Welcome back to the Aspector John podcast. Ryan, a podcast listener, writes end to say this.

Hello, Tony, and Pastor John. I am a frequent listener of the podcast from Northern Ireland,

and I find all of the resources that deserve in God at org to be extremely helpful and

insightful in my walk with Christ. My question is about God regretting his decisions.

Two times the Bible says that God regretted something that he had done in the past. And

in at least 15 places, the Bible says that he regretted or that he might regret something,

he was about to do in the future. Now, a stumble over the idea of a sovereign God regretting

something as though he would do it differently if he had another chance. What would you say

to Ryan, Pastor John? This is a huge and important issue. Back in the mid-1990s, I was embroiled

in disputes over what is called open theism, which argues that God is open to the future in the

sense that he does not have exhaustive knowledge of what is coming in the future. So he's open,

ended. Now, I regard that position as profoundly wrong, unbiblical, dishonoring to the Lord,

undermining to the gospel and to his purposes in the world. So you can see why I was embroiled

in this controversy. One of the arguments used by open theists is that there are passages in

the Bible where God regrets or repents, as the old King James says, what he has done and therefore

must not have been able to foresee what would come of his decisions. Otherwise, he would not have

done them if he really regrets them. Now, Ryan, in asking his question, as mentioned two of these,

Genesis 6, 6 and 7, and 1 Samuel 1511. So what I'm going to do is take just one of those,

1511, because I think if we can show how one is explained and other passages in the Bible

fall into places as well. When Saul disobeys Samuel, God says, I regret, or King James, I repent

that I have made Saul King, for he has turned back from following me and has not carried out my

commands. That's 1 Samuel 1511. So some have argued, as I said, that since God repents, regrets,

...