1974 ---- "Though men in their agency are sinful and destructive, God is never surprised; his plans roll forward, involving cataclysmic destruction but ultimately also loving redemption for all who will." (Neal A. Maxwell, That My Family Should Partake, pp. 109-110.) 1978 ---- "`The same which knoweth all things, for all things are present before mine eyes.'" (D&C 38:2) Not only is Jesus' omniscience asserted, but the reason for his foreknowledge is given: he is not bound by time, and thus `all things are present' before him each moment!" (Neal A. Maxwell, "The Doctrine and Covenants: The Voice of the Lord", Ensign, December 1978, pp. 4,5.) 1979 ---- "The Lord Himself said that He `knoweth all things, for all things are present' before Him. (D&C 38:2.) We read, too, that `all things are present with me, for I know them all.' (Moses 1:6.) Therefore, God's omniscience is not solely a function of prolonged and discerning familiarity with us-but of the stunning reality that the past and present and future are part of an `eternal now' with God! (Joseph Smith, History of the Church 4:597.)" (Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, pp. 7,8.) "Since-unlike for us enclosed by the veil-things are, for God, one "eternal now," it is to be remembered that for God to foresee is not to cause or even to desire a particular occurrence-but it is to take that occurrence into account beforehand, so that divine reckoning folds it into the unfolding purposes of God." (Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, p. 12.) "Our agency is preserved, however, by the fact that as we approach a given moment we do not know what our response will be. Meanwhile, God has foreseen what we will do and has taken our decision into account (in composite with all others), so that His purposes are not frustrated. It is unfortunate that our concerns do not center more upon the correctness of what we do in a given moment-and less upon whether or not God's having foreseen what we would do then somehow compromises our agency. It is equally regrettable that our souls should be troubled at all because we cannot figure out `how' God does it, when it has been made so abundantly clear and on so many occasions that He does do it." (Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, p. 12.) "God is never surprised (fantasy stories to the contrary) by unexpected arrivals in the spirit world because of unforeseen deaths." (Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, p. 18.) "Because our lives are foreseen by God, He is never surprised by developments within our lives." (Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, p. 28.) "In all of this it is crucial, however, to remember that while we often fail our opportunities, God is neither pleased nor surprised that we do not rise to those opportunities." (Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, p. 28.) "This responsiveness could not be gauged without divine foreknowledge concerning all mortals and their response to the gospel-which foreknowledge is so perfect it leaves the realm of prediction and enters the realm of prophecy." (Neal A. Maxwell, "A More Determined Discipleship," Ensign, February 1979, p. 71.) "The Lord, who was able to say to his disciples, `Cast the net on the right side of the ship' (John 21:6), knew beforehand that there was a multitude of fishes there. If he knew beforehand the movements and whereabouts of fishes in the little Sea of Tiberias, should it offend us that he knows beforehand which mortals will come into the gospel net?" (Neal A. Maxwell, "A More Determined Discipleship," Ensign, February 1979, p. 71.) "Quite understandably, the manner in which things unfold seems to us mortals to be so natural. Our not knowing what is to come (in the perfect way that God knows it) thus preserves our free agency completely." (Neal A. Maxwell, "A More Determined Discipleship," Ensign, February 1979, p. 71.) "While we often do not rise to our opportunities, God is neither pleased nor surprised. But we cannot say to him later on that we could have achieved had we just been given the chance! This is all part of the justice of God." (Neal A. Maxwell, "A More Determined Discipleship," Ensign, February 1979, p. 72.) "One of the most helpful-indeed, very necessary-parallel truths to be pondered when studying this powerful doctrine of foreordination is given in the revelation of the Lord to Moses in which the Lord says, `And all things are present with me, for I know them all' (Moses 1:6). God does not live in the dimension of time as do we. Moreover, since `all things are present with' God, his is not simply a predicting based solely upon the past. In ways which are not clear to us, he actually sees, rather than foresees,the future-because all things are, at once, present, before him!" (Neal A. Maxwell, "A More Determined Discipleship," Ensign, February 1979, p. 72.) "But the doctrine of foreordination properly understood and humbly pursued can help us immensely in coping with the vicissitudes of life. Otherwise, time can play so many tricks upon us. We should always understand that while God is not surprised, we often are." (Neal A. Maxwell, "A More Determined Discipleship," Ensign, February 1979, p. 73.) "There have been those who have failed or who have been treasonous to their trust, such as David, Solomon, and Judas. God foresaw the fall of David, but was not the cause of it. It was David who saw Bathsheba from the balcony and sent for her. But neither was God surprised by such a sad development. God foresaw, but