On Time Travel
by Bryan J. Neva, Sr.
How many of us have used the cliches, "If only I could go back in time and do things differently.", or "If I knew then what I know now.", or "If only I could-a/should-a/would-a done this or that etc."? Time travel is a popular science-fiction topic enjoyed by millions of people everywhere including me. The most popular scenario is for the protagonist to travel back in time and change something so that the future changes for the better.
All Judeo-Christian faith traditions dogmatically believe that God is timeless, eternal, and everlasting. God is not limited by time and space. In fact, God's Hebrew name "Yahweh" literally means "I Am." God has no beginning or end. He created time and space. To God, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. God is also all-knowing. He knows what the future holds. He knows every possible alternate future or reality. But out of deep love and respect for mankind, God gives each of us the freedom to choose our own futures and destinies (i.e. freewill).
Nevertheless, God knows the weakness of our human nature and tries to lovingly lead and guide us in the best path for us to follow. Some choose to listen to God and follow him wherever he leads them; unfortunately, most do not. They do what seems right to them at the time.
Having faith in God is infinitely better than having a time machine and traveling back in time to make different choices. Like the movie Groundhog Day, there are just too many different combinations of choices we'd have to make in order to affect change. We just don't know all the possible combinations that would produce the most ideal results. But God knows.
If you program an address into your GPS navigation device it will guide you turn-by-turn to get you to your destination. But if you miss a turn or an exit, the GPS will announce, "Recalculating" and try to reroute you to your destination. Sometimes the route the GPS brings you on does not make sense, but if you trust the programming of the GPS and stay on the pre-planned route eventually you'll hear the GPS announce, "You have arrived at your destination."
In a sense, God is like the GPS device. He has a pre-planned destiny for each of us and he tries to lovingly guide us to our ultimate destination (eternity with Him in heaven). Since he knows the future consequences of our human decisions, sometimes He has to reroute us in order to get us back on course. Sometimes we do not understand the route that God has us on and we complain and want to go a different way.
Trust in God's all-knowing plan for your life and it will turn out infinitely better than you could ever have imagined!
by Bryan J. Neva, Sr.
How many of us have used the cliches, "If only I could go back in time and do things differently.", or "If I knew then what I know now.", or "If only I could-a/should-a/would-a done this or that etc."? Time travel is a popular science-fiction topic enjoyed by millions of people everywhere including me. The most popular scenario is for the protagonist to travel back in time and change something so that the future changes for the better.
All Judeo-Christian faith traditions dogmatically believe that God is timeless, eternal, and everlasting. God is not limited by time and space. In fact, God's Hebrew name "Yahweh" literally means "I Am." God has no beginning or end. He created time and space. To God, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day. God is also all-knowing. He knows what the future holds. He knows every possible alternate future or reality. But out of deep love and respect for mankind, God gives each of us the freedom to choose our own futures and destinies (i.e. freewill).
Nevertheless, God knows the weakness of our human nature and tries to lovingly lead and guide us in the best path for us to follow. Some choose to listen to God and follow him wherever he leads them; unfortunately, most do not. They do what seems right to them at the time.
Having faith in God is infinitely better than having a time machine and traveling back in time to make different choices. Like the movie Groundhog Day, there are just too many different combinations of choices we'd have to make in order to affect change. We just don't know all the possible combinations that would produce the most ideal results. But God knows.
In a sense, God is like the GPS device. He has a pre-planned destiny for each of us and he tries to lovingly guide us to our ultimate destination (eternity with Him in heaven). Since he knows the future consequences of our human decisions, sometimes He has to reroute us in order to get us back on course. Sometimes we do not understand the route that God has us on and we complain and want to go a different way.
Trust in God's all-knowing plan for your life and it will turn out infinitely better than you could ever have imagined!