Most would agree that the universe is made up of space, time, and matter; that this encompasses all that the universe consists of. If this is so, then what exists outside the universe is obviously God. But does this mean God is timeless? Before we can answer this, we must first answer the question as to what ‘time’ is. I have come to understand time to mean the difference between an entities initial position and its latter position, or its ‘movement.’ From the revolving of the earth around the sun to the rotation of the earth itself, we have movement; and this is how we measure time. But if everything were to stand still and there was no movement, then there would be no time.
With God’s creation timing is everything. Even all the cells in our bodies have hundreds of molecular systems running within it which run at a certain timing in order for everything to work right. Without movement there would be no timing; without intelligence, timing would not be set; just as the timing of a car was set by intelligence.
It is true that God is immutable and does not change (Mal. 3:6), and this is an attribute of God; but this cannot be characteristic of all His being, otherwise God would be in a frozen pose throughout all eternity. God is considered timeless only with regard to His character and promises, not to the way He thinks and interacts with His creation. Omniscience was never frozen in immutability. Though God’s thoughts never progress, there is still movement of thought. An ever active mind doesn’t necessarily mean a growing mind, but a mind thinking on what it already knows. Such activity in the mind of God necessitates some kind of timing. Therefore, God ‘is’ time. Of course, He is much more than that, but that is one of the things He is. He is time unending though - eternal time - and our time is finite, and exists within His.
To say that God can step in and out of time, is to say that God can step in and out of total immobility, and this is nonsense. To conceive of God as existing in time unending where movement is constant, I have no problem with; but to conceive of God as existing outside time altogether, a place of total immobility, this I cannot accept.
That Christians will someday enter a place where time will be no more, is also not true. This phrase comes from a Bible passage (Rev. 10:6) which has been greatly misunderstood do to an archaic translation (KJV). The Apostle John was merely saying that the time of a certain judgment was now over with, now the next judgment is come. In heaven there will always be a time when we will think this thought, or do that thing; time will be measured differently though, that’s all.
The timing of Christ’ crucifixion was not without purpose, it was by “the determinate council and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). Jesus also had many appointments to keep: with John the Baptist, with the Devil in the wilderness, with the woman at the well, etc. His timing for everything was impeccable. The stage was all set, all the characters were put into place, and now when “the fullness of the TIME was come, God sent forth his Son…” (Gal. 4:4).
Now, how does God’s infinite time relate to our time with regards to His "foreknowledge?" Foreknowledge is a timing word, as is with foreordained and predestined. Our time had a beginning; therefore, foreknowledge is the understanding of all realities BEFORE they happen. There are no possibilities with God. To say that God knows for certain only what all the possibilities ‘could’ be, but not know for certain what all the possibilities ‘would’ be, is to say that God’s foreknowledge doesn’t know the future for CERTAIN (until it happens, when He supposedly LEARNS from His present-knowledge what will happen).
Thus, it is argued by some that God is everywhere in time at once, and so this is how God foreknew the future; but this would mean that He has acquired His future knowledge by His being present there. In other words, this would mean His prior knowledge was dependent upon a non-knowledge presence in time in order to acquire the data necessary to know something in the future. This implies a God who was forever dependent and in subjection to His own creation!
I really liked this topic!
ReplyDelete