did not cause, Martin Harris's loss of certain pages of the translated Book of Mormon; God made plans to cope with failure over 1,500 years before it was to occur! (See preface to D&C 10 and W of M)" (Neal A. Maxwell, "A More Determined Discipleship," Ensign, February 1979, p. 71.) "When we understand that all things are present before His eyes and that He knows all things past, present, and future, then we can trust ourselves to Him as we clearly could not to a less than omniscient god who is off somewhere in the firmament doing further research." (Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, pp. 36-37.) "Several cautionary notes are necessary-even urgent. We may be surprised at the turn of events, but God in His omniscience never is. He sees the beginning from the end because all things are, in a way which we do not understand, present before Him simultaneously in an `eternal now.' Further, the arithmetic of anguish is something we mortals cannot comprehend. We cannot do the sums because we do not have all the numbers. We are locked in the dimension of time and are contained within the tight perspectives of this second estate." (Neal A. Maxwell, All These Things Shall Give Thee Experience, pp. 37.) 1983 ---- "But modern revelations make it abundantly clear that God is not `in time' in the manner that we mortals are. This is precisely what some able and perceptive commentators have surmised as they have wrestled sincerely with this dilemma, though without `plain and precious' modern scriptures. For example, the philosopher Boethius described in the fifth century how `God is outside of time and does not foresee the future; rather, he sees it in an "eternal now" that is equally present to all parts of time. God did not know yesterday what I will do tomorrow; he sees timelessly in eternity "what I am doing" in the future just as he sees what I am doing now. We must be careful not to conclude that since past, present, and future are equally present to God, they are equally present to each other. Both space and time are real, not just illusions, but God created them both and is not bound by either.' Besides, we mortals make our decisions within our framework of understanding, not God's. The modern revelations give needed clarification and confirmation concerning God's omniscience through these significant insights when laid alongside those from the Bible: `His understanding is infinite.' (Psalm 147:5.) `God . . . knoweth all things.' (1 John 3:20.) `And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation.' (Acts 17:26.) `O how great the holiness of our God! For he knoweth all things, and there is not anything save he knows it.' (2 Nephi 9:20.) 5`The Lord knoweth all things from the beginning; wherefore, he prepareth a way to accomplish all his works among the children of men; for behold, he hath all power unto the fulfilling of all his words. And thus it is. Amen.' (1 Nephi 9:6.) `In the presence of God . . . all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord.' (D&C 130:7. See also 88:41.) `All things are present before mine eyes.' (D&C 38:2.) `All things are present with me, for I know them all.' (Moses 1:6.) These verses confirm what has been referred to as `the eternal now'-within which God exists, so that He sees rather than foresees." (Neal A. Maxwell, Plain and Precious Things, p. 57.) 1992 ---- "A word about those who, in their own minds, will not let God be God. They would have Him possessed of only fragmentary, inferential foreknowledge by being unable to see the future, thus qualifying His omniscience. No wonder King Benjamin pleaded with us to believe `that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend' (Mosiah 4:9)." (Neal A. Maxwell, That Ye May Believe, p. 61.) 1994 ---- "Does God already know the outcome of that through which I am passing? Yes! And He has taken that outcome, foreknown to Him, into account along with all other outcomes. In the Prophet Joseph Smith's words, God `has made ample provision,' so that the purposes in His plan of salvation will be achieved--;including our part within that plan, if we are faithful. The inability to believe in the foreknowledge of the Father and Jesus and in their perfect love perhaps accounts for many failures of faith." (Neal A. Maxwell, Lord Increase Our Faith, p. 40.) 1999 ---- "Of course, the Father knew beforehand of all human wickedness. He knew beforehand of mankind's need of a Savior. He knows the past, present, and future, since all their dimensions are continually before Him, said the Prophet Joseph Smith, constituting `one eternal "now"'." (Neal A. Maxwell, One More Strain of Praise, p. 47.) "Like Laman and Lemuel, many today would consign God only to the past; He thereby ceases to be the constant God of yesterday, today, and tomorrow (see 2 Ne. 27:23). Actually, God has the past, present, and future ever before Him, constituting an 'eternal "now"' (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, sel. Joseph Fielding Smith [1976], 220; see also D&C 130:7)." (Neal A. Maxwell, Ensign, November 1999, p. 7.) 2003 ---- "Our own intellectual shortfalls and perplexities do not alter the fact of God’s astonishing foreknowledge, which takes into account our choices for which we are responsible. Amid the mortal and fragmentary communiques and the breaking news of the day concerning various human conflicts, God lives in an eternal now where the past, present, and future are constantly before Him (see D&C 130:7)." (Neal A. Maxwell, "Care for the Life of the Soul", Ensign, May 2003, p. 70.)