Background:

When discussing the openness of God with my friends a few different chapters in the LDS canon pop up in the conversation. These chapters provide a fairly detailed narrative of future events. Sometimes, they even have verses with statements that many LDS have traditionally seen as statements of fixed future omniscience. Two of the most often referenced chapters include;

• Moses 7: Enoch foresees the coming of the Son of Man, His atoning sacrifice, and the resurrection of the Saints—He foresees the Restoration, the Gathering, the Second Coming, and the return of Zion.
• 1 Nephi 13: Nephi sees in vision the church of the devil set up among the Gentiles, the discovery and colonizing of America, the loss of many plain and precious parts of the Bible, the resultant state of gentile apostasy, the restoration of the gospel, the coming forth of latter-day scripture, and the building up of Zion.

In Moses 7 there are a few verses that are used at times to support fixed future omniscience.

• Moses 7:41 - And it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Enoch, and told Enoch all the doings of the children of men; wherefore Enoch knew, and looked upon their wickedness, and their misery, and wept and stretched forth his arms, and his heart swelled wide as eternity; and his bowels yearned; and all eternity shook.
• Moses 7:67 - And the Lord showed Enoch all things, even unto the end of the world; and he saw the day of the righteous, the hour of their redemption, and received a fulness of joy;

I discussed these verses in my post that asked the question, ‘What are the Omniscience of God references in the LDS Topical Guide?’ and labeled them in this interactive table. I will take more time here to discuss how these chapters require a fair bit of external imposition of facts to make them fixed future omniscience testimonies. I hope to help us see that these chapters can squarely fit within a space where God’s faith and power determine some, but not all, of the future. Where agents still work with him to decide our contingent futures.

The types of future knowledge

In God of the Possible by Gregory Boyd, he identifies three types of future views that I have reworded for my post.

1. God’s foreknowledge determines the fixed future.
2. The free acts of the future determine God’s fixed foreknowledge.¹
3. God’s faith² and power determines (and thus foreknows as fixed) some, but not all, of the future.

Types of determnistic future

I recently read ‘God, Chance, and Purpose: Can God have it both ways?’ and found the book to be very thought-provoking. David Bartholomew carefully builds a strong and convincing argument against the two fully deterministic future options above. It may seem that they are different, but both options require a deterministic path to be able to see or calculate the future. Starting on page 125 David describes the logic needed for a deterministic future to work. However, he has great insights on this point throughout the book. I have included a few of his thoughts below:

The trouble with the fully deterministic system, which a rigorous view of God’s sovereignty seems to require, is that it leaves no room for free action either on God’s part or our own. If we can create space for free actions, without disturbing the order in nature or requiring God to contradict himself, then progress will have been made (pg. 15)

…

If the world were completely deterministic there would be a rigidity which would require God to break laws in order to change things. (pg. 117)

…

His providence is to be seen in the rich potential with which the creation is endowed. The future is not wholly predetermined and hence is open to a measure of determination by God and ourselves. God’s purposes are achieved as we align our actions with his will and, perhaps, also by his direct action. (pg. 242)

The third option above uses the word ‘determines’ in a different context. I see Gregory Boyd saying that God through His wisdom, faith, and power can determine certain future events will come to pass. Not that he has seen them as history but that he has seen them with faith and hope.³

I have a few more points that David shares to show how agents can make choices out of the complete control of the master or of nature (deterministic control) while still bringing His plan to fruition.

There is a relationship between chance and law. … The gas laws, where the relationship between the pressure and volume of a gas at a constant temperature is simply determined by the average effect of a very large number of gas molecules. Lawfulness at the higher level of aggregation is thus the direct consequence of complete randomness at the lower level. (pg. 7) … There is thus no inconsistency in having a great uncertainty at one level and near certainty at the next higher level. It is, therefore, important to be specific about the level we are describing. (pg. 24)

…

The notion of free will is surely not the same thing as ‘blind’ will. Yet it is empirically true that many human activities do sometimes appear to be random, at least in the sense that when observed in the aggregate, behavior appears to be exactly what one would have obtained if decisions were made by some random process (pg. 201) … I am proposing that there is a purely random element in human decision making, but only in the sense that choices depend, in part at least, on inherently unobservable factors know only to the choice maker. (pg. 202)

…

Roughly stated, God does not need to be directly involved in any events whose outcomes have no relevant consequences for his wider purposes. (pg. 206

Can we believe in a God that is responsible for every single thing Who does not need to be involved in executing the plan down to the last detail? Can He be responsible for creating the plan which does the job? Does He have to meticulously (sometimes called helicopter parenting) do all the jobs? Can He set the vision and purpose as the great leader and trust His agents to collaborate with Him on the journey?⁴

LDS Scripture and a contingent future?

We have tackled many of the verses related to omniscience and worked out the definition of foreknowledge to show how future knowledge can work while allowing agency and omniscience their place in our theology.

In this section, we will apply those principles to a few of the prophecy chapters in the LDS canon. As we read, can we remember the words from Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf’s talk

One of the great innovators of our time, Steve Jobs of Apple, had this insight: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future.”

For both 1 Nephi 13 and Moses 7, we read them looking backwards and I think we connect too many dots. For example, in 1 Nephi 13, we learn of a man that sailed across the waters, and we can all look backwards and name the dot Christopher Columbus. From the chapter, the Lord did not name the person he just described the event. Nothing in the chapter requires that the man to navigate the boats was Christopher Columbus. Another could have acted if he had chosen not to act upon God’s whisperings. It is clear that many events are known, but I find few locations that require a specific person perform that event from the beginning of God’s thoughts.⁵

We can discuss 1 Nephi 13 in more detail at a future time. Today, we will examine Moses 7 to see if a contingent future is possible based on its testimony.

