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Jan 4, 2022 · “God is spirit” (John 4:24), and, correspondingly, God is timeless rather than being eternally in time or being beyond time. Time was simply created by God as a limited part of His creation for accommodating the workings of His purpose in His disposable universe (see 2 Peter 3:10-12).
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Any theistic view of the world includes some notion of how God is related to the structures of the universe, including space and time. The question of God's relation to time has generated a great amount of theological and philosophical reflection. The traditional view has been that God is timeless in the sense of being outside time altogether; that...
Proponents of each of these positions attribute eternality to God. As a result, the term, \"eternal\" has come to be either ambiguous or a general term that covers various positions. In this article, the term, \"eternal\" will be used to refer to God's relation to time, whatever it is. The term \"temporal\" will refer to God as within time and \"ti...
Another view is that God is \"omnitemporal.\" It is true on this view as well that God is not in our time, but he experiences temporal succession in his being. Our time is constituted by physical time. God's time (metaphysical time) has no intrinsic metric and is constituted purely by the divine life itself (Padgett 1992, 2001; DeWeese 2002, 2004)....
The two aspects of divine timelessness that Stump and Kretzmann emphasize are that a timeless being has life and that this life has a duration, though not a temporal duration. The duration of the life of a timeless being puts the nature of such a being in stark contrast with the nature of abstract objects such as numbers or properties. The picture ...
The challenge for a defender of a timeless conception of God is to explain how such a God is related to temporal events. For example, God is directly conscious of each moment of time. The relation of his timeless cognition and the temporal objects of his cognition cannot be captured by using strictly temporal relations such as simultaneity because ...
Brian Leftow has defended timeless duration in the life of God in another way. He holds that there are distinct moments within God's life. These moments stand in the successive relations of earlier and later to one another, although they are not temporally earlier or later than one another. Leftow calls this view Quasi-Temporal Eternality (QTE) (Le...
One advantage Leftow thinks his view affords is that it can meet Fitzgerald's challenges while holding to the doctrine of divine simplicity. There can be the sort of duration that allows discrete moments to be individuated by location in the life of a metaphysically simple, timeless God. Leftow argues that there is a significant difference between ...
Fitzgerald had criticized Stump and Kretzmann's notion of timeless duration by insisting that any duration must be made up of distinct positions. This charge will not affect Leftow's position. Leftow allows that in the life of a timeless God (and a metaphysically simple God) there are distinct points. He insists that these points are not parts in t...
Which other TTPs does God have if he is timeless? God's life also has a present, Leftow argues. Having a present is a TTP, but God's present is a non-temporal present. God's \"now\" is not a temporal now. \"Now\" is the answer to the question asked of some event, \"When does it occur?\" The term, \"now,\" according to Leftow, picks out when the spe...
Stump and Kretzmann use the analogy of two parallel lines (Stump and Kretzmann 1987: 219). The higher one is completely illuminated (all at once) while the lower has illuminated a point at a time moving with uniform speed. The light on each line represents the indivisible present. The entirety of the timeless line is one indivisible present while e...
Although there are many arguments for the claim that God is timeless, this essay will look at three of the most important. These are arguments concerning God's knowledge of future free actions, the fullness of God's life, and God's creation of the universe. In addition, we will look at some responses to these arguments.
If God is timeless, however, it seems that this problem does not arise. God does not believe things at points in time and Jeanie does not, therefore, have to have power over God's past beliefs. She does need power over his timeless beliefs. This power is not seen to be problematic because God's timeless knowledge of an event is thought to be strong...
The position that God is timeless is often cited as the best solution to the problem of reconciling God's knowledge of the future and human freedom. If God is timeless, after all, he does not foreknow anything. Boethius, Anselm, Aquinas and many others have appealed to God's atemporality to solve this problem.
It is the transient nature of our experience that gives rise to much of the wistfulness and regret we may feel about our lives. This feeling of regret lends credibility to the idea that a sequential life is a life that is less than maximally full. Older people sometimes wish for earlier days, while younger people long to mature. We grieve for the p...
One important issue that this argument concerning the fullness of God's life ought to put to rest is the idea that those who hold God to be timeless hold that God is something inert like a number or a property. Whether or not they are correct, the proponent of timelessness holds that it is the fullness of God's life (rather than its impoverishment)...
Apr 8, 2020 · Paul states in Titus 1:2 that God promised the hope of eternal life “before the beginning of time.” God existed before time, He created time, and He will exist even when “the heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire” (2 Peter 3:10).
- Alyssa Roat
Mar 28, 2024 · First, because the nature of God’s relation to time concerns the relationship between creator and creation, a core component of the bedrock of theology. Second, because understanding whether God is temporal or atemporal enables insight into what the mind of God might be like.
Have you ever wondered why God made days, weeks, months, and years? Here are three biblical reasons that may change how you think about time.
- Erik Lutz
Oct 1, 2012 · Time is actually a created entity. The first verse of the Bible reads: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1, emphasis added). A study of this verse reveals that God created time, space, and matter on the first day of Creation Week. No one of these can have a meaningful existence without the others. God ...
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God created time. In our universe time is basically linear. We go forward at a fairly steady rate, give or take allowances for velocity and gravity. We cannot go back in time, and we cannot experience more than one instant at a time. God does not have this limitation.
