Wednesday, February 08, 2012

To Know Or Not To Know, part 2

Last week, I had my older classes consider this discussion question: If you could learn the date of your death, would you want to know? There are enormous spiritual implications tied into our answers. Me- I like the not knowing. Here again tonight are some thoughts from some of my students. I tried to get opinions from both sides of the coin but most of the kids would choose not to know although for a variety of reasons.


I would not choose to know the day I die because I feel I would be focused on myself, instead of others. I would think about the things I wanted to do instead of doing things with people that care about me. It would make my life more careless. The only thing that would worry me is what I would do because I would just repent at the end of my life, and not do good things throughout it. -Marcos


If someone could tell me the day I was to die, I would not want to know. There would be too much pressure and I would become paranoid. I'd probably try to avoid it. At the same time, I'd do stupid things before I die that I've always wanted to do. It would change the way I live and I'd try to do everything right. Sometimes, too much knowledge hurts people, and it doesn't always turn out to be the best thing. Knowing everything should be for God only. -Megan


I would not want to know the day I am going to die because if I know, then I would try not to die that day. The reason for this is because it creates a time paradox. It also creates an alternate life of you. There would be the you that didn't know when you would die. But then there would be the one who did know; the one who takes risks, and most likely end up dying before his time, unlike the person that didn't know. -Ben


No, if someone were to know my death date, I would not want them to inform me of it. I am extremely aware of death, and know tragedy is prevalent in our society so it's not like I fear death. I know it is a part of life; however, if I knew my death date, I fear I would be a lifeless notion. I would have to think about any and every decision I make in order to ensure heaven would be my eternal home. Likewise, if I knew my death date I would live a righteous life out of the "fear of going to hell," instead of living a righteous life to glorify God and His works. -Raven


If I had the opportunity to know the day of my death, I would not want to know because there are some things in life that should just stay a mystery. I believe that if God wanted us to know when we were going to die, He would have already told us. God has a reason for doing everything, and He always wants the best for us.If everyone knew the day they were going to die, I think the whole world would go crazy. Having the knowledge that you are going to die in forty days would make someone very anxious, scared, and crazy. It's better to die peacefully, than to die crazy and paranoid. Therefore, I would not want to know when I am going to die because I would go crazy, and become very paranoid. If God wanted us to know, He would let us know. -Chelsea


God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1

www.hawleybooks.com
E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com

4 comments:

Angela said...

Having just been diagnosed with very early stage and curable breast cancer it really puts reality into perspective. It is a thing that at this moment once I have surgery everything should be fine but it is a life changing event that I never thought I would encounter. I don't like knowing that I could die sooner than later type of feeling that I'm having. It's not that I don't want to go to Heaven because I do. I just don't want to go until I'm old.

Jennifer A. said...

Your students had amazing answers.

Cindy said...

Yes, they had great answers. Angela, I had breast cancer last year, it does change everything. I'll pray you'll be fine.

Steve Hawley said...

Thanks for reading and your comments! I love to hear compliments for my students!
God bless,
Steve
Luke 18:1