tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post2570833025351095002..comments2024-03-27T17:15:37.606-04:00Comments on Triablogue: The noseeum assumptionRyanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17809283662428917799noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-59695209337307374452009-07-05T00:59:42.583-04:002009-07-05T00:59:42.583-04:00desireforspiritualgrowth said...
Why can't I ...desireforspiritualgrowth said...<br /><i><br />Why can't I know the future, act (to change it) and then know the future I changed?<br /></i><br /><br /><br />I agree with Steve's explanation. Apparently, so do many modern Sci Fi writers. That's why they often explain "changes" in the timeline as actually the creation of a parallel universe. See the recent Stargate Continuum movie and the accompanying Special Features.<br /><br /><br />Also, while it's impossible to change the future, it's possible to affect the future with advanced information of a possible "certain" future if things don't change from the present to that future date. <br /><br />So, for example, when God told Hezekiah that he was about to die in the near future, it was true given he didn't respond (to God's insight into the "future") in the way God intended. God intended that when Hezekiah heard that he was about to die, that he would cry out to God for greater mercy and that would be the opportunity for God to answer his prayer to extend his life. Which was God's intention all along.<br /><br />In Steve's example, by God's ordinary providence (by which natural processes occur in a predictable manner), his brother's death on Oct. 8th was "certain". Steve can't go back in time to change the past (and by so doing change the future), but he could pray to God to have mercy and heal his brother so that his brother doesn't die Oct. 8. <br /><br />Steve, would you agree?ANNOYED PINOYhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00714774340084597206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-62499988806682668992009-07-04T20:43:39.365-04:002009-07-04T20:43:39.365-04:00Steve,
I think it's helpful to note, as well,...Steve,<br /><br />I think it's helpful to note, as well, that the "noseeum assumption" is the central argument of Job. Thus, this theodicy is already built into Christian theism, which means that your thought experiments are strictly speaking unnecessary supplements to make an internal defense of Christian theism.Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00489605258427120527noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-32095526277015184522009-07-04T09:08:57.182-04:002009-07-04T09:08:57.182-04:00Suppose, on July 4, 2009, I know that my brother w...Suppose, on July 4, 2009, I know that my brother will contract terminal cancer on October 8, 2009 due to an accidental exposure to radiation he suffered on June 17, 2007.<br /><br />I travel back in time to prevent the exposure. However, if I prevent the exposure on June 17, 2007, then I can’t know on July 4, 2009 that he will contract terminal cancer on October 8, 2009. <br /><br />Having changed the past in that respect, I also change the corresponding future (which is the point of the exercise), and thereby change the future object of knowledge. But the future is relative to my present, which is also relative to the past. So I can’t know on that date the future occurrence of an event which I preempted by going back in time. <br /><br />The past is the source of my future knowledge. <br /><br />(By contrast, God knows the future because God caused both the past and the future. And God doesn’t change the past.)stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16547070544928321788noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6789188.post-46870515763524730302009-07-03T22:01:14.874-04:002009-07-03T22:01:14.874-04:00Excellent post, first I have read here. Enjoyed it...Excellent post, first I have read here. Enjoyed it!<br /><br />When you said, "And, of course, you can’t change the future unless you know the future. But if you change the future you can’t know the future."<br /><br />Why can't I know the future, act (to change it) and then know the future I changed? Or are you saying that if God reveled the future to me, if I were to act and change it, then it wouldn't have been the future God revealed to me? Or, if I were to act and "change" the future, then the other "future" was not really the future in the first place? <br />Correct me where I am wrong, I want to understand this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com