the bondage of the will (both on line) to get a sense of the arguments involved. Basically the idea is that defining "free will" this way is compatible with a fixed future.

However, if we define "free will" to involve the ability to alter the future, then there is a logical inconsistency between this concept of "free will" and a fixed, or single-threaded, future.

What it comes down to is, is our perception that our decisions make a difference really true? Or is it merely an illusion based on incomplete knowledge?

There is also the question of why God would create a being He was certain would sin. If God set into motion a course of action He was certain would result in sin, how can we maintain that God is not responsible for it?

This post is a much shorter version, or subversion, of the post just above it.

Our perception of reality is that the decisions we make make a difference -- that is, they effect the future. Is this perception true? Or is it a false perception, based on ignorance? That is, if we could see the future, like God sees it, we would recognize that the future has already been fixed, and our future decisions have already been factored in, so to speak. So we can't actually alter the future, but our ignorance (i.e., lack of ability to foresee the future) gives us the illusion that we can?

Why do you think they are applicable? That is, what point do you think they make, which you see as pertinent to our discussion?