Tuesday, January 15, 2019

The Foreseeable Future

I think it's weird that people use the phrase "the foreseeable future" to refer to the near future. On one hand, no one can really foresee the future. The future is unpredictable, hinging on countless minute, unknowable factors. Theoretically, if someone knew everything, they could predict the future, but if there is even one thing they don't know, the things they don't know will throw off their predictions, so only a person who is truly omniscient would be able to foresee the future. Since we are not omniscient, we can't foresee the future, not even the near future.

On the other hand, there is one Person who is omniscient and who can foresee the future: God. Yet, the phrase "the foreseeable future" doesn't mean "the near future" for Him, either. He can't just foresee the near future. He can foresee the whole future. He knows everything that will ever happen, even a near-infinite number of years from now, long after the end of the world.

So, "the foreseeable future" doesn't mean "the near future" for us because we can't foresee any of the future, and it doesn't mean "the near future" for God because He can foresee all of it. Whether "the foreseeable future" means all of it or none of it depends on who's doing the foreseeing, but it never, ever means "the near future."

No comments: