If you could insert yourself into one point of history to change the conversation, to affect an outcome, when and what choice would you make?

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7 Answers

Ancient One Profile
Ancient One answered

I would step into my "Way-back Machine" find the exact moment when it was decided, and by whom, to bring people from one country to another as slaves. At that moment I was eradicate the source.

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Jann Nikka
Jann Nikka commented
Agree. 💛
Call me Z
Call me Z commented
Here's the thing on that, A1, -the spoils of war. What does one do with conquered people? I think it perhaps amusing that I can address to a fellow "Ancient One".

But yea, I feel that betterment of humanity vibe from this opportunity as well.
Yin And Yang Profile
Yin And Yang answered

While everyone else is off changing the world, I think I would be a little selfish and go back in time about a decade and tell myself "Don't do it! It will have devastating consequences!"

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Call me Z
Call me Z commented
Not all worthy causes involve heading off genocides. Gaining a reset from a bad personal experience is priceless.
Yin And Yang
Yin And Yang commented
So very very true! Wish I didn't learn the hard way my friend. 🙂
Walt O'Reagun Profile
Walt O'Reagun answered

I would go back and talk to Constantine.
Stop the Council of Nicea from deciding on "one god" ... And change it to endorsing religious freedom and tolerance.

Maybe ... Just maybe ... That would have stopped hundreds of years of religious persecution and wars.

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Call me Z
Call me Z commented
It wasn't entirely untrue. In many cases they were.
Constantine's whole conversion story reeks of politics and self preservation. He served up the wealth and influence of the Empire to wild eyed thugs and zealots who were incapable of ruling. They (as you know) then precipitated and presided over the subsequent collapse and malaise of European society for the next 1000 years.
Walt O'Reagun
Walt O'Reagun commented
Maybe a better idea would be to go back to tell Jesus ... "Hey. People are going to be arguing over your teachings and killing others in your name. Maybe it would be a good idea to actually have one of your followers write stuff down NOW."
Call me Z
Call me Z commented
Finding a literate scribe in those days was like finding a space shuttle pilot now.
PJ Stein Profile
PJ Stein answered

I don't think there is ever really one moment that can that effect a major change. Most historical events are based on a series of moments and general principles. Talking to one person would change little in the grand scheme of things.

On a personal note I think I would have talked to both my grandmothers about the importance of mammograms. They were both diagnosed in the 80s with breast cancer. This is the time when mammograms were really just becoming part of annual exams and they never had one until other symptoms arose. Who knows how much longer they would have lived if it would have been caught earlier. They both had parents that lived in to their 90s.

Tom  Jackson Profile
Tom Jackson answered

I would pop in on Jesus Christ about 6 months prior to the crucifixion and convey my strong preference for the concept of disambiguation.

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Tom  Jackson
Tom Jackson commented
Actually, all we humans are immoral.

But to show He had actually overcome death (which was the wages of sin and He was of course sinless and as such did not deserve death), He had to be seen to die and then known to rise from the dead. THAT is true power over "death."

It's quite consistent theologically.
Walt O'Reagun
Walt O'Reagun commented
Not sure if you meant "immoral" or "immortal".
I meant "immortal" ... as if Jesus lived forever, He would still be around today so there would be no question about what He actually taught. It would also be pretty difficult to claim to kill someone or persecute them in His Name, unless He actually favored that action. (which you would think an omniscient god would have foreseen. probably why said god kept having to send prophets to every generation in the OT.)
Tom  Jackson
Tom Jackson commented
A Freudian slip on my part perhaps---lol

Well, He still is around today; but after He ascended into heaven, the glorified human body that can exist in that mode of being there is no longer perceptible to us who are still restricted to this mode of being.

I wasn't around when humanity was created, so I don't know exactly how we were structured as individuals and as a group over time.. But it seems obvious that after Jesus brought a new reality as the new Adam, whatever the details of how we are now to come to Him involves desire, rather than adherence to an arbitrary "way of life."

Simply adopting a "Godlike" way of living involves you at no more deeply with God than having sex with a prostitute gives you any insight into a real marriage.

And, while my children are all admirable human beings----you have no idea how many times I had to "prophesize" to them as they grew to help make that happen.
Jann Nikka Profile
Jann Nikka answered

Stop the Egg and Sperm donors from, (I'll be kind) making me. A double barrel shotgun blast twice to both their heads.

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Call me Z
Call me Z commented
Wow, the implications here are alarming.
Not knowing whether you've fired a dbl barrel shotgun or not, but rest assured, a first blast to the head would negate any purpose of a second.
Jann Nikka
Jann Nikka commented
Good...
Tom  Jackson
Tom Jackson commented
Shakespeare on missed opportunities:

There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.

Julius Caesar, Act-IV, Scene-III, Lines 218-->

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