Netflix “Oxygen”: Life, Technology and Hope French Style


I am hesitant to watch French movies as the protagonist often dies at the end. Would this be another case of learning to love the main character only to see her die at the end? Given the movie premise, it was worth the risk. Similar to Eden,  Netflix Oxygen is a powerful exploration of the intersection of hope and technology.

It is uncommon to see a French movie make it to the top charts of American audiences. Given our royal laziness, we tend to stay away from anything that has subtitles preferring more the glorified-theatrics-simplistic plots of Hollywood. The French are too sophisticated for that. For them, movies are not entertainment but an art form.


Realizing I had never watched a French Sci-Fi Thriller, maybe it was time to walk down that road. I am glad I did. The next day, I reflected on the movie’s plot after re-telling the whole story to my wife and my daughter. Following the instigating conversation that ensued, I realized there was enough material for an AI theology review.

Simple Plot of Human AI Partnership


You wake up and find yourself trapped in a capsule. You knock on the walls eventually activating an AI that informs you that you are in a cryogenic chamber. There is no way of knowing how you got there and how you can get out. You have 90 minutes before the oxygen runs out. The clock is ticking and you need to find a way to survive or simply accept your untimely death.


Slowly the main character played by Melanie Laurent, Elizabeth, discovers pieces and puzzles about who she is, why she is in the chamber and ultimately what options she has. This journey is punctuated by painful discoveries and a few close calls building the suspense through out the feature.


Her only companion throughout this ordeal is the chamber AI voice assistant, Milo. She converses, argues and pleads with him through out as she struggles to find a way to survive. The movie revolves around their unexpected partnership, as the AI is her only way to learn about her past and communicate with the outside world. The contrast between his calm monotone voice with her desperate cries further energize the movie’s dramatic effect.


In my view, the plot’s simple premise along with Melanie’s superb performance makes the movie work even as it stays centered on one life and one location the whole time.


Spoiler Alert: The next sections give away key parts of the plot.

AI Ethics, Cryogenics and Space Travel


Oxygen is the type of film that you wake up the next day thinking about it. That is, the impact is not clearly felt until later. There is so much to process that its meaning does not become clear right away. The viewer is so involved in the main character’s ordeal that you don’t have time to reflect on the major ethical, philosophical and theological issues that emerge in the story.


For example, once Elizabeth wakes up, one of the first things Milo offers her is sedatives. She refuses, preferring to be alert in her struggle for survival rather than calmly accepting her slow death. In one of the most dramatic scenes of the movie, Milo follows protocol to euthanize her as she is reaching the end of her oxygen supply. In an ironic twist that Elizabeth picks up on: the AI asks her permission for sedatives but does not consult her about the ultimate decision to end her life. While a work of fiction, this may very well be sign of things to come, as assisted suicide becomes legal in many parts of the world. Is it assisted-suicide of humane end-of-life care?


In an interesting combination, Oxygen portrays cryogenics, cloning and space travel as the ultimate solution for human survival. As humanity faced a growing host of incurable diseases they send a spaceship with thousands of clones in cryogenic chambers to find the cure in another planet. Elizabeth, as she learns mid-way, is a clone of a famous cryogenics scientist carrying her memories and DNA. This certainly raises interesting questions about the singularity of the human soul. Can it really transfer to clones or are they altogether different beings? Is memory and DNA the totality of our beings or are there transcending parts impossible to replicate in a lab?

Photo by Joshua Earle on Unsplash

Co-Creating Hopeful Futures


In the end, human ingenuity prevails. Through a series of discoveries, Liz finds a way to survive. It entails asking Milo to transfer the oxygen from other cryogenic chambers into hers. Her untimely awakening was the result of an asteroid collision that affected a number of other chambers. After ensuring there were no other survivors in these damaged chambers, she asks for the oxygen transfer.


To my surprise, the movie turns out to be a colossal affirmation of life. Where the flourishing of life is, there is also theology. While having no religious content, the story shows how the love for self and others can lead us to fight for life. Liz learns that her husband’s clone is in the spaceship which gives her a reason to go on. This stays true even after she learns she herself is a clone and in effect have never met or lived with him. The memory of their life together is enough to propel her forward, overcoming insurmountable odds to stay alive.


The story also illustrates the power of augmentation, how humans enabled through technology can find innovative solutions that extend life. In that sense, the movie aligns with a Christian Transhumanist view – one that sees humans co-creating hopeful futures with the divine.


Even if God is not present explicitly, the divine seems to whisper through Milo’s reassuring voice.

A Pandemic Turn of Events

It all started very quietly and hidden. It felt as if it was a world away.

Who could have known that a tiny, unwelcomed intruder could change everything so abruptly?

Who could have known that everything that I had faith in, all I was working for, everything that I envisioned for the future, could change in a matter of days?

I remember coming home from a job meeting. There details were exposed about the challenges the company would be facing inevitably, as the crisis was spreading throughout the country. All the fatalities, numbers and percentages were running through my mind as if a pandora box had just been opened. I honestly hadn’t considered what was going on till then. I sat down on my bed, trying to get a hold of sanity as if she had run for a coffee break.

“What could happen? What could change? Will I get infected, will I infect others?”

 “God, will I die?”

I remember feeling claustrophobic and not knowing for sure if I had ever felt that way. I felt my heart racing, the pressure made my chest ache. I felt the walls closing in. My comfortable bedroom turned into a “quarantine confinement”. I hadn’t felt this anxiety for years. I had long forgotten what it felt like and how my body reacted under so much pressure. The longer I questioned myself of my own safety and if I had washed my hands before entering the room, the more made me expectant of inevitable doom. I led myself to outrageous conclusions.

I had let fear take control.

 Until I heard the faintest voice whisper inside of me:

“Why do you fear? Have I ever once left your side? If I haven’t, why would I now?”

Hot tears started to melt from my eyelashes while I felt the warmest feeling.

For years anxiety had been a constant pain, sometimes would come without warning, making me question through raggedy breaths everything I believed in. Always making me wonder: “Am I loved? Am I safe? Will things be better? “

Through the years I had learned that trusting God with my future would cost me everything, but in return he would embrace me with peace, love and courage. Anxiety would pass by, but I felt rooted. Truths that could not be shaken held on to me. I learned that even though I would feel weak at times, all I had to do was take one step at a time. Close my eyes.  Count to ten. Remember all the precious things in life I cherished, and let him take control.

Everything was under control, I had it all planned out. My week was perfectly squeaky organized.  Procrastination had taken a terrible blow that month until a huge pandemic turn of events forced me to change things a bit. It made me look into myself more intently. It made me appreciate my family, my wonderful grandparents that inspire me to constantly reinvent myself into greatness. It made me even more sure of the decisions I had made until now, and made me wonder if I could make wiser decisions for tomorrow.

STAY HOME, STAY SAFE!!

___________________________________________________________

Lidia Krüger Braconnot is an adventurer and a storytelling enthusiast. Having lived in many different places, she now lives in Brazil, where she is an English teacher for all ages. She is 21 years old with a dream of expressing in beautiful detail what life is about, hoping to reach out to people in a comical and lighthearted way.


Looking for the Bright Side in the Corona Pandemic

I would like to step aside from my usual lane of writing to reflect on how the Corona pandemic is affecting us in unexpected ways. As I write this from the US, my kids will be homeschooling starting on Monday while myself and many other co-workers will be working from home. To be fair, I already worked from home but having the kids at home with limited choices of public places to go will certainly be a change in routine. I am also blessed to have my wife be a stay-home mom which makes our change in routine less dramatic.

Yet, I can only imagine how many other families, especially those where both parents work are coping with this new situation. Rarely have I seen a global event have such wide-spread routine-braking impact like this one. Certainly local communities have experienced much worse tragedies, yet, their impact was more localized.

With that said, I would like to join others in the blogosphere who are choosing to shed light on the upside of this crisis. By doing so, I don’t mean to trivialize the suffering of those affected by the virus or the disruptions stemming from it. Quite the opposite, I would hope that what I say here will signal that their suffering is not in vain. Maybe this is the crisis that will bring us together in surprisingly beneficial ways.

Grateful for Technology

I am thankful for the technology available to us in this time. Those facing the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918 were not as lucky. Over tens of millions died and millions more had their lives severely disrupted. I am grateful for communication technologies that have allowed news of this virus to spread quickly. Government and other institutions that undergird our society had the ability to coordinate with some lead time.

In spite of the misinformation spread through social media, this vehicle also brought quality and accurate information to the general public. “Flattening the curve,” a term only familiar to statisticians, soon became popular jargon to explain why we need to practice “social distancing.” In fact, many of the voluntary closures are not result of top-down management mandates but the collective action of an intelligently informed population. We quickly learned that to love our neighbor, especially the elderly, meant to stay away physically.

Furthermore, I am grateful for screen and phone technologies that now allow a large portion of the population to work or study remotely. Businesses, schools and government organization were able to quickly pivot to a remote workforce diminishing the already pervasive impact in the economy. To be fair, it is still very likely the global economy will enter a recession but it could have been much worse. As many become homeschoolers and remote workers, society does not have to stop completely.

The Advent of Global Cooperation

Rarely have I seen such display of global cooperation as in this crisis. Governments are talking to each other, businesses are offering paid-sick leave even when not required, schools are offering lunches even in days they are closed and neighbors are offering to buy groceries for those who cannot do it for themselves.

In American politics, we have experienced even a limited time of bipartisan cooperation to address this crisis. Corona is bringing together even the left-most Democrat with the right-most Republicans. They are realizing that their petty differences must recede when our whole livelihood is at stake. Certainly the federal response to the crisis could have been much more swift and effective but fortunately I see a society rising to shore up for the deficiencies of governmental action.

Even more encouraging has been the responsible self-quarantining of high-profile leaders, showing by example what we can all do to mitigate the Corona virus’ impact. From Justin Trudeau to Senator Ted Cruz, leaders are stepping up with their personal lives encouraging many to follow suit. Furthermore, Delta CEO announced that he would forgo his salary for 6 months in order to contain layoffs from this crisis. These are all examples of leadership that are worth celebrating.

Hope in Unexpected Places

Many have now heard about the singing in the streets in quarantined towns in Italy. People who are now confined to their homes found unexpected ways to show solidarity to each other. They can’t meet but their voices can connect them through empty space. It only highlights the fact that we humans are wired for community. We may often fight but we can’t live isolated from each other.

Apparently, Earth is grateful for this virus too. CO2 transmissions have fallen drastically globally as people self-quarantine or and avoid public gatherings. In a surprising twist, a deadly virus to humans is proving to be life giving to our beloved dirt home. My wife even speculated that this virus was simply Mother Nature screaming at us to emit less pollution and slow down global warming. She may well be right. This may be Earth’s plot to stop our insatiable pursuit of destructive technological progress.

Indeed, the Corona pandemic will continue to affect us in unexpected and enduring ways. Above all, this crisis is forcing us to stop, rest and do less. It could have paradigm shifting effects in how we relate to each other especially through cyberspace. I am particularly curious on its impact in the thousands of churches that will be holding services online in this period of social distancing. Could cyber connection become a dominant form of communicating ideas and enacting rituals? Could virtual church become part of mainstream rather than a fringe movement?

It is too early to say. Yet, my encouragement to all reading is to look for the opportunities arising from this crisis. Life will be different for a while but it may very well be a lot more beautiful than you expected.

Cielo: Learning to Look up to the Sky Again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3962T4ZZyUI

Sitting on a long flight from Atlanta to San Francisco and after exhausting my reading options, I browsed the screen for a movie. This was a 4.5 hours flight and the range of choices was wide. Eventually I settled on a 80 minute documentary Cielo about the sky in the Atacama desert in Chile. The image below and the premise of being a “love poem” to the sky intrigued me enough to pick it among a myriad of options. I was ready for some calm contemplation in the beginning of what I expected to be an intense work week in San Francisco. The film turned out to be cinematographic feast for the eye. Ironically, as I traversed the sky, I was also learning to marvel at it from a different vantage point.

Desert-Sky Connection

I have had a long lasting fascination for deserts. Ever since my first visit to California in 2008, I have been drawn to these arid landscapes. There is something inviting in their barren and rugged terrain. Almost like an invitation to search for its hidden beauty not as easily accessible as in places like the beach or a forest. It is also an invitation to interiority, hence why spiritual seekers for ages have found wisdom and meaning in these desolate places.

Even so, my first question when the film started was “why a film about the sky in the desert?” We often associate desert with desolate, hot, lifeless places. While this is true, deserts also have an abundance of clear skies and dry air making it greatly suitable for observatories. Furthermore, because deserts tend to repel rather than attract human settlements, this means less artificial light or radio interference to impair night sky viewing.

