Free will changes nature into something we can't wrap our minds around. Let that go for now.
What about the gifts of the Spirit? How would they grow? (assuming there weren't different ones that I can't wrap my mind around)
- Love: There might be some plus to knowing how it would grow. OTOH, if love is willing the good of another, the "scriptedness" of life would seem to diminish the "will" part of love.
- Joy: Would joy in the present be diminished by the knowledge of problems ahead, or increased by the knowledge of greater joy later?
- Peace: This would depend on what we chose to concentrate on: the waterfall in the crags or the precipitous path to get to it. And perhaps, whether our earthly goals will be ultimately frustrated.
- Patience: This becomes meaningless.
- Kindness: Why would this change? Maybe if we knew in advance that some of those we were kind to would be ungrateful, we would have less of the spirit of kindness in those actions.
- Goodness: Why would this change?
- Faithfulness: What would this mean anymore?
- Gentleness: Like kindness; maybe it wouldn't change.
- Self-control: This might weaken. Que sera sera
The future pain might discourage, or the future victory encourage—it would depend on you.
Faith, Hope, Love: Hope isn't entirely about this world, so knowing the future doesn't make as huge a difference as you'd expect. Faith—maybe less.
I've said that if before my wedding you'd told me the bare bones of what I could expect , I'd have run screaming. And I'd have been wrong, because the troubles were worth it. I would have "known" the future, but not known it well enough.
I suspect God designed the universe just fine. Though I'd really like a little sneak preview on a couple of vexing questions.
2 comments:
In the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Shattered", the ship hits a technobabble temporal anomaly and past Janeway gets a few glimpses into the future--that create so skewed a picture that Chakotay actually has to dissuade her from preventing the whole past seven years.
I had not thought of it this way. Knowing even a bit of the future would be wonderful if it were still malleable, to prevent bad events or at least prepare for them by putting resources (emotional, physical) in the right places. It would be great for your bank account. It could be devastating in terms of despair, especially if you learned things that were not malleable or avoidable.
But the difference in terms of individual elements off character is fascinating to consider. You would appear courageous, or patient, or faithful, but they would just be imitations. Traveling to the past and bringing any information that could be used would have the same effect, as it is just another form of traveling to the future - for those back in 1997 or whatever.
Post a Comment