What is God's relationship with time?

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JimG:
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.
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Yes God is eternal, but Jesus is fully God and man, so as such, God entered into time as well as being eternal.

During Mass if we are placed outside of time while still existing in time, then the Eucharist comes into time while still being eternal. In the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and the Blessed Sacrament is the eternal God in time, present for us to adore, beseech and love. The Kingdom of God is at hand, it is here with us as well as in eternity. ‘I am always with you until the end of time’ Matthew 28.20. ‘I will be with you when you go through deep waters’ (Isaiah 43.2) ‘I am with you to save you’ (Jeremiah 1.19)

As God is eternal, He is in ALL of time and outside of it also, existing in it though is never subject to time, we and time are subject to Him.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa
 
Love is God’s relationship with time, love of all humanity.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you all

Teresa
 
I love the way you put that, Teresa!

God is also ‘in time’ in the sense that he exists at the center of our being, holding each of us in existence, and if we are in a state of Sanctifying Grace, also living in glory within our souls.
 
Dearest JimG

Well articulated, I tend to ramble!! You have a good way with words that makes it so simple and easy to grasp…you got it Jim, it is exactly as you have said. But even if we are in mortal sin, in the Blessed sacrament and in the Eucharist God is always present with us in our time and in His eternal nature.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa
 
It’s a Mystery. God HIMSELF created such a thing as time. so therefore, He (all 3 Persons of Him) are:

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit all can be – AND ARE – in or out of time - SIMULTANOUSLY AND SEQUENTIALLY.

We’ll find out at the end of time, itself. Until then, it’s a nice though diversional concept to consider. Thanks for asking such a thoughtful question. 👍
 
Time is a function (result) of mass plus energy (light). Time and mass are limited to our dimension. Our divinely sent spirit is not. The Trinity can certainly be wherever they want. I addressed this issue specifically in my research paper that is at the Vatican which explains how the Beast of Revelation gets to heaven. IHS Daryl 661.703.4444
 
I’d agree 100% with you calbreese.

God Bless you and much love and peace to you

Teresa
 
All I know is that while we want things to operate in a microwave, God operates in a crock pot!! —KCT
 
I think God made the Jordan River as a symbol of time. When the chosen people came to the river, they placed the ark in the middle of the river and it backed up all the way to a city called Adam.
Also when Mary said “I am a servant of the Lord let it be done unto me according to they word” all time then was B.C. back to Adam and when all passed over they left 12 stones in the river bed to signify that they left the 12 hours of darkness behind and 12 on the side of the promise to say they will now walk in the light and be children of the light.
We know that God created the world in seven days and that with Him one thousand years is as a day and that He has been restoring the World from the Time of Adam and Eve’s fall, the last 6 thousand years. So we can see that the day of rest is coming soon giving us a total of 14 days of time.
In Josua 14th verse of chapter 3 they began to pass over and Chapter 4 verse 1 all had passed over. This transposion of 14 to 41 shows up another time in the Bible in the book of Acts. Chapter 2 verse 14 Peter stands up and 27 verses later in verse 41, 3000 were saved. They crossed Jordan into the promised land of the Kingdom of God and His Holy Church. If one choses to just go with the flow they end up in a place where nothing growes, the Dead Sea. God Bless
I
 
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KCT:
All I know is that while we want things to operate in a microwave, God operates in a crock pot!! —KCT
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How true it seems that when I pray and everyone says in God’s time, I always want to include in my prayer please God compromise with me on the time thing. Some things come quickly but sometimes you pray and pray and nothing happens for a long time.
 
God HImself is ALL POWERFUL, Omnipotent, Omnipresent. He can’t be dictated by what He has created.

Pio
 
God and Time have a great relationship. They get along quite well and often go fishing together.

The only time they had a problem was when Time took God golfing. God, in His infinite Wisdom, saw the ridiculousness of the game.

On the subject of golf, God and Time agree to disagree.
 
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WhiteDove:
What is God’s relationship with time?
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Dear WhiteDove,

I voted for both, but the thought there is incomplete. I agree w/ Theresa, Calbreese, and jmm08. I believe that Time is a tool and a gift of love created by God to save us human beings from eternal damnation. It is also a gift of honor, to be used to (co)participate in helping our neighbor get to Heaven. I also recommend Peter Kreeft’s book about Heaven, which if I remember correctly is called, Everything You Wanted To Know About Heaven But Were Afraid To Ask. He discusses this issue in a most interesting way, and of the difference between Kronos and Kairos time. I think you can still get it through Our Sunday Visitor press, or maybe through InterVarsity Press. And any book you see by this author is worth reading; his work is excellent!

Love,

:angel1: Angelina
Tobit 12: 17-18
 
God created the universe. Therefore, God created space and time. Therefore He can manipulate any or all of it as He sees fit.
 
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amasimp:
God created the universe. Therefore, God created space and time. Therefore He can manipulate any or all of it as He sees fit.
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Hello amasimp,

I agree with you.

I believe that God is Omni-present to the whole of past, present and future, physical time. I believe that Adam was God’s focal point from which the creation of infinite physical past and infinite physical future flows out from.

Please visit Creation and Jesus Loves God

Peace in Christ,
Steven Merten
www.ILOVEYOUGOD.com
 
People should read St. Augustine’s confessions for a better understanding of time. I think it’s Book VIII (8) or something closely thereafter that gets into Augustine’s concept of time. His notion is that time is constantly present.

There is the past present, