[Avodah] Does God Change His Mind?

[Cantor Wolberg]

Regarding:
"How about this: if Levi honestly believes that if he speaks lashon
hara, he will die. Instantly. Don't you agree Levi will be the best
hilchot lashon hara observer ever? I wager he'll be better than the
Chofetz Chaim! But the fact remains that his idea that he will die
instantly, is wrong. 100% wrong. But it still strengthened his
observance, didn't it?"

If Levi is suicidal, then he would be very inclined to speak lashon  
hara. It would put him out
of his misery. So no, it isn't necessarily true that Levi will be the  
best hilchat lashon hara
observer ever. And certainly not better than the Chofetz Chaim. And if  
he was a normal person,
and his erroneous thinking strengthened his observance, the maxim "he  
did the right thing for the
wrong reason" would be applicable. I would rather do the wrong thing  
for the right reason because
ultimately we are going to be judged by intent.

Regarding Immanuel Kant, who was brought up in discussion, he was  
baptized Emanuel but interestingly,
changed his name to Immanuel after he learned some Hebrew. Kant felt  
that because of man's limitations of reason,
no one could really know if there is a God and an afterlife, and  
conversely that no one could really know that there was not a God and  
an afterlife.
Therefore, he contended for the sake of society and morality,  people  
are reasonably justified in believing in them (God and olam haba),  
even though there
was no way to know for sure. In some sense he was reflecting free will  
and suggested hedging one's bets.
ri