Does God always make the best choices?

[psimmond]

This is related to my post called "Molinism and OSAS"
http://theos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f= ... impossible

I'm wondering if anyone here knows whether or not scripture says that God always chooses that which is best. When God makes a choice, is there any reason to believe that his nature compels him to choose the best option? Could he choose what is second best? Does he even have to choose that which is "good"?

My gut feeling is that his nature compels him to always choose what is best, but I don't have much to support this feeling. Does anyone know of verses that would support or oppose this idea?

Thanks!

[Paidion]

... be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.(Rom 12:2)

I think it could be inferred from the fact that God's will is "good" and "acceptable" and "perfect" (complete), that God's choices would also be good and complete and therefore the best.

[MMathis]

I don't remember any place where God snapped his fingers and said "Man, I never saw that coming."
I would think he makes the right choices. To imply he is fallable and capable of error seems creepy.

[backwoodsman]

Wow -- something on which Paidion and I agree!

I'd add -- and here Paidion may beg to differ with my reasoning (because it assumes God's foreknowledge), if not my conclusion -- that for God to make less than the best choice would require some flaw in His reasoning or knowledge. But there are no flaws in His reasoning or knowledge; therefore any choice he makes must be the best.

[psimmond]

MMathis and backwoodsman, when I say

My gut feeling is that his nature compels him to always choose what is best...

I'm assuming He knows the best option.

The issue that I'm wrestling with (again) is whether or not God could choose other than what He knows is best. I read something from an athiest philosopher a while back which suggested that God lacks LFW (when defined as "the ability to do otherwise") because his perfection compells him to always do that which is best and makes it logically impossible for him to do otherwise.

Roger Olson says that surely God can freely choose between equal "goods," but I wonder if an omnicient being always sees one option as best.

So the two issues are...
1. Does the fact that God is essentially holy and morally perfect necessarily limit his choices?
and
2. Does God's omniscience cause him to always see one option as "best" in situations where limited beings such as ourselves would see two or more options as equally "good"?

[Homer]

"Best" needs to be defined. In what sense? What is best for me might not simultaneously be best for you.

And what if God chooses to do nothing when he could have intervened? Doesn't He do exactly that when an airplane crashes (unless, that is, you think Him powerless to prevent it). That would not seem to be the best choice to us, but how would we know?

[TK]

I agree with Homer-- "best" is in the eye of the beholder. We, with our pea-sized brains, can't see the big picture.

I guess questions like "what could God have done different" are irrelevant because we dont know all the ramifications of what would have happened if he had done something different.

TK

[psimmond]

Homer, from God's perspective I think the best option would be the option that brings God the greatest glory and most effectively accomplishes his perfect will.

When God chooses not to stop an airplane that is nose-diving to the earth can we assume that his choice not to intervene is "best"? (This is the way I see it.)

If nonintervention on God's part is "best" in this particular situation with this particular airplane, could God choose to intervene nevertheless?

(TK, I'm not suggesting that with our pea-sized brains we could know what is "best".)

Again, I'm asking these questions to see if anyone here can give scripture that would address the two questions below:
1. Does the fact that God is essentially holy and morally perfect necessarily limit his choices?
and
2. Does God's omniscience cause him to always see one option as "best" in situations where limited beings such as ourselves would see two or more options as equally "good"? (Probably impossible to answer with any degree of certainty, right?)

Paidion, thanks for the reference--Romans 12:2. Do you know of any scriptures that say God's choices are always perfect; must (or does) he always choose the best?

[steve7150]

"the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth and He was grieved in His heart" Gen 6.6



Any thoughts?

[psimmond]

"the Lord regretted that He had made man on the earth and He was grieved in His heart" Gen 6.6

For what it's worth, the note in my HCSB for Gen 6:6 says, "His regret did not stem from something He had done wrong, but rather what humanity was doing wrong."

Strong's H5162 נָחַם (nacham) says "properly to sigh, that is, breathe strongly; by implication to be sorry, that is, (in a favorable sense) to pity..."

I wonder if this is the same feeling that Jesus had when he looked at Jerusalem and wept.

When I punish my children for breaking rules, I (sometimes) feel regret even though I don't believe I did anything wrong and, in fact, feel that punishing them was the best course of action.

So I think that God can make the "best" choices and as an emotional person still feel regret/feel sorry for the choices that he made. The question is does the word "regret" imply that God would do it differently if he had a do-over. I don't think so, but I'm interested in hearing what others have to say.