While many Latter-day Saints hold to exhaustive foreknowledge and/or divine timelessness, when one allows Latter-day Saint scripture and its logical conclusions to flow uninterrupted, a more “Open Theistic” perspective comes to light. Such is the case in the following from Milton R. Hunter:
God’s Concern About Our Obedience
Since Elohim is actually and literally our Eternal Father, he loves us deeply; and so he is very concerned about our repentance and our keeping his commandments. When we render obedience it gives him joy, but when we disobey, his heart is caused to sorrow.
Probably the most outstanding illustration of this point is found in the Pearl of Great Price. According to that account, Enoch and the Lord in vision were looking down through the stream of time and observing the history of the human family. When the scene came to that of Noah’s dispensation and they were observing what was taking place in the world at that time, God wept (Moses 5:14-15). Enoch was very surprised to see that God would weep, and asked:
How is it that thou cant 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; And thou has taken Zion to thine own bosom, from all the creations, from all eternity to all eternity; and naught but peace, justice, and truth is the habitation of thy throne; and mercy shall go before thy face and have no end; how is it thou canst weep. (Moses 7:29-31)
The Lord replied 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 . . . Among all the workmanship of mine hands there has not been so great wickedness as among thy brethren (Moses 732-33, 36)
Because the Lord knew the great calamity and terrible punishment which would come to the people of that period as a result of their gross wickedness, he wept and declared that the heavens also wept over them.
It is the message of the holy prophets from age to age, including the great prophet-leaders of our dispensation, that the Lord God is very concerned over his children’s rendering obedience to his commandments. He has promised to reward them in accordance with the amount of obedience given. On the other hand, calamity and damnation await the wicked. (Milton R. Hunter, “Will a Man Rob God?” The Laws and Doctrine of Tithing, Fast Offerings and Observance of Fast Day [Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1952], 262-63, emphasis in bold added)
Those familiar with God existing in some form of divine temporality and having contingent foreknowledge will find a lot in the above to support such a perspective. Indeed, the idea of God weeping over those that he has known in the eternal past would reject him and the gospel is really nonsensical, unless one will hold that God is eternally heartbroken, which is absurd.
On the theme of God weeping, Daniel Peterson has a really important article on the topic:
