So, I don't remember how, but my dad and I were talking about time travel the other day. And again, I don't remember how we got on this, but we were talking about it and he says that he wouldn't ever want to go back in time to meet Jesus.
And I'm not going to say that's not a good idea, because time travel seems problematic for so many, many reasons, but I found *his* vehemence on this point sort of puzzling.
Like, I won't be time traveling to meet anyone, ever. I wouldn't ever specifically point out Jesus as someone I wouldn't want to go see. So I asked why, and his vaguely worded answer was that he was worried he'd be disappointed.
I mean, fair, we're used to certain standards of living that were not possible in the ancient world.
Like A/C and cars and modern hygiene and medicines. To name some that I am personally concerned about.
But disappointed?
I mean...
Okay.
You basically have two choices.
One, you go back and Jesus is a revolutionary, but not how you imagine Him in your head. There's no way to 'prove' divinity even if you go meet Him. After all, we can rationalize anything and faith is believing in things even when you can't see them.
Two, you go back and Jesus is how you imagine Him. But you're still going on faith that He is God, since, see above.
So why single out Jesus, unless you're concerned that seeing Him as a physical, human person will somehow hurt your faith.
I read this early this morning and it was quite a "thinky."
ReplyDeleteI have wondered from time to time about living in the time of Christ. Would I have believe he was the Messiah, the Savior of the world? Or would I be one of the Pharisaical types who referred to him as a glutton, drunk, and friend of sinners (and that not in a good way; how impure!)
So...I think I might be disappointed in myself because ... I am often judgmental. I struggle with that inner self-righteousness.
AFA Jesus goes, perhaps if I pictured him handsome or such and such, and he turned out to look like ______ (uncomely), I might be disappointed in that? I would hope not, especially after I had been around him and saw that inner beauty (kindness, compassion, love) is so much more than physical beauty.
Alas, I am curious what your dad meant by that.
What about you? Would you like to go back to that time and see Jesus if it were possible?
I enjoy that you are posting again!
I've wondered that too.
DeleteI'm very much a...I like to fly under the radar, I don't like being noticed. So would I take the chance and follow Jesus or would I write Him off as a weirdo who is upsetting the apple cart?
On the other hand, it has been pointed out that once I make up my mind to do a thing it is done, sometimes without a whole lot more thought. I have been called 'impulsive'. LOL So maybe I would.
I just don't know.
I would not like to go back in time to meet Jesus, or anyone else, really. Because I am not a fan of time travel in general. Everything we 'know' about it seems to say that it would be *really* easy to mess things up.
Though, there is also the issue of maybe those things were meant to happen, and if God is in control can you really mess things up?
But no, I definitely would not go back in time to meet Jesus. Because, for me, it wouldn't change anything. I believe, and meeting Jesus in physical form would not change that belief. And I will get to meet Jesus after I die, so there's that to look forward to. It doesn't matter what He looked like, in so far as attractiveness on that level - though I think it's important that we remember He's not blonde haired and blue eyed.
You know how people say how we see Jesus in the Bible is what God is like? Well, I've heard that. Yet, I often am able to pick out the harsh reactions of the OT God vs. the compassion (mostly) of Christ.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I would be disappointed if I found that Jesus is Love, yes, but he also punishes sins that I thought were OK. Could it be that our human desires for what is permissible is different from God's, and we would be disappointed that HE didn't permit such and such behavior when we clearly would. How intolerant of him. Maybe we think we are more enlightened than He? Could your dad have meant this??
I honestly don't know what my dad meant.
DeleteI try not to be snooty about it, but I know that it sounds snooty when I say that he and my mother's faiths are very ephemeral. There's not a lot of hard and fast dogma that you can nail them down on, and I think part of that is because they belong to a very small non-denominational church and there's more getting together to sing than learning.
Which is a problem for me, not gonna lie. But that's a me problem, not a them problem.
I am certain that there are things that I tolerate that God has declared to be wrong, or sins. I try to look at it in the vein of abortion.
When I converted to Catholicism, I was not wholly on board with the Catholic position on abortion. But I knew that the Catholic church was right about so many other things, and I knew that I could obey without belief. And over the years, better understanding and belief has come.
So I treat things that I cannot understand and agree with in the Bible similarly. I just lack the understanding, at the moment.
Maybe I'll ask my dad if that was his concern, though, that he's worried Jesus will be different in attitude/tolerance/what have you, from how he imagines Him.