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Contradictions Debunked Immoral Evidence Silly Debate

Contradictions Debunked Immoral Evidence Silly Debate

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Does God know and see everything? · Apolog

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ContradictionsReading order 14Bible context 9 min read

Does God know and see everything?

Statements of unlimited divine knowledge conflict most directly with passages that describe investigation and testing as ways for God to learn something.

Textual conflict: Interpretive tension; The passages pull in different directions, but the conflict depends on how their wording, scope, or narrative context is read.
Importance: Foundational; A central claim about origins, salvation, divine justice, or religious authority.

God investigates and tests so that he will know despite claims of knowing everything, creating a direct purpose-of-investigation tension.

An editorial assessment of the quoted passages. Importance describes the stakes; it does not increase certainty. Reading order weighs both.

PreviousGod does repent? NextDoes God desire animal sacrifices?

God knows everything and no person can hide from him

For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.

1 John 3:20

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:1 John 3

I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.

Job 42:2

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Job 42

PreviousGod does repent? NextDoes God desire animal sacrifices?

Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart.

Psalms 44:21

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Psalms 44

And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,

Acts 1:24

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Acts 1

Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

Psalms 139:7-8

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Psalms 139

Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.

Jeremiah 23:24

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Jeremiah 23

The eyes of the Lord are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.

Proverbs 15:3

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Proverbs 15

For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.

Jeremiah 16:17

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Jeremiah 16

God investigates events and tests people to acquire knowledge

And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

Genesis 3:8-9

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Genesis 3

Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth me shall slay me. And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

Genesis 4:14-16

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Genesis 4

And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

Genesis 11:4-5

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Genesis 11

And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat. And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.

Genesis 18:1-9

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Genesis 18

And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do;

Genesis 18:17

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Genesis 18

And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know.

Genesis 18:20-21

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Genesis 18

And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.

Genesis 22:12

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Genesis 22

And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.

Genesis 32:27-30

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Genesis 32

And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in mine hand, for now would I kill thee. And the ass said unto Balaam, Am not I thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? was I ever wont to do so unto thee? And he said, Nay.

Numbers 22:28-30

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Numbers 22

And God came unto Balaam, and said, What men are these with thee?

Numbers 22:9

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Numbers 22

And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

Deuteronomy 8:2

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Deuteronomy 8

That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the Lord to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.

Judges 2:22

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Judges 2

Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 13:3

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Deuteronomy 13

Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.

2 Chronicles 32:31

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:2 Chronicles 32

And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

Job 1:7

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Job 1

And the Lord said unto Satan, From whence comest thou? And Satan answered the Lord, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

Job 2:2

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Job 2

They have set up kings, but not by me: they have made princes, and I knew it not: of their silver and their gold have they made them idols, that they may be cut off.

Hosea 8:4

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Hosea 8

But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. But the Lord sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken. Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou? And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land. Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.

Jonah 1:3-10

Translation / edition: King James Version (KJV)

Read the full chapter:Jonah 1

Understanding the contradiction

1 John 3:20 says God knows all things, and Jeremiah 23:24 denies that anyone can hide where God cannot see. Those are unrestricted claims about knowledge and presence. Genesis 18:20-21 instead has God announce a descent to check whether Sodom and Gomorrah match the report received, adding that he will know. Deuteronomy 8:2 describes testing Israel to know what is in its heart, and Genesis 22:12 marks Abraham's demonstration with the words now I know.

Investigation for knowledge implies a difference between what is known before and afterward. That is the strongest conflict with already knowing everything. Questions alone are weaker evidence, since asking someone's name or location does not establish ignorance. Cain's statement about being hidden reports Cain's expectation, and Jonah 1:3-10 immediately shows divine action against Jonah's attempted escape. Numbers 22:28-30 records the donkey questioning Balaam, not God seeking information. The case rests on the texts that explicitly connect God's tests or inspections with learning, rather than on every question or human attempt to flee.

Topics

contradiction1 JohnJobPsalmsActsJeremiahProverbsGenesisNumbersDeuteronomyJudges2 ChroniclesHoseaJonah

Sources