Joe submits a question essentially like this: “There are times in the Bible when God regretted things. For example, the Bible says that God regretted making humanity after seeing how sinful they became, leading God to wipe out all of humanity in Noah’s flood. God, who knows the future, had to know what was going to happen and how he would feel.  Right?”

Since the Bible indicates that God knows all things (i.e., God is omniscient), a fair question is often raised about God’s omniscience: Why are there times in the Bible where it seems like God didn’t know what was going to happen and even seems to regret certain outcomes? Let’s examine some places in the Bible where God seems to regret (or feel sorry about) certain outcomes and consider how this might fit with God’s omniscience.

In Genesis 6, God sees that humanity has become corrupt and had fallen into great wickedness (Gen. 6:5). Genesis 6:6 reports that “The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart” (NASV).  A similar sort of example is found in 1 Samuel 15:11 when God says: “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not carried out My commands.” Did God not know that humanity would become so sinful before He created humans? Did God not know what Saul would do when He made Saul king?

These can certainly be puzzling passages because the Bible emphasizes that God knows all things—including the future. The prophet Isaiah emphasizes that God’s foreknowledge is important evidence that He is the one true God (Isa. 41:21-23). God says there is none like Him and emphasizes this by the fact that He knows from ancient times what is still to come (Isa. 46:9-10). David says that God foreknew every word that David would say even before he said it and that God foreknew the outcome of every one of David’s days (Ps. 139:4, 14-16). God also shows His foreknowledge.  For example, He reveals to Abraham that his descendants would become slaves in a foreign land for 400 years before eventually coming to the land God had promised to Abraham (Gen. 15:12-16). The Apostle Paul says that nobody can teach God anything and nobody is God’s counselor because God knows all things (Rom. 11:33-36). Likewise, Job 21:22 emphasizes that nobody can teach God anything.

So how might we reconcile the passages in Scripture that strongly emphasize God’s knowledge of all things (including the future) with the sort of passages in which God is “sorry” that He made sinful humanity (e.g. Genesis 6; 1 Samuel 15)? I think it is important when interpreting these stories not to think that our own sense of regret is identical to what God is experiencing. These stories ought not be seen as contradicting the clear teaching of Scripture about God’s foreknowledge. God did not regret making mankind or regret making Saul king in the sense that He thought He made a mistake and did not foresee how things would turn out. Since God has foreknowledge, He would have known these outcomes in advance; yet God allowed them to happen anyway in order to achieve His sovereign purposes. The history of the world and the history of Israel would have played out differently had God not allowed these events, and God may—for all we know—have achieved many important things by allowing these sinful actions (e.g., providing a lesson to future generations about how seriously God judges sin or setting the stage for Jesus to enter into the world in just the right situation in human history).

But that does not mean that God did not truly have some kind of “regret” in these situations (even if it is not identical to a human sort of regret). God hates sin and certainly would have preferred that the people involved did not sin. He wishes that they had made better decisions. But that does not mean that He did not know what would happen and did not factor these outcomes into His plans. For example, God knew Joseph’s brothers would sin by selling Joseph into slavery, and God certainly was displeased with the brothers and would prefer that they would not act sinfully toward Joseph. Yet God allowed them to act in this way, and in the end Joseph specifically states that God allowed the brothers to do their evil because God intended to achieve a good outcome through their sinful choices (Gen. 50:20).

So God truly was “sorry” (in a sense) about the way these events turned out. He did find it lamentable and perturbing how Saul chose to act as king and how humanity at the time of the flood chose to behave (just as He disapproved of the sinful actions of Joseph’s brothers). But God foreknew these events and allowed these events to be part of human history in order for God to achieve His good purposes in the end. From a human point of view, we do not know the future and our “regret” is different from God’s. We discover new information as we go. But God’s regret is not exactly like ours. It is not based on learning new information and wishing He had done things differently. It is based on wishing we would do things differently and not sin—even though He knows when people will sin and chooses to allow our sinful actions as He works out His sovereign plans.

In these cases in which the biblical author seems to describe God as regretting something and it seems as though God did not know what would happen, it is anthropomorphic language. Anthropomorphic language (describing God using human terms) is used sometimes in the Bible. For example, God does not literally have an arm (Job 40:9) or nostrils (2 Sam. 22:9). We understand how we regret things, and by describing God as regretting His actions, it allows us to get a sense of how God feels about these sinful actions. There is some analogy between God’s sense of regret and our own, even though they are not perfectly analogous. God is infinite in knowledge and incapable of learning new information; by contrast, humanity is finite and needs to learn new things.

–Zach Breitenbach, Assistant Director of Room For Doubt and an adjunct teacher at Lincoln Christian University

If Satan isn’t anything else, he’s a manipulator. He knows how to get in our heads and control our thoughts. Satan wants nothing more than to move into certain areas of your life so he can achieve a stronghold. He’ll try anything to throw you off course to distract you from your focus. He wants to get into your head so he can keep you as far from God as he can. However, there are some areas of your life that Satan attacks more than others. As long as you’re aware of his strategies, we can be on guard to keep him out of his targeted entry points. Here are the areas of your life that Satan wants to get ahold of and keep to himself.

Your Worries

Satan wants you to be constantly stressed out. By being stressed out, you’re not resting in God’s ability to take care of you. Women tend to worry about things like bills getting paid and their children. On the other hand, men worry about their jobs and providing for their families. There are also health concerns, fears about aging parents, and different situations on our minds. These worries can drown out God’s peace in our lives and even cause us to blame God for our problems. Satan wants doubt to weave through your mind and control you. Don’t let Satan get to you with what-if questions. Instead, keep praying about your concerns and thank God for what He’s about to do in your life. This way, Satan doesn’t get a hold of your mind.

There are quite a few people that claim to know God and follow Him, but their thought patterns say otherwise. Their thinking patterns mirror those of anyone else in the world. Satan basks in that idea. He wants you to be so absorbed with the ways of the world that you’re clueless about The Word of God and what it says. He’ll accomplish this through subtle messages in music, statements from your favorite celebrities, and words of advice from your friends. The Scripture reminds us that we shouldn’t copy the behavior and customs of the world. Instead, you should let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Satan would rather have us in mental agony by listening to the world instead of following the Word of God. The best way to guard Satan against your thoughts is to soak your mind in God’s Word. Washing your mind in God’s Word will keep Satan and his worldly philosophies from getting in.

Your Speech

God wants us to be holy ambassadors for Him. He wants his people to heal and help others with our words. However, Satan would rather have you speak negatively. By participating in gossip and using profanity, we give Satan permission to make us people who tear others apart and sound no different than nonbelievers. The devil knows that we can cause a lot of damage with our mouths if we don’t get them under control. Whether it’s gossip or criticism, our mouths can be instruments of righteousness or unrighteousness. Ephesians 4:29 says that we shouldn’t let any unwholesome talk come from our mouths, but only what helps build others up. Whenever you feel like you’re about to engage in gossip or criticism, remember Ephesians 4:29. That will stop any critical spirit that gives Satan refuge in our lives.

Your Body

When people get depressed, they tend to overeat, drink heavily, or start using substances. Overeating or heavy drinking is Satan’s way of turning us against our bodies to get back at God. Satan knows that our bodies are precious to God. Romans 12:1 says that we should give our bodies to God and let them be a living and holy sacrifice. When we think of what God has done for us, it’s the least we can do. Satan knows that God sees our bodies as His temple, and God wants us to keep our bodies holy and healthy. Because our bodies are sacred to God, Satan wants to harm them in any way he can. Don’t let Satan in. Instead, ask God for a healthy body image and a desire to protect your body so you can serve Him on Earth for as long as possible.

Your Heart

Proverbs 4:23 tells us to guard our hearts because everything we do flows from our heart. Satan knows he has an entry point into your life if God isn’t first in your heart. God’s first commandment under the Old Covenant was to never put any other gods before Him. Jesus restated this idea under the New Covenant when He asked what the greatest commandment is. He said we should love the Lord with all of our heart and soul. Satan’s greatest desire is to prevent you from giving God all of your heart, so he will constantly dangle distractions in front of you to create a false god.

Put Your Faith in God

Satan is a manipulator and a con artist. He has a way of trying to get into your mind and make you feel things that aren’t real. He wants you to believe that God doesn’t love you and that He doesn’t care about you. He’ll use anything he can to get into your mind and try to take over. However, you can’t let Satan win. You have to remember that God is always on your side, no matter what Satan says. 

The best way to stop Satan from entering these areas of your life is to follow Paul’s instructions in Ephesians 6:11-18. This verse says that we must put on the whole armor of God so we can take our stand against the devil’s schemes. We must cover ourselves in God’s character and righteousness. Above everything else, we must remember that we are God’s children, and He loves us. When you feel Satan trying to creep into your life, pray for God to keep him away from you and to keep you near Him.

Bishop Derek Grier of Grace Church in Dumfries, Virginia, recently held a series of discussions with a variety of Bible experts regarding racial strife United States and how Christians can be part of the solution.

Among those interviewed by Grier, the founder of 50 ministries, was Courtney McBath, the president of Virginia Bible College and bishop of Calvary Revival Church in Norfolk, Virginia.

When asked why people might be unaware of the multiculturalism in the Bible, McBath said he finds that it’s due to an educational problem. 

“Like everything else, it’s a lack of teaching and training, and it’s the context and perspective of the training that we have. Part of the struggle of today is that so much of the Gospel was introduced to the world by a segment of people,” said McBath, who’s served as a pastor for more than 30 years and is the head of a multicultural leadership network on five continents. 

“When people go somewhere to introduce the Gospel, they tend to take not only the Gospel but their culture. All of us tend to make the Bible or whoever our heroes are look like us,” McBath added. 

The pastor said he believes that God purposely placed the Middle East in the center of the world to help the Gospel go forth. 

“I think God did set it up geographically where you had to go through this place to get anywhere else, and it takes someone with an apostolic flair like Paul to be put in the middle to get to other places,” he said. “It’s as if God intentionally made sure that this Kingdom message would go everywhere and not be limited to any one particular culture.”

McBath encouraged minorities impacted by racism to speak up about their experience, adding: “I would never say to the Jewish people, ‘Hey, now let’s just stop talking about the Holocaust. I mean it happened, people died, but they paid you well afterward. Let’s move on.’ That would be so insensitive, so unfair to ask people to forget the level of suffering they endured and to pretend that it has no impact on them today.”

Christians should be empathetic, feel the pain of others and help those suffering to get through their pain, he emphasized.

“That’s Jesus’ work in my life — to be empathetic toward my suffering and bring me out of it,” the pastor contended. “So, I think when we do that for our brothers and sisters in any minority or in the majority — if they’re hurting — when we do that, we simply represent Christ in us.”

“Jesus never says, ‘Hey, just forget that you were wronged. Get over it; we’re moving on.’ He doesn’t do that and we shouldn’t either,” McBath concluded.

Bishop Grier also interviewed Samuel Rodriguez, the pastor of New Season Christian Worship Center and president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference. 

It’s not for me to say why every single atheist ended up where he is. My guess is “wishful thinking,” since in my dark times I’ve wished that way, too. As I’ve written here before, atheist materialism can seem positively appealing in certain situations:

• When I’m tempted to despair of my salvation, afraid that I won’t make the “not-Hell place.” (I’m afraid that’s the extent of my mental picture of heaven, though I’m hoping for beagles.)
• When someone presents what seems like a compelling argument that only a tiny percentage of all humans are saved.
• Or when I find it difficult to laugh off religious assertions that fail my “brimstone test” That is, the point at which one says, If that were really what Christianity taught, I’d lose faith in the whole thing. In fact, I’d actively hope that it wasn’t true.

At moments like these, my little Darwin emerges and whispers reassuringly: “Maybe it’s all nonsense. Maybe we just get born and then … just die. Endless, dreamless sleep, where nothing matters and you have nothing to fear.”

Sorry, Fellas

No such luck, though. Reading Eric Metaxas’ new book, Is Atheism Dead? drove a stake through the heart of that grim hope. There is simply too much evidence, emerging from cosmology, biology, and biblical archaeology, making nonsense of quaint 19^th-century claims by the likes of Darwin, Marx, and Freud. See Eric’s book for the details on all those subjects, however. He recounts them with verve and brio, and sends you to the sources to learn more for yourself.

I just want to address one gaping hole in the credibility of basic atheist arguments on the most central topic possible, and show how their worldview is a snake that eats its own tail, then simply vanishes, Poof! into nothingness. Just special pleading and nonsense, and a willful rejection of truth.

