Credo in Deum Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 If we sinned mortally and then time traveled to the past in order to get away with commiting that sin, by keeping our past self from committing that sin, then are we still guilty of the mortal sin we committed before we traveled back in time? I ask this because I was thinking about the Sacrifice of the Mass and how it is the re-presenting of the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross but in an unbloody manner. Essentially we time travel when we go to Mass, but God stays constant becaus He is eternal and so is His Sacrifice, which is why it atones for our offenses. This is what makes me wonder about the above question, since If we offend God and try to time travel in order to get away with offending Him, then have we truly removed the offense since He is eternal and therefore not subject to time? If we did time travel, thus creating a new alternate reality for us, then would our offense before we time traveled be wiped from the eyes of God? Isn't He still, regardless of our change, unchanged? IMO, it would seem that the choice to go back in time to in order to 'get away' with commiting a mortal sin would be equal to final impenitence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HopefulHeart Posted March 26, 2015 Share Posted March 26, 2015 If we sinned mortally and then time traveled to the past in order to get away with commiting that sin, by keeping our past self from committing that sin, then are we still guilty of the mortal sin we committed before we traveled back in time? I ask this because I was thinking about the Sacrifice of the Mass and how it is the re-presenting of the Sacrifice of Christ on the Cross but in an unbloody manner. Essentially we time travel when we go to Mass, but God stays constant becaus He is eternal and so is His Sacrifice, which is why it atones for our offenses. This is what makes me wonder about the above question, since If we offend God and try to time travel in order to get away with offending Him, then have we truly removed the offense since He is eternal and therefore not subject to time? If we did time travel, thus creating a new alternate reality for us, then would our offense before we time traveled be wiped from the eyes of God? Isn't He still, regardless of our change, unchanged? IMO, it would seem that the choice to go back in time to in order to 'get away' with commiting a mortal sin would be equal to final impenitence. Wow, this is really thought-provoking. I think a lot would depend on if we were conscious of having traveled into the past and if we remembered events from before traveling, like the main character in The Time Machine. If we were conscious of travelling and had memory of "future" events, then I'd say that we are still guilty of sin, even if we haven't technically committed the sin yet. That's probably debatable, though. It seems to get more tricky if we travel to the past and our minds revert to a past state, with no recollection of the future. If we are no longer conscious of the future, then are we responsible for things that we've already done in the future? I have no idea.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norseman82 Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Time travel opens up way too many paradoxes. Could a person go back and kill their ancestors and then not be born? Wouldn't some people want to go save Kennedy or kill Hitler or even prevent Jesus from dying on the Cross? I'm not saying they could but that's why the whole thing is so confusing. Perhaps if we could go back and just observe - ok, but the idea that we could actually do something to change anything opens up more complex problems than ever imagined. And who's to say that everyone who had access to time travel would be a good person? Evil could wreck havok by going back in time. I love the concepts involved and read lots of time travel novels but the reality is too frightening to imagine - it's like the atomic bomb - once it's done, there's no going back. So I hope it is never made possible. Has anyone seen the movie "Frequency" starring James Cavezial? He was able to communicate with his father 30 years earlier through some solar flare and set off a chain of events that somehow led his mother to save a man's life who would end up killing her later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norseman82 Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 If we sinned mortally and then time traveled to the past in order to get away with commiting that sin, by keeping our past self from committing that sin, then are we still guilty of the mortal sin we committed before we traveled back in time? OK, let me add this hypothetical scenario to make everyone's brains hurt more: Suppose you go back in time to stop a couple from committing the mortal sin of fornication..... But it so happens that you were conceived by that act of fornication you just stopped..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Credo in Deum Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AccountDeleted Posted March 29, 2015 Share Posted March 29, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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