My case for time in Heaven

[Juansavage]

I think there’s time in heaven, but that heaven is eternal. Here’s my case:

Premise 1: Time is change. That means if atoms or arms or whatever is one place and THEN goes to another place, time exists. Same with thoughts, prayers, etc.

Premise 2: Angels go places, say things. Saint’s pray for us. Saints hear our prayers.

Conclusion: Since angels and saints (and demons in hell) do things in order, then time exits in the still eternal realms called heaven and hell.

 

[JerryZ]

Except that time is one of the dimensions of our Universe.

Check this definition of time:
Science. Time in physics, the continued progress of existence and events. Four- dimensional space, the concept of a fourth spatial dimension . Spacetime, the unification of time and space as a four- dimensional continuum. Minkowski space, the mathematical setting for special relativity.

Premise 1 you are pointing to effects within our Universe.

Premise 2 Again you are stating interactions within our Universe we perceive time they how can I assume they do?

In Heaven there is no change, the Earth is not revolving around the Sun. You do not age (no change).

 

[porthos11]

I think there’s time in heaven, but that heaven is eternal. Here’s my case:

Premise 1: Time is change. That means if atoms or arms or whatever is one place and THEN goes to another place, time exists. Same with thoughts, prayers, etc.

Premise 2: Angels go places, say things. Saint’s pray for us. Saints hear our prayers.

Conclusion: Since angels and saints (and demons in hell) do things in order, then time exits in the still eternal realms called heaven and hell.

No, not really. God’s actions in our earthly existence appear to us as movement (i.e. God “moves” in our lives, or acts in sequence) and yet it is non-negotiable Catholic dogma that God is absolutely immutable. There is no change in him. This therefore means that he transcends time, since time is a measure of change. Time is a created thing and so God has to be outside of time, but his eternal act “translates” as movement in our own perception because of our natural limitations.

In heaven we will be in the Beatific Vision and so time will not have the same meaning for us. Now we ourselves will not be eternal like God, but at the same time, we will be outside this four-dimensional existence. So maybe, since we will still be human, we may still perceive the passage “time” but perhaps not be so bound by it (ability to time travel? call up any “past” or “future” earthly events to our consciousness? Don’t really care because God is all we need?)

What I’m basically saying is: do not try to apply the limits and constraints of our physical universe to heaven. Heaven is beyond our comprehension and any actions of heavenly beings we perceive on earth are condescensions God allows to accommodate our limitations.

 

[Beryllos]

Whatever sort of time they’ve got in heaven, I imagine it surpasses our time, not just in quantity (unending), but in quality as well (transcending). An analogy might be the way the view of a city from an airplane surpasses the view from the street. You can see the whole city and how everything is arranged.

 

[rom]

I think there’s time in heaven, but that heaven is eternal. Here’s my case:

Premise 1: Time is change. That means if atoms or arms or whatever is one place and THEN goes to another place, time exists. Same with thoughts, prayers, etc.

Premise 2: Angels go places, say things. Saint’s pray for us. Saints hear our prayers.

Conclusion: Since angels and saints (and demons in hell) do things in order, then time exits in the still eternal realms called heaven and hell.

Of course there is time in heaven, because there are created souls in heaven and created souls exist in time.

Unlike an eternal Being, which has no beginning, created souls only began to exist when they were created. But since they were created to be immortal, they will never have an end or cease to exist. They become everlasting from the time they were created, which means that they exist in a time without end, or in unending time. But this does not mean that created souls are eternal just because they are immortal and have an everlasting existence. Because eternal existence (which belongs only to God) is the complete and simultaneous possession of existence (past, present and future) in an indivisible, enduring NOW. In an eternal being the past, the present and the future are simultaneously present in the NOW, but this is not the case with immortal souls. Immortal souls have a finite past behind them and an infinite future ahead of them. Their past and their future do not simultaneously exist in an indivisible “now.”

The duration of angelic beings is different. It is intermediate between time and eternity. Theologians call their kind of duration aeveternity. To describe this kind of duration, I’d say that angels are, in a way, eternal with respect to their natures or substances, but temporal with respect to their acts or operations. I said “in a way” because their natures or substances have a beginning when they were created, whereas the only one truly Eternal Being, which is God, has no beginning at all. However, since angels were created as immutable substances, they also possess simultaneous existence in their aeveternal duration. This means that what we call “past” and “future” are also simultaneously present in their “now.” But that is with respect to their substances. Their acts and operations exist in time. They have past acts and future acts, past thoughts and future thoughts, which happen in some kind of discrete time, if they are not continuous.

Just my 2 cents.

 

[Juansavage]

I thank you. I think this was a rationalization of how it can work.