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Study guideOpen Theism & God's Nature

Ten biblical proofs that God changes His mind

By the end of this guide you will be able to open your Bible to the places where God is said to change His mind, read them exactly as they are written, and see why a God who relents is better news for your prayers and your suffering than the God most of us were handed.

By Tim Barber·

Photo by Spencer Imbrock on Unsplash

A study companion to the video

This Will Change How You See God…10 Biblical Proofs God CHANGES HIS MIND

Watch it first if you can, then read with your Bible open.

Start here

This is a companion to the video "This Will Change How You See God…10 Biblical Proofs God CHANGES HIS MIND." It is written for two people in particular. The first followed the logic of "God is in control" all the way down and could not live with the God at the bottom of it, the one who planned the abuse and the diagnosis and the funeral and called it good. The second lost someone, or something, and was handed "God has a plan" as comfort, and it made everything worse. If either of those is you, this guide was written with you at the table.

Here is how to use it. Watch the video first if you can. Then open a Bible, any translation, and keep it beside you. Read "The teaching" straight through, because it carries the whole argument on its own. Then go slowly through "The passages" with a pen, and check every quotation against the page in front of you. Read for yourself, and hold me to the text. Save "Questions to sit with" for last, and answer them on paper.

Before we start, let me lower the stakes. Being right about this does not save anyone. Faith in Christ does. I have friends all over the map on this question who love the Lord and love people well, and some of the best Bible teachers I know would argue with half of what follows. I am not trying to recruit you. I want you to read your Scriptures with the philosophical filter switched off for an hour and notice what is actually on the page. If the text convinces you, be convinced. If it does not, stay kind, and keep reading it anyway.

Why it matters: what you believe about whether God can be moved decides how you pray tonight and whether you can trust Him tomorrow. If God cannot change, your prayer is a formality, and your worst day was on His calendar before the world began. If He can, then prayer is a real conversation, and your worst day may have broken His heart too. Same Bible, two very different ways to live.

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Now to the passages themselves. Read each one slowly, in full, with your Bible open beside you.

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The Overlap Life

Published · By Tim Barber

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Study guide

Where is God in our darkest tragedies? The study guide

God does act, and most often he acts through human hands. Nobody earned a death, and the Bible holds back one answer on purpose. This guide walks that argument slowly, gives you every passage in full, and hands you three things to do while your questions are still open.

·Companion to the video

Study guide

Open Theism & God's Nature

Why N.T. Wright says God changes his mind

By the end of this guide you will be able to read the passages where God regrets and relents as honest descriptions of a God who truly responds, and you will see why that makes your prayers count and your grief something God shares.

·Companion to the video

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