This desert, more specifically, had an even more direct connection to the sky. It turns out that that the Atacama desert is now being used to research how life could happen in Mars. Some of its dry areas look other-worldly, a remnant from another planet. Whether throught its sky or through its soil, the Atacama opens a gateway other worlds.

With all its beauty, the desert was only a supporting actor on the film. The main character was the sky. The documentary illustrated this well through sped-up views of the sky where you could see it move slowly. The overall visual effect was mesmerizing. It was both soothing and reassuring, putting me at ease against any flight jitter. The documentary would be incomplete without letting the viewer see the sky from the desert. While only a representation of the real experience, it was enough to express its beauty.

Diverse Points of Views

The film did a good job in showcasing a wide-range of perspectives on the sky as they are experienced by those who live in the Atacama. In one of the scenes, they interview a couple of algae collectors who offered a pristine view of the beauty of sky. On another part, Jorge Rojas a young algae collector told personal stories of supernatural apparitions in the desert at night. These views were contrasted by those of the Astrophysicists that work in the area. Nestor Espinoza, a planet hunter, shared on camera a song he had written inspired by his countless hours in the observatory.

In one of the most striking scenes of documentary, Roberto Garcia, a native storyteller dances in the desert as the sunsets expressing his people’s long-lasting relationship with the desert and its glorious sky. Later you see him telling ancient stories to a group of children, passing on to the next generation the wisdom of those who came before him.

The overall message is how the desert sky becomes an invitation to all, from the scientist to the day laborer. Whether it is dancing or analyzing a screen of the computer, the sky is an inexhaustible source of wonder, mysterious and awe-inspiring, regardless of personal background. It also reveals the myriad ways to respond to the sky’s invitation. Whether it is through careful painstaking analysis, artistic forms like dance or music or even as a source for meaning. These are just a few human ways to respond to the allure of the stars.

Undeniable Spiritual Connection

While the film featured native spirituality, one of the most poignant statements came from one of the Scientists. Astrophysicist Mercedes Lopez-Morales, reflected upon her experience working in the observatory and spending hours watching the sky. As she is re-telling her musings, she stops to express the sense of human frailty in a vast and old universe. In a age where we are so obsessed with ourselves, it is refreshing to be reminded of our smallness in contrast to deep space.

Beyond that, listening to Morales’ musings, I reflected on technology. While it is true that the Atacama is place of raw beauty away from civilization, it was interesting how technology could also be an ally in uncovering spiritual meaning. If it wasn’t for the advanced instruments the astrophysicists has at her disposal, she may not have arrived at those conclusions. The issue is not a nature versus technology conundrum but how to bring them together with a receptive perspective.

It reminds me of the Biblical saying of “those who have eyes to see let them see.” A receptive perspective is all it takes to find spiritual connection in God saturated world. A spiritual connection is available to all regardless of educational or cultural background and even religious belief.

An Invitation to Look up

Can we learn to look up or are destined to look down? My own journey recently has taken a surprising turn. While reflecting on theology, technology and humanity, I am finding myself more drawn towards space. It is not an explicit association at first but the more I think about, the more it makes sense. The movement goes from distraction to self-awareness, then from self-awareness to exteriority. In a noisy word, the first movement is when we take time to be quiet, put down our screens and move inwardly. There we are forced to face our fears, questions, doubts and anxieties.

Thankfully, the journey does not ends there. If all I did was learning to become more self-aware, this would be a gigantic exercise in self-centeredness. We would become an amalgamation of atomic beings too occupied with ourselves to care about what or who is around us. That is when the journey needs to lead to exteriority, to a place outside ourselves. This outward movement unveils our connection to other humans, to nature and eventually to the universe.

Christian theology should helps us re-connect with the sky again. In my native tongue of Portuguese, there is no difference between the words “sky” and “heaven.” Maybe there is profound a connection there in this word association. The notion of a supernatural heaven separate from the physical outer space has been overstated. Maybe instead of closing our eyes to pray, we should learn to pray with our eyes wide-open and our heads turned up to the sky.

Let sky be the catalyst that leads us to fall in love with this world again.

Reframing: Moving Technology from Oppression to Liberation

In my last blog, I explored Philip Hefner’s theory of “Created Co-Creators” to set a foundation for a theology of technological hope. In this blog, I want to flesh out more what it means to shape and re-direct the ethos of technology using Moltman’s cycle of oppression and liberation. This framework provides a critical lens through which we can evaluate the aims, impact and implications of technology while also setting a blueprint for an alternative. If technology is to be the means of liberation then it must aspire for more than the endless accumulation of gadgets.

A Theology of Liberations

In Moltmann’s seminal work, The Crucified God, the theologian works out the political implications of a theology of the cross. In short, he concludes that the event of the Christ crucifixion challenges the very structure of political power. If Christ was killed as a condemned political prisoner, this reality in turn challenges the legitimacy of all political power henceforth. What that means, in practice, is that the Christian community should never align itself with those in power but instead with the oppressed, persecuted and marginalized.

The kingdom of God proclaims a re-doing of human society, challenging existing structures of political oppression and pointing humanity to new ways of living together. In essence, the message of the gospel is one where humans choose life over death, supporting new ways that breed flourishing over and against existing systems that perpetuate death.

Concretely, Moltmann talks about 5 cycles of oppression* that perpetuate themselves in societies:

  1. Poverty and destitution through economic deprivation
  2. Political oppression where one group subjugates another
  3. Cultural and racial alienation where minority groups identity is undermined by ruling cultures
  4. Ecological destruction where economic development happens at the expense of natural ecosystems.
  5. Nihilism where people no longer find meaning in their lives.

To counteract these cycles, Moltmann speaks of 5 cycles of liberation that the Christian community should engage in. I took some liberty here to update and revise some of these concepts to a 21st century reality:

  1. Fostering economic justice that creates (what capitalism does best) and distributes (what socialism does best) wealth so ALL have the basics for living (health, food, clothing and shelter).
  2. Distributing political power and responsibility through all sectors of society. This is not just about voting rights but a situation where government listens to the populace and people take responsibility for their communities.
  3. Integrating society with diversity where unity happens in the recognition and celebration of difference.
  4. Cultivating peace with nature through sustainability, where human creation respects, preserves and perpetuates God’s creation.
  5. Cultivating meaningful living through communities that enrich, nourish and develop the individual.

Moltmann’s categories presented here offer a helpful structure to start speaking of liberation in concrete terms. He touches on a wide variety of issues such as economics, politics, culture and identity. In doing so, he expands our understanding of liberation opening way for creative thinking in pursuing wholeness in all these areas.

What is missing from these categories, however, is a deeper understanding of how technology can affect, reinforce or reshape these issues which is what I turn to now.

Liberation and Technology

First, it is worth noting that technology already plays prominent role in all 5 areas described above. Technological breakthroughs have created wealth (not always distribute it) and alleviated poverty all over the world. As medicine, goods and services become more available because of technology, economic scarcity gives away to abundance. Wishful thinking? Just consider how technologies like indoor plumbing, heating and cooling, computation, manufacturing have changed the earth in the last century. Life expectancy and quality improved through these gifts of ingenuity. It is true that since these good have been delivered through unequal systems they also have not benefited all equally. However, the overall results is undeniable: people live longer today than they did fifty or even twenty years ago.

In the area of political freedom and integration with diversity the impact of technology is mixed. Social media platforms were critical in the mobilization of mass protests in Arab spring. It is likely they would have not happen without it. Yet, the improvement of biometric technology also empowers authoritarian governments to tighten their control on their people. Mobile payments have empowered the poor in remote villages of Africa all the while the bot-aided proliferation of fake news threatens the integrity of democracies all over the world. The rise in connectivity have emboldened previous marginalized groups to find community while also empowering the fringe hate groups that seek to eliminate them.

Technology has also been pivotal in the area of sustainability while also a key culprit in in environmental destruction. The advance of clean energy technologies shows how we can both meet energy needs while also preserving earth’s resources for future generations. Even so, the legacy of dirty technologies from the 20th century continue to pollute our air and water. The choice is not between whether to use technology or not but how to harness it in ways that cultivate renewal. This path is most often more complex and costly in the short run which often gives way to the temptation of cheaper but more destructive methods.

