I bet I'm not the only one who is enticed by the thought that there are ideas of which it is difficult to conceive. As, "timelessness."
From a Harvard publication- the question of whether God is 'of' time.....
1. " In discussing Gods omniscience and foreknowledge, I have heard many people say something like this: God is not in time. He stands outside of time, looking down on it, so that He sees all of time at once....all the events of historypast, present, and futureat once. God is timeless.
2. God, I believe, does not live in a Time-series at all. His life is not dribbled out moment by moment like ours: with Him it is still 1920 and already 1960 God is outside and above the Time-line.
"In that case, what we call tomorrow is visible to Him in just the same way as what we call today. All the days are Now for Him. He does not remember you doing things yesterday; He simply sees you doing them He does not foresee you doing things tomorrow; He simply sees you doing them: because, though tomorrow is not yet there for you, it is for Him.
C.S.Lewis, "Mere Christianity ," pp.147-8
3. ... this is an inherently slippery and abstract topic. Nevertheless, I hope to articulate why I think the timelessness view is wrong.
4. The timelessness view affirms what is called the B-series and rejects the A-series.
a. Briefly, A-series means that moments in time are either past, present, or future (or all three in succession, as time changes).
b. B-series means that all moments stand in an ordered relation to each other, so that any event is either earlier or later than any other event.
5. So, the timelessness view says that from Gods point of ... time is like a linear axis on which all the moments are placed in order. From His point of view, however, none of these moments is present or past or future. He only sees that one is after the other.
So for example, it is not the case that your breakfast yesterday was future, and then was present, and now is past. But it is the case that yesterdays breakfast is before yesterdays lunch, where is is understood tenselessly."
Why God is Not Timeless
Must be a shortcoming in me, but I see this as meaningless. If God is God, any and all possibilities exist for Him, not any 'either, or," restrictions.
6. "...St. Augustine wrestled with the nature of God before the creation of the universe. His answer? Time was part of God's creation, and there simply was no "before" that a deity could call home."
HowStuffWorks "What existed before the big bang?"
7. I kinda like the children's gag:
"God, what is a million years to you?"
God said, "a million years to me is only a second."
"Hmmm", he wondered. Then he asked again, "God, what is a million dollars worth to you?"
God said, "A million dollars to me is only worth a penny."
The man lifted his eyebrows and proceeded to ask a final question. "God can I have a penny?"
And God cheerfully said, "Sure!!.....just a second."
8. And, interesting as well, is that science indulges in this discussion, as well.
"Since events before the Big Bang have no observational consequences, one may as well cut them out of the theory, and say that time began at the Big Bang. Events before the Big Bang, are simply not defined, because there's no way one could measure what happened at them. This kind of beginning to the universe, and of time itself, is very different to the beginnings that had been considered earlier."
The Beginning of Time - Stephen Hawking
"There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate; 30
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, 50
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?"
T.S. Eliot, "Prufrock"
From a Harvard publication- the question of whether God is 'of' time.....
1. " In discussing Gods omniscience and foreknowledge, I have heard many people say something like this: God is not in time. He stands outside of time, looking down on it, so that He sees all of time at once....all the events of historypast, present, and futureat once. God is timeless.
2. God, I believe, does not live in a Time-series at all. His life is not dribbled out moment by moment like ours: with Him it is still 1920 and already 1960 God is outside and above the Time-line.
"In that case, what we call tomorrow is visible to Him in just the same way as what we call today. All the days are Now for Him. He does not remember you doing things yesterday; He simply sees you doing them He does not foresee you doing things tomorrow; He simply sees you doing them: because, though tomorrow is not yet there for you, it is for Him.
C.S.Lewis, "Mere Christianity ," pp.147-8
3. ... this is an inherently slippery and abstract topic. Nevertheless, I hope to articulate why I think the timelessness view is wrong.
4. The timelessness view affirms what is called the B-series and rejects the A-series.
a. Briefly, A-series means that moments in time are either past, present, or future (or all three in succession, as time changes).
b. B-series means that all moments stand in an ordered relation to each other, so that any event is either earlier or later than any other event.
5. So, the timelessness view says that from Gods point of ... time is like a linear axis on which all the moments are placed in order. From His point of view, however, none of these moments is present or past or future. He only sees that one is after the other.
So for example, it is not the case that your breakfast yesterday was future, and then was present, and now is past. But it is the case that yesterdays breakfast is before yesterdays lunch, where is is understood tenselessly."
Why God is Not Timeless
Must be a shortcoming in me, but I see this as meaningless. If God is God, any and all possibilities exist for Him, not any 'either, or," restrictions.
6. "...St. Augustine wrestled with the nature of God before the creation of the universe. His answer? Time was part of God's creation, and there simply was no "before" that a deity could call home."
HowStuffWorks "What existed before the big bang?"
7. I kinda like the children's gag:
"God, what is a million years to you?"
God said, "a million years to me is only a second."
"Hmmm", he wondered. Then he asked again, "God, what is a million dollars worth to you?"
God said, "A million dollars to me is only worth a penny."
The man lifted his eyebrows and proceeded to ask a final question. "God can I have a penny?"
And God cheerfully said, "Sure!!.....just a second."
8. And, interesting as well, is that science indulges in this discussion, as well.
"Since events before the Big Bang have no observational consequences, one may as well cut them out of the theory, and say that time began at the Big Bang. Events before the Big Bang, are simply not defined, because there's no way one could measure what happened at them. This kind of beginning to the universe, and of time itself, is very different to the beginnings that had been considered earlier."
The Beginning of Time - Stephen Hawking
"There will be time to murder and create,
And time for all the works and days of hands
That lift and drop a question on your plate; 30
Time for you and time for me,
And time yet for a hundred indecisions,
And for a hundred visions and revisions,
Before the taking of a toast and tea.
For I have known them all already, known them all:
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons, 50
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?"
T.S. Eliot, "Prufrock"