This commonplace atheist, materialist claim is one that’s extremely familiar. In fact, it’s drilled into our heads by many authorities in our culture, to the point that even Christians might unconsciously half believe it. Or at least suspect that it’s true. It has the same superficial plausibility as “Four legs good, two legs bad!” to the critters in Animal Farm. Or “My body, my choice!” to the creatures in a women’s studies lounge. But like those slogans, it’s nonsense.

To show you that, I’ll defamiliarize this atheist claim, present it with a new light and different angle by means of analogy. That will strip it of the spurious credibility it gained by getting repeated by those with power, and expose its inner gibberish. Okay? Here goes.

“Science” Is Calling

Imagine your phone rings, and it’s an unfamiliar number. But your caller ID announces something impressive, like “Genius Grants Dispensing Division, Macarthur Foundation.” You can’t resist taking the call. So you answer, and the following conversation ensues.

Caller: “Hello, my name is Professor Paul Pennyfeather, of the MacArthur Foundation. And I have a very special message for you.”

You: “Me? Er, why?”

“Because our foundation exists to promote science, technology, social justice and public awareness. And there’s something you need to be aware of.”

“So you don’t have a grant for me or anything?”

“Of course not. You’re no genius. You’re just someone who answers phone calls from total strangers.”

“Guilty as charged, I guess. So what are you calling to tell me?”

“That all telephone service worldwide has gone down due to a targeted EMP blast, conducted by terrorists using stolen Chinese technology. Only the terrorists now have the power to make telephone calls, because of that same technology. We thought you deserved to know. In fact, we’re letting everyone know. Do not trust any phone calls you receive. They are terrorist propaganda, or worse.”

“But … how is this possible? You’re not in with the terrorists, using their same technology, are you?”

“No, of course not. This is a public service message, from one of the largest philanthropic foundations on earth. We’re only trying to protect the public from fraud and calls for panic.”

“So how are you making this call, if you’re not in with the terrorists?”

“Sir, I told you. We are the MacArthur Foundation.”

“But you just said that phone service is down, except for unreliable messages from terrorists.”

“Obviously, that does not apply to this phone call, Sir. Someone with a scientific education would realize that.”

“But how does Science have anything to do with this?”

“We consult with and fund some of the leading researchers on earth, and work closely with the faculty of the top universities in the U.S. and around the world. Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford professors serve on our consulting committees.”

“Yeah, but I don’t get how that’s relevant here. Based on what you yourself have said, I have no reason to trust you.”

“[Sighing] Your reaction here is disappointing but it doesn’t really surprise me. We have gotten similar answers from fundamentalist churches, extremist mosques, and people without college educations. I’m sorry to hear that you share their emotion-driven, anti-Science stance. I’m thankful that attitudes like yours do not prevail in public schools, so that at least the next generation will be exposed to a rational, evidence-based worldview.”

“But you contradicted yourself… .”

Many Christians have given up believing in miracles.

For them, the age of miracles belongs to the early church, when awe-inspiring events—like Moses parting the red sea, the virgin birth, and Jesus rising from the dead—confirmed the authenticity and divine nature of God and Jesus.

But just because we don’t see phenomena of biblical proportions occurring today does not mean that God has left the business of miracles. From second chances at life to scientifically unexplained mysteries, these real-life stories are powerful reminders that God is at work in modern times, and that we must never give up hope and faith.

A “mysterious voice” led rescuers to find child who survived for 14 hours in submerged car.

In March 2015, Lynn Jennifer Groesbeck, 25, lost control of her car and landed in the icy Spanish Fork River in Utah. 

Fourteen hours later, first responders found her 18-month-old daughter, Lily, in her car seat hanging upside down just above frigid river water.

Prior to finding Lily, both police officers and firefighters report that they heard an adult voice yell “Help me!” from inside the car.

They discovered that the voice could not have come from the young mother, who likely died from the impact.

The rescuers still can’t explain the voice or how the girl survived hanging upside-down for 14 hours in freezing temperatures without being dressed for the cold.

A woman who came back to life after having no pulse for 45 minutes.

Ruby Graupera-Cassimiro, 40, fell unconscious from a rare amniotic fluid embolism during a cesarean section in September 2014 at the Boca Raton Regional Hospital in Florida. 

Doctors tried to revive Graupera-Cassimiro for three hours. After 45 minutes without a pulse, doctors decided to invite her family into the operating room to say their last goodbyes. 