The ‘all things’ of Moses 7

In verses 4, 41, and 67 we see the verses condition the vision that the Lord provided to Enoch. In many of these verses, he uses the word all.

And I saw the Lord; … and he said unto me: Look, and I will show unto thee the world for the space of many generations.

…

the Lord spake unto Enoch, and told Enoch all the doings of the children of men;

…

And the Lord showed Enoch all things, even unto the end of the world; and he saw the day of the righteous, the hour of their redemption, and received a fulness of joy;

The named person and peoples of Moses 7

Then, in multiple verses, the Lord names countries or peoples. In verses 4-9 Enoch is shown the people of Shum, Canaan, Sharon, Omner, Heni, Shem, Haner, Hanannihah, and his own. Then in verses 10-20 Enoch receives a detailed patriarchal blessing from the Lord.

The Lord also names Noah as the prophet that will bring Enoch’s posterity through the flood. These future truths are to come in the very near future (less than a few hundred years).

And Enoch also saw Noah, and his family; that the posterity of all the sons of Noah should be saved with a temporal salvation; Wherefore Enoch saw that Noah built an ark; and that the Lord smiled upon it, and held it in his own hand; but upon the residue of the wicked the floods came and swallowed them up.

In both cases, we can see those near future events settle into known facts. This type of knowledge, while greater and grander for God, has many similarities to current weather forecasting. As the future nears, the uncertainty decreases in the possible events that can happen. Thus, these verses don’t require that the shown facts must have been true from the beginning only that they are correct at the point of the revelation.

The love and agency of Moses 7

In verses 29-34, we get a masterful description of how the Lord works with His agents to bring them to salvation. He gives us knowledge and agency. Then the first commandment is that we should love! These three elements seem to be teaching Enoch that God can show a grand understanding of the future but that even He does not have enough power to force his children to love him. Alternatively, at least he will not yield to this power. He is showing Enoch that His knowledge and power are used for love and not to control.

And Enoch said unto the Lord: How is it that thou canst weep, seeing thou art holy, and from all eternity to all eternity? And were it possible that man could number the particles of the earth, yea, millions of earths like this, it would not be a beginning to the number of thy creations; and thy curtains are stretched out still; and yet thou art there, and thy bosom is there; and also thou art just; thou art merciful and kind forever; … how is it thou canst weep? The Lord said unto Enoch: Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency; And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood; And the fire of mine indignation is kindled against them; and in my hot displeasure will I send in the floods upon them, for my fierce anger is kindled against them.

The atonement and Savior in Moses 7

Then Enoch asks, and the Lord shows him the time of the atonement and the wickedness of man on the earth (44-47 and 54-57) and then the second coming of the Son of Man (58-66). In all of these verses, there are specifics about actions of the world, God, and the Son of Man. It appears that from early in the pre-mortal existence it was a certainty that Jesus would come and atone for the sins of God’s creations. Jesus was known and slotted in at the meridian of time.

These events were at a higher level and did not necessitate that all events leading up to and beyond be determined. There can be a large amount of free agency by the individuals of the earth before and after Christ’s atoning sacrifice in line with the gas laws concept described by David Bartholomew. Remember his quote;

There is thus no inconsistency in having a great uncertainty at one level [read free agents choices] and near certainty at the next higher level [read the atonement of Christ]. It is, therefore, important to be specific about the level we are describing. (pg. 24)

The prayer of Enoch in Moses 7

In a chapter full of visions about the future it appears that Enoch understands that he is being shown a contingent future and that he can reason with the Lord on elements of the future. We read in Moses 7:49-51

And when Enoch heard the earth mourn, he wept, and cried unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, wilt thou not have compassion upon the earth? Wilt thou not bless the children of Noah? And it came to pass that Enoch continued his cry unto the Lord, saying: I ask thee, O Lord, in the name of thine Only Begotten, even Jesus Christ, that thou wilt have mercy upon Noah and his seed, that the earth might never more be covered by the floods. And the Lord could not withhold; and he covenanted with Enoch, and sware unto him with an oath, that he would stay the floods; that he would call upon the children of Noah; And he sent forth an unalterable decree, that a remnant of his seed should always be found among all nations, while the earth should stand;

It looks like Enoch’s prayer in the middle of his vision made it so that the Lord could not withhold blessings to Noah’s seed. Enoch pleaded, Wilt thou not bless the children of Noah? and the Lord then sent forth an unalterable decree based on Enoch’s faithful petition. He is the great Mover of the universe. However, these verses show that He is more than the great Mover He is the Most Moved Mover. He can be moved by our faithful petitions that are in line with his will.

Conclusion

From Enoch 7, a contingent future can exist. We see that God;

1. can surely know and execute the critical elements of His plan that offer salvation and exaltation to His children.
2. can foreknow those events based on His faith, wisdom, and power.
3. even knows specific events and names of peoples and persons in the near future.
4. has gifted us with knowledge and agency so that we can freely choose to love Him and each other.
5. gifted us with a power that creates risk - risks that allow for unsurpassed wickedness. All so that He can work with his agents in love to build matchless glory and faith in His children that choose Him.

Enoch had the faith to reason with God in a divine plan to bring Zion from earth into the presence of God. He saw that he could also covenant with God in Faith to secure blessings for his currently less than celestial posterity. Enoch 7 is a rich experience in understanding how prayer, faith, agency, knowledge, and collaboration work together. I hope we see that it is possible that Enoch 7 testifies of the Most Moved Mover - the God of the possible.

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