Repentance and Time Travel (Matt 3:2)

Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand - Matthew 3:2

The word "repentance" is a polarizing word to say the least. To some people it is no more than a dry and dusty old religious term. To some it is a hateful and hurtful word mostly used to tear others down. And yet to others, repentance is like a note of heavenly music bringing joy to the ears.

What is repentance? The Greek word in the Bible is metanoia - a word made up of the prefix meta and noia which comes from the word nous.

Meta literally means beyond - think metaphysics: "beyond physics."

Nous is the Greek word usually translated "mind."

Therfore we can think of repentance as "going beyond our current mind," or, more unpacked, as a "radical transformation of mind that alters our perception of reality."

This is what Jesus insists that all of humanity must undergo - a radical reorientation of perception.

To repent is not just to change one's behavior for the better; to repent is to receive a gift of God that makes change of behavior as natural as apples growing from an apple tree.

It is common knowledge that we cannot change the past. If we have committed a sin, we can repent of this sin (i.e. realize it was wrong) but we cannot go back and change it.

Or can we?

Strictly speaking, no. We cannot go back into the past and change our actions Back to the Future-style. But we can do something that I would argue is just as profound and mysterious.

To understand what I'm saying, we must zoom out and remember something: this reality in which we find ourselves is not fundamentally made up of space, time, and matter. Those things are real. But they are not what is most real.

From the Christian perspective, what is most real is the Trinity: the eternal union of the Father, Son, in Spirit dancing together in perfect harmony. In other words, eternal meaningful relationship is at the very core of existence itself, NOT time, space, and meaningless particles bouncing off one another. To say it a third way, reality is made up not of matter, but of what matters (credit to Jordan Peterson for that phrase).

So what does all this mean, and what does it have to do with repentance?

If reality is fundamentally composed of time, space, and matter, then this would mean that physical events within time would be the most important aspects of reality. This further means that if we wanted to change an event from the past, the only way to do it would be to time travel back to the event itself.

But if reality ultimately is not made up of time-bound mindless particles, but instead is composed of eternal meaningful relationship - AKA the Holy Trinity in which time, space, and matter find their being - then "changing the past" begins to lose the supreme value that it seems to have had previously.

It would require a far longer post to explore this idea with the depth it deserves, but the point I hope to leave you with is this:

Repentance does not change the past. But what it does do is change our relationship to the past. And when we come to realize that the purpose of life is not mere correct decicion making but rather to grow in mystical union with Christ, we will come to view repentance as more mysterious and profound a process even than time travel.

For as far as the east is from the west,

so far has he removed our transgressions from us

...

For I will forgive their iniquity,

and I will remember their sin no more.

Psalm 103:12, Jeremiah 31:34