C
CSUNGerrie
Guest
In reading the Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis (which I highly recommend) I came across a fascinating idea proposed by the George MacDonald character, “Son, ye cannot in your present state understand eternity… But ye can get some likeness of it if ye say that both good and evil, when they are full grown, become retrospective. Not only this valley but all thei earthly past will have been heaven to those who are saved. Not only the twilight in tha ttown, but all their life on earth too, will then be seen by the dammed to have been hell. That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, “no future bliss can make up for it,” not knowing that heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into a glory. And some sinful pleasure they say, “Let me have but this and ill take the consequences” little dreaming how damnations will spread back and back into their past and contaminate the pleasure of the sin. Both processes begin even before death. The good mans past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of heaven… and tht is why at the end of all things, when the sun rises here and the twilight turns to blackness down there, the blessed will say "We have never lived anywhere except in heaven"and the lost willl say, “we were always in hell.” And both will speak truly”"
I find this idea very fascinating and wondered if there was some scriptural support for it.
I like the point Lewis makes in confronting the objection people make that no amount of joy in heaven could make up for some of the atrocities experienced on earth. I mean, since God is suppose to be outside the stream of time and he is the source of the Joy we experience, it seems reasonable to assume that when he blesses our lives with his Grace it is like drop of blood that is dropped into a pool (stream of time) that defines who we are.
It seems like such a process would help explain many things for example, I often here many catholics challenge protestants to explain how people in the Old testament could be saved before Christ. It seems that salvation might be a thing that can travel retrospectively.
In another domain, it helps us understand how one persons original sin can traverse generations.
What are your thoughts on this concept? Or what are your thoughts on retrospective joy as proposed by C.S. Lewis above vs. the our suffering will seem small by comparison as proposed by Mother Teresa (e.g. In light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth, a life full of the most atrocious tortures on earth, will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.’)
I find this idea very fascinating and wondered if there was some scriptural support for it.
I like the point Lewis makes in confronting the objection people make that no amount of joy in heaven could make up for some of the atrocities experienced on earth. I mean, since God is suppose to be outside the stream of time and he is the source of the Joy we experience, it seems reasonable to assume that when he blesses our lives with his Grace it is like drop of blood that is dropped into a pool (stream of time) that defines who we are.
It seems like such a process would help explain many things for example, I often here many catholics challenge protestants to explain how people in the Old testament could be saved before Christ. It seems that salvation might be a thing that can travel retrospectively.
In another domain, it helps us understand how one persons original sin can traverse generations.
What are your thoughts on this concept? Or what are your thoughts on retrospective joy as proposed by C.S. Lewis above vs. the our suffering will seem small by comparison as proposed by Mother Teresa (e.g. In light of heaven, the worst suffering on earth, a life full of the most atrocious tortures on earth, will be seen to be no more serious than one night in an inconvenient hotel.’)