Then what doctors are calling a “miracle” occurred — her heart began beating on its own. 

Graupera-Cassimiro has revealed that during the experience, she felt herself floating along a tunnel and seeing spiritual beings, including her father, surrounded in light. 

What’s even more incredible is that Graupera-Cassimiro suffered no brain damage and made a full recovery. Her baby girl is also healthy and happy. 

A boy who fell into an icy stream was resuscitated after nearly two hours of CPR.

Gardell Martin, 22-months-old, was playing with his siblings outside his parents’ home in Mifflinburg, PN, in March 2015 when he fell into a gushing creek with 34-degree water. 

Gardell was found a quarter of a mile away by a neighbor, unconscious and without a pulse. Emergency personnel were called to the scene and immediately began performing CPR, which continued uninterrupted for 101 minutes as they transported him via an ambulance and a helicopter to a hospital.  

His body’s temperature upon arrival was 77-degrees, well below the normal temperature of 98.6-degrees. After doctors gradually warmed the boy over 24 hours—he remarkably woke up without any apparent signs of neurological damage.

The power of community prayer sparked a healing miracle that doctors can’t explain.

he end of Grayson Kirby seemed inevitable when he was thrown from a demolition derby car at the Mid-Atlantic Power Festival in Ruckersville, VA, in June 2014. 

The accident left him in a coma. His lungs were crushed and nearly every other bone in his body was broken. His brain also suffered multiple strokes and hemorrhages and his kidneys were failing. If he did wake up, he would likely—to put it bluntly—be a vegetable. 

But his family refused to give up and turned to prayer. Thousands of people in the community and beyond kept Kirby in their thoughts and prayers and wore red shirts designed to show support for the injured man.

In a final attempt to revive Kirby, doctors hooked him up to a machine typically used for transplant patients, not trauma patients. Whether it was due to a divine intervention or medical intervention (or both), it worked. 

Ten days after the accident, Kirby opened his eyes and mouthed the words, “I love you,” to his father. 

The doctors couldn’t believe it, and neither could Kirby. 

“I’m humble, I’m grateful, just amazed.” Kirby said. “I know that God saved me. I know that prayer and believing saved me.”

Vatican confirms Colorado boy was healed by nun from the beyond the grave.

The Roman Catholic Church has a rigid, formalized vetting process when evaluating miracles, which are defined as divine events that have no natural or scientific explanation. Investigating a single miracle could take years.  

After a 14-year process, the Vatican released its verdict on a young boy’s sudden recovery from a debilitating gastrointestinal condition: It was a miracle. 

Doctors tried everything: antibiotics, diets, and tests. But it seemed nothing could stop 4-year-old Luke Burgie from literally wasting away in 1998.

The eight to 10 violent bouts of diarrhea he experienced every day for six months forced him to drop out of preschool. After doctors began to suspect cancer, the boy’s mother, a devout Catholic, began looking outside of medicine for a cure. She asked nuns to pray for Luke.

Sister Margaret Mary Preister and the late Sister Evangeline Spenner knew what to do. They asked the founder of their order, Mother Theresia Bonzel, a German nun who lived 100 years ago, to intervene. The nuns prayed a novena, a nine-day vigil, asking Bonzel to heal Luke.

As soon as their novena was complete, Luke woke up and his stomach no longer hurt him. The illness never returned. 

“I knew immediately that it was a miracle,” mother Jan Burgie said.

God shows man the power of marriage during life-threatening hold up.

We’ve all heard that married people live longer. But for one man, marriage literally saved his life.

Donnie Register was working the cash register at his store located in the Antique Market in Jackson, Miss., when two men walked in and held him at gunpoint and demanded money.

A shot was fired at Register’s head as he threw up his hands. Remarkably, his wedding ring deflected the bullet. Pieces of the bullet lodged into his neck and fingers, but none of his injuries were fatal. 

Register, who has been married for 38 years, doesn’t chalk it up to luck. He believes his marriage saved his life.

“I knew being married was a good thing,” he said. “I just didn’t know it was that good.”

His wife gives God all the credit, and says this story is a good reminder that men should always wear their wedding rings.

Conclusion

These stories are powerful reminders that nothing is impossible when it comes to God.  

In the Bible Jesus said, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘move from here to there’ and it will move.” (Matthew 17:20). 

Miracles happen when you believe in God. Your faith can move mountains.