I do find it interesting that, even traditional authors, both LDS and non-LDS (at least those outside of Reformed camps), when discussing human freedom, often are, functionally speaking, Open Theists and hold to contingent foreknowledge. LDS author Duane Crowther, who himself holds to exhaustive foreknowledge, slips into an Open Theistic-like perspective by arguing that prophecies are genuinely contingent and that humans have the genuine free-will ability to do otherwise than what has been decreed. For instance, discussing the contingent nature of Book of Mormon prophecies, we read:
The Conditional Nature of Book of Mormon Warnings
Many important warnings to last days inhabitants of America are recorded in the Book of Mormon. These warnings are usually given in conditional prophecies concerning future events. The Lord’s promises made concerning this choice land are often based on alternatives—they contain an all-important IF. Implicit in each warning is a specific principle. The prophetic warnings describe what will happen if the people of America obey the principle in righteousness, they also warn what will transpire if the people choose to disobey that principle and work iniquity. (Duane Crowther, Inspired Prophetic Warnings [Bountiful, Utah: Horizon Publishers and Distributors, Inc., 1987], 27)
In one discussion of such contingent prophecies, Crowther writes:
The Savior’s Warning: Unbelieving Gentiles Will Be Trodden Down by the House of Israel When They Sin Against the Gospel (3 Ne. 16:4-15)
Another conditional prophecy, which specifically concerns America in the last days, also places belief in God as the criterion for escape from future disaster. This prophecy is found in the words of Jesus Christ recorded in Third Nephi, chapter 16. The time of prophetic fulfillment is the same: the future ear when the Savior will fulfill his covenant with Israel by gathering them from the four quarters of the earth (3 Ne. 16:5). This prophecy is directed specifically to the Gentiles—the Caucasian people of America.
The preparatory verses (3 Ne. 16:4-13) paint the scenario. As in Jacob’s prophecy [2 Nephi 6:14-18], the criterion of belief in God divides the last days’ people of America into two groups. One portion of the Gentiles believes, and receives the gospel:
And blessed are the Gentiles, because of their belief in me, in and of the Holy Ghost, which witnesses unto them of me and of the Father. Behold, because of their belief in me, saith the Father, and because of the unbelief of you, O house of Israel, in the latter days shall the truth come unto the Gentiles, that the fulness of these things shall be made known unto them. (3 Ne. 16:6-7)
The other portion of America’s Gentiles does not believe and “wo,” says God, “unto the unbelieving of the Gentiles” (3 Ne. 16:8). This group will sin against the gospel and turn to gross wickedness.
With the background clearly established by these preliminary verses, the Savior delivers His prophetic message. Like Jacob’s, His warning is conditional—if the Gentiles of the last days reject the fulness of the gospel, they will lose their opportunity to hear it:
. . .At that day when the Gentiles shall sin against my gospel, and shall be lifted up in the pride of their hearts above all nations, and above all the people of the whole earth, and shall be filled with all manner of lyings, and of deceits, and of mischiefs, and all manner of hypocrisy, and murders, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, and of secret abominations; and if they shall do all those things, and shall reject the fulness of my gospel, behold, saith the Father, I will bring the fulness of my gospel from among them. (3 Ne 16:10)
The conditional nature of the prediction continues to be seen throughout the warning portion of prophecy: if these wicked American Gentiles will repent they will be numbered among Israel and won’t be trodden down (3 Ne. 16:13-14), but the Lord warns what will happen if they don’t repent:
But I they will not turn unto me, and hearken unto my voice, I will suffer them, yea, I will suffer my people, O house of Israel, that they shall go through among them, and shall tread them down, and they shall be as salt that hath lost its savor, which is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of my people, O house of Israel. Verily, verily, I say unto you, thus hath the Father commanded me—that I should give unto his people this land for their inheritance. (3 Ne. 16:15-16)
Belief in God is against stated as the principle which will determine the difference between safety and destruction in this future event. (Ibid., 29-30; comment in square brackets added for clarification; emphasis in original)
Elsewhere, near the end of his book, Crowther again argues like an Open Theist, not a “traditionalist,” would with respect to human freedom and God’s desire to save all mankind:
Gain eternal perspectives: God desires to bless and reward man. God seeks the eternal progress and well-being of his people. He has revealed that “this is my work and my glory—to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man” (Moses 1:39). The Savior has told the saints they are “ye whom I delight to bless with the greatest of all blessings, ye that hear me;” (D&C 41:1) and he has said:
I, the Lord, am merciful and gracious unto those who fear me, and delight to honor those who serve me in righteousness and in truth unto the end. Great shall be their reward and eternal shall be their glory. (D&C 76:5-6)
He has said to his people that the fulness of the earth is theirs to use and enjoy, and that “it pleaseth God that he hath given all these things unto man” (D&C 59:16-21). He would extend his richest blessings to all mankind if they would only accept his overtures:
O, ye nations of the earth, how often would I have gathered you together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, but ye would not! How oft have I called upon you . . . by the voice of mercy all the day long, and by the voice of glory and honor and the riches of eternal life, and would have saved you with an everlasting salvation, but ye would not! (D&C 43:24-25. See Mt. 23:37). (Ibid., 256-57; emphasis in original)
As a Latter-day Saint who is also an Open Theist, I am not trying to claim Duane Crowther as an Open Theist nor is this an endorsement of the interpretation of the Book of Mormon texts he provided in the previous comments; I am, however, arguing that, functionally, Latter-day Saints, even those who hold to the more traditional model of God’s foreknowledge, are Open Theists.
For more from Crowther affirming contingent foreknowledge, see my post:
