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WhiteDove
Guest
What is God’s relationship with time?
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Mijoy2
Guest
I just voted other. Time is a human concept we cannot escape or fully understand. Time, is a mystery, so removed from our understanding yet so close to our every thought process, that the mystery surrounding it, helps me to better understand (by virtue of the fact that I cannot understand it) other mysterys related to our Father in heaven.
Hope that made some sense.
No matter how we slice time. half a nanosecond, then halve that, then halve that again…etc. we beging to realize a micro-second is eternal, relatively speaking. Bizzare indeed. Such are the many mysteries we find in scripture.
Good question!
Hope that made some sense.
No matter how we slice time. half a nanosecond, then halve that, then halve that again…etc. we beging to realize a micro-second is eternal, relatively speaking. Bizzare indeed. Such are the many mysteries we find in scripture.
Good question!
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Exporter
Guest
I was lucky enough to hear a lecture by Albert Einstein’s collaborator while at Princeton. His name was Dr. Williams.
I was allowed one question, it was: “What would Dr. Einstein say if he were asked - What is Time?”
The answer was," He would say time is that which separates two or more events".
So if there was only one event, we could not measure time. The key word, it seems to me is the word “events”.
Using EInstein’s definition of time, if God is “outside” of time; then no events are occuring where God is or where He is located. This of course is all based on Newtonian Physics.
I was allowed one question, it was: “What would Dr. Einstein say if he were asked - What is Time?”
The answer was," He would say time is that which separates two or more events".
So if there was only one event, we could not measure time. The key word, it seems to me is the word “events”.
Using EInstein’s definition of time, if God is “outside” of time; then no events are occuring where God is or where He is located. This of course is all based on Newtonian Physics.
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Annunciata
Guest
There is no time with God…everything is ever-present to Him.
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Fitz
Guest
Kairos
I have always heard that all things are in God’s time.
I have always heard that all things are in God’s time.
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Fidelis
Guest
I put that God is basically outside of time.
The illustration that I use in my adult education class is a blank sheet of paper. I draw a short line in the middle of the paper and tell them: “The beginning of this line is the beginning of Creation; the Big Bang or however God chose to do it. The end of this line is the end of time, the Final Judgement, the New Heavens and the New Earth, what have you. We, as finite creatures basically live inside and along that line.That’s it–that’s all we can comprehend. God, however, is in all the white part of the paper–and beyond, for however a big of piece of paper you can find. He is not only outside of time, he encompasses it.”
A little St. Augustine humor from Scott Hahn:
Q.: What was doing God before Creation?
A: Nothing – He didn’t have the time. :dancing:
:clapping: :yup:
:bounce: 
:clapping:
The illustration that I use in my adult education class is a blank sheet of paper. I draw a short line in the middle of the paper and tell them: “The beginning of this line is the beginning of Creation; the Big Bang or however God chose to do it. The end of this line is the end of time, the Final Judgement, the New Heavens and the New Earth, what have you. We, as finite creatures basically live inside and along that line.That’s it–that’s all we can comprehend. God, however, is in all the white part of the paper–and beyond, for however a big of piece of paper you can find. He is not only outside of time, he encompasses it.”
A little St. Augustine humor from Scott Hahn:
Q.: What was doing God before Creation?
A: Nothing – He didn’t have the time. :dancing:
:clapping: :yup:
:bounce: :clapping::tiphat: Thank you; thankyouverymuch!
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Teresa9
Guest
Dearest WhiteDove
Another good question and one I have thought about myself as well. God is eternal (it is only by union with Him that we can live eternally, without union with Him we have death for eternity, death being the absence of God and in the company of Satan …grim thought) God is also infinite. I always get a headache when I consider these things, probably because I’m no genius, but also because it is so hard to comprehend in the finite mind.
Then we have to take into account that God is also Omnipresent…that means He must be outside of time, that although time exists on earth and each thing has a season and a time, it’s journey on earth alotted a time and a function.
So God is infinite, omnipresent and eternal, therefore I think He can exist inside and outside of time, though God is not subject to time as humans are. His hand works in time and creates, takes away, aids and helps in time, but to Him it is an infinite action, this is why God’s love is infinite. God makes all spirits with eternal life, either to be with Him or to be in eternal death apart from Him. We feel that we live without God to some extent on earth because we do not SEE him face to face, so to speak, but God is Spirit. He is present everywhere, He is always with us and the evidence of His presence is in the very life around us and within us. This is how God can exist in time through us, but is always infinite. We ourselves are eternal, though we are prone to think of only this life and not the everlasting life. (through original sin we lost our eternal life and death destroyed us, but through Jesus He bought us back by His own sacrifice, the eternal life and not eternal death) God made us in His own image, as God is triune, so are we in that we have a body, spirit and soul. We are to become as the body of Christ, this is a mysetery, the mystical body of Christ which we are to become part of, though existing as our own spirit for eternity we are united in Christs body, who is the body of the Church and of which we are part, Spirit is God and Soul equates to the Holy Spirit, which raises, guides and counsels the soul to the Spirit.
We refer to God as Father, as Jesus has taught us, but God is Spirit, neither male or female but encompasses both,( we are made in His image male and female) just so as God is in time and outside it, existing purely as timeless, free from the constraints of time as are we, though we do not see it always, we are as God is, when we live in union with Him and also through the benefit of His love and grace are timeless, we exist beyond the grave, but whilst on this earth we are subject to time, until our judgement.
Hmmm well , until we die we will never realise the full extent of this. It is a mystery of faith, but one I love because we no longer die but become as of God in union with Him by our faith, love and acts…pretty well fantastic when you think about it!!! God is good!!!
God Bless you and much love and peace to you
Teresa
Another good question and one I have thought about myself as well. God is eternal (it is only by union with Him that we can live eternally, without union with Him we have death for eternity, death being the absence of God and in the company of Satan …grim thought) God is also infinite. I always get a headache when I consider these things, probably because I’m no genius, but also because it is so hard to comprehend in the finite mind.
Then we have to take into account that God is also Omnipresent…that means He must be outside of time, that although time exists on earth and each thing has a season and a time, it’s journey on earth alotted a time and a function.
So God is infinite, omnipresent and eternal, therefore I think He can exist inside and outside of time, though God is not subject to time as humans are. His hand works in time and creates, takes away, aids and helps in time, but to Him it is an infinite action, this is why God’s love is infinite. God makes all spirits with eternal life, either to be with Him or to be in eternal death apart from Him. We feel that we live without God to some extent on earth because we do not SEE him face to face, so to speak, but God is Spirit. He is present everywhere, He is always with us and the evidence of His presence is in the very life around us and within us. This is how God can exist in time through us, but is always infinite. We ourselves are eternal, though we are prone to think of only this life and not the everlasting life. (through original sin we lost our eternal life and death destroyed us, but through Jesus He bought us back by His own sacrifice, the eternal life and not eternal death) God made us in His own image, as God is triune, so are we in that we have a body, spirit and soul. We are to become as the body of Christ, this is a mysetery, the mystical body of Christ which we are to become part of, though existing as our own spirit for eternity we are united in Christs body, who is the body of the Church and of which we are part, Spirit is God and Soul equates to the Holy Spirit, which raises, guides and counsels the soul to the Spirit.
We refer to God as Father, as Jesus has taught us, but God is Spirit, neither male or female but encompasses both,( we are made in His image male and female) just so as God is in time and outside it, existing purely as timeless, free from the constraints of time as are we, though we do not see it always, we are as God is, when we live in union with Him and also through the benefit of His love and grace are timeless, we exist beyond the grave, but whilst on this earth we are subject to time, until our judgement.
Hmmm well , until we die we will never realise the full extent of this. It is a mystery of faith, but one I love because we no longer die but become as of God in union with Him by our faith, love and acts…pretty well fantastic when you think about it!!! God is good!!!
God Bless you and much love and peace to you
Teresa
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Toni
Guest
Great answers here, I have always been taught that there is no time with God but hope that if I have to go to purgatory Jesus and the Holy Spirit can speed the time up. Since there is no time with God and I may be there till the end of time without a little help!
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RobedWithLight
Guest
Time implies succession, and since a succession of events implies before and after, it likewise implies change. Since God absolutely does not change, there cannot be time with God. He is in a sublime state of a never-ending NOW, which is eternity called by another name. In Him therefore, time is meaningless.