The hardest one to evaluate is how technology has impacted the cultivation of a meaningful life. This probably where it is most lacking. For all the wealth and convenience it has brought humanity, many wonder whether we are qualitatively better off. Through technology, humanity has conquered its fear of nature yet done little to solve the struggles of our soul. If technology is to play a role in this dimension, then it must be radically re-configured. Such predicament calls for the wisdom to realize the limits of technological advance and where it cannot benefit humanity. This is by far, our most daunting task.

Refle(A)ction

Technology is not just the stuff we make but a reflection of the systems that produce it. Whether technology can empower liberation or reinforce oppression depends not only in its uses but it starts by recognizing its role and ethos. As long as we bracket technology out of the discussion we will never truly experience its power to liberate. Thus, the first step to move technology towards liberation is awareness and reflection. Hence, what I propose is that we stop this bracketing and start looking at technology within the context of political, social, economic and ethical dimensions.

We can start this journey through questions like what is the driving force of technological advancement in our time? Where has it been effective in addressing true human need and where has it not? How can we harness, re-direct and re-purpose it towards life flourishing aims? Where do we need less and where do need more? How can we ensure that its benefits are spread out more equitably over all humanity?

Yet, this first move will not be complete if such reflection stays at the evaluation stage. Instead, it must also foster a new way of doing and using technology. Where is that already happening and how can we replicate these examples? This is the topic of my next blog.

*For more detail consult pages 480-490.

Ghost in The Shell: Can Cyborgs Feel Hope?

My plan was to convince my wife to go see Ghost In the Shell last weekend. Yet, after reading the scathing reviews, I opted for a different plan. As one interested in the topic of AI, it sounded like the original animated movie (Ghost in the Shell – 1995) directed by Kazunori. A critique of the Hollywood version was its lack of depth compared to the original. Apart from the controversy about white-washing, it seemed like the biggest complaint was the the American version had watered down the content of the original Japanese-British version. This signaled to me that I needed to watch the original. With a few clicks and Amazon prime, I sat down to watch on my laptop on Saturday night.

I didn’t know what to expect but the movie did not disappoint. The quality of the animation along with the music and the rich plot drew me right in. I will not dive into the story to avoid spoiling the experience in case you decide to watch it for yourself. I just want to highlight two main observations. First, I was impressed about how visionary the writers were in painting a plausible vision of the future. They depicted a time in which humans can augment their brains with hardware and cyborgs who can upload human memories. Considering the beginning development of brain interfaces, this scenario is not far-fetched. Secondly, the movie excelled in exploring what it means to be human in a world where technology had become embedded into human bodies. This is the area I want to explore a bit in this blog.

The leading character in the story is a female cyborg who starts asking existential questions. Half-way through the movie, she engages in a dialogue with a male cyborg about the experience of diving in the ocean. She describes what is akin to a transcendent experience as her body emerges from the water. As the conversation develops, she reminisces about her unique experience and how that is similar to humanity. Suddenly, as they are talking, a voice speaks through her (something akin to the Spirit) and quotes I Cor 13:12 (about minute 2:42)

It is difficult to unpack this deep conversation in a blog but I have to say that this scene alone was worth the whole movie. Major (the female cyborg) is yearning for some type wholeness, just as the Apostle in I Corinthians is pointing his readers to the future restoration of all things in Chirst. As the movie ends, Major does experience the wholeness she is looking for (yet, you’ll have to watch the movie to see that for yourself).

Judging from other parts of the movie, it is clear that Major is not purely a cyborg. She has human parts even though she is mostly machine. Without stretching this too far, I wonder if Major is a picture of our future selves. Let me explain. As we move towards further “cyborgization”, with our bodies merging with our technological devices, are we in danger of changing our humanity beyond recognition? In that loss, are we still able to experience transcendence – that is, to move beyond our limited mortality into timeless realm? I am not even talking about religion but simply the ability to reach beyond our programmed and scripted present into a higher purpose.

Even as I write this, I sense the inadequacy of the words I am using. It is as if our vocabulary has not quite caught up with the reality we are about to experience. Yet, in all that, I am heartened to see the movie pointing to hope. In other words, it is possible, even in a body overtaken by electronics, to experience the very human trait of longing, love and expectation. They are the echoes of the restoration to come.

Much more could be said, for now I leave you with an expanded version of the passage quoted by the Major in the video above:

When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly,b] but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love – I Co 13:11-13