Gerry
Gerry
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jeffreedy789
Guest
first - separating the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit into different functions - like in time or out, is a form a modalism - a heresy. so whatever He Is, all three persons Are.
second - time is basically a measure of entropy. entropy is the rate of the breakdown of the universe. organized things becoming more disorganized. the sun burning out. etc. these are examples of entropy. time is a measure of these things happening. we human beings exist within the universe, which is withing the realm of this universal deterioration. God is omnipresent, which means He existed (and exists) before time began, and will exist (and exists) after time is over (when the clock runs down, so to speak), and exists in time with us here, and ‘now’.
in ‘the chronicles of narnia’, aslan tells lucy ‘i will come soon’. and lucy asks ‘please, aslan. what do you mean by soon?’ and aslan says ‘i call all times soon.’
i think that sums it up.
second - time is basically a measure of entropy. entropy is the rate of the breakdown of the universe. organized things becoming more disorganized. the sun burning out. etc. these are examples of entropy. time is a measure of these things happening. we human beings exist within the universe, which is withing the realm of this universal deterioration. God is omnipresent, which means He existed (and exists) before time began, and will exist (and exists) after time is over (when the clock runs down, so to speak), and exists in time with us here, and ‘now’.
in ‘the chronicles of narnia’, aslan tells lucy ‘i will come soon’. and lucy asks ‘please, aslan. what do you mean by soon?’ and aslan says ‘i call all times soon.’
i think that sums it up.
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Teresa9
Guest
LOL another cry of heretic or heresy, you folks are obsessed with it.
Dear friend… if you read it is not the differing roles as all members of the Holy Trinity are fully God, we all know this, I was exploring the fact that we are truine, we have spirit, soul and body and how our threefold existance but as one is comparable in that we are made in God’s image. Even though God is three in one (and the Holy Trinity is a tough subject to explore as it is a mystery to some degree to humanity) there are ythree distinct persons within the Trinity and infact serve humanity in differing ways, but ALL are fully God.When Jesus died upon the cross, so too was God crucified as was the Holy Spirit, in that they are one, but the distinct person of Jesus did this for all humanity. (the Word doing this in the Father’s will)
God Bless you and much love and peace to you.
Teresa
Dear friend… if you read it is not the differing roles as all members of the Holy Trinity are fully God, we all know this, I was exploring the fact that we are truine, we have spirit, soul and body and how our threefold existance but as one is comparable in that we are made in God’s image. Even though God is three in one (and the Holy Trinity is a tough subject to explore as it is a mystery to some degree to humanity) there are ythree distinct persons within the Trinity and infact serve humanity in differing ways, but ALL are fully God.When Jesus died upon the cross, so too was God crucified as was the Holy Spirit, in that they are one, but the distinct person of Jesus did this for all humanity. (the Word doing this in the Father’s will)
God Bless you and much love and peace to you.
Teresa
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Benignus
Guest
“But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.” (2 Peter 3:8)
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Bulldog
Guest
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, Who was, Who is, and Who is to come — Apoc. 4:8
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T.A.Stobie_SFO
Guest
God created time and understands it far better than we will even come close to until we arrive in Heaven and are enlightened.
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puzzleannie
Guest
Narnia lives. What DO they teach in these schools?
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jmm08
Guest
None of the above.
Think about this. We measure time by how visible things change. Time is actually a property of created things. Some things change in ways we do not easily understand. Some things change fairly predictably. Man has made clocks out of things that change consistently.
Examples of visible things changing:
God created everything. God created all the properties of everything He created. Therefore God created time.
The idea that time is the same everywhere is an illusion that we have created in our own minds.
The Bible says that God does not change.
Malichi 3:6 Surely I, the LORD, do not change, nor do you cease to be sons of Jacob.
God is eternal.
Isaiah 43:10-13 You are my witnesses, says the LORD, my servants whom I have chosen To know and believe in me and understand that it is I. Before me no god was formed, and after me there shall be none. It is I, I the LORD; there is no savior but me. It is I who foretold, I who saved; I made it known, not any strange god among you; You are my witnesses, says the LORD. I am God, yes, from eternity I am He; There is none who can deliver from my hand: who can countermand what I do?
Think about this. We measure time by how visible things change. Time is actually a property of created things. Some things change in ways we do not easily understand. Some things change fairly predictably. Man has made clocks out of things that change consistently.
Examples of visible things changing:
- Some things rust. Some decay. Some rot.
- People grow up and get older.
- The Earth spins on its axis, so we have day and night as a result of rotational change.
- The Earth changes its position in relation with the Sun so we have seasons.
- Sand in an hourglass can run out.
- Pendulums on clocks swing back and forth. They change. The change is more consistent.
- Quartz crystals can be made to oscillate (vibrate). When they oscillate or vibrate they change back and forth.
- The frequency of laser light can be analyzed. An interference pattern can be established to cause light to be alternatively on and off.
- Radioactive isotopes decay.
God created everything. God created all the properties of everything He created. Therefore God created time.
The idea that time is the same everywhere is an illusion that we have created in our own minds.
The Bible says that God does not change.
Malichi 3:6 Surely I, the LORD, do not change, nor do you cease to be sons of Jacob.
God is eternal.
Isaiah 43:10-13 You are my witnesses, says the LORD, my servants whom I have chosen To know and believe in me and understand that it is I. Before me no god was formed, and after me there shall be none. It is I, I the LORD; there is no savior but me. It is I who foretold, I who saved; I made it known, not any strange god among you; You are my witnesses, says the LORD. I am God, yes, from eternity I am He; There is none who can deliver from my hand: who can countermand what I do?
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jrabs
Guest
All I can say is when I pray and God answers my prayers by placing the word “soon” in my heart, I know I gotta buckle in and sit tight for a while. I’ve realized His “soon” will most definitely not be “my soon”.
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Teresa9
Guest
Dear whitedove
Another thought on this great thread of yours…
When we celebrate Mass we step into the eternal event of Christ’s death and resurrection, the eternal sacrifice of love that is the Eucharist, this event is not bound by time and we are allowed to enter into that moment in time that was for all eternity in this one instance to step outside of time and Christ is made present to all who are blessed to receive Him in His humanity (body and blood) Spirit and Divinity.
Could it therefore be that we are kept inside time so that we are not privy to the eternal and when we die we are released from time and into the eternal? That this constant changing of living and dying of day and night is a cycle we live in until we ourselves die which is measured by time and time holds us here until our time comes to meet Our Father and judgement? That God enters into time in the Eucharist and enters into time in our prayers and devotions, that time is subject to His will and events within time are altered by Him should He will it? That the Eucharist is a window into eternity, where Divinity meets humanity, where eternal life resides in the mortal and raises it to eternity???
As I have previously said God is not subject to time and is eternal, rather time is subject to Him and all that live in time. Jesus entered into time and lived a human life, fully God and man.
Hmmm
God is good!!!
God Bless you and much love and peace to you
Teresa
p.s. I do know time flys when you are praying …
I’ve lost hours in prayer !
Another thought on this great thread of yours…
When we celebrate Mass we step into the eternal event of Christ’s death and resurrection, the eternal sacrifice of love that is the Eucharist, this event is not bound by time and we are allowed to enter into that moment in time that was for all eternity in this one instance to step outside of time and Christ is made present to all who are blessed to receive Him in His humanity (body and blood) Spirit and Divinity.
Could it therefore be that we are kept inside time so that we are not privy to the eternal and when we die we are released from time and into the eternal? That this constant changing of living and dying of day and night is a cycle we live in until we ourselves die which is measured by time and time holds us here until our time comes to meet Our Father and judgement? That God enters into time in the Eucharist and enters into time in our prayers and devotions, that time is subject to His will and events within time are altered by Him should He will it? That the Eucharist is a window into eternity, where Divinity meets humanity, where eternal life resides in the mortal and raises it to eternity???
As I have previously said God is not subject to time and is eternal, rather time is subject to Him and all that live in time. Jesus entered into time and lived a human life, fully God and man.
Hmmm
God is good!!!
God Bless you and much love and peace to you
Teresa
p.s. I do know time flys when you are praying …
I’ve lost hours in prayer !
J
JimG
Guest
God is entirely outside of time. He exists in eternity.
But–Jesus, in his human nature–stepped into time and place, and into history.
As God, he remains eternal.
Receiving the Eucharist places us outside of time, in the respect that we overcome all time and place by uniting ourselves to Christ’s one unique salvific event.
But–Jesus, in his human nature–stepped into time and place, and into history.
As God, he remains eternal.
Receiving the Eucharist places us outside of time, in the respect that we overcome all time and place by uniting ourselves to Christ’s one unique salvific event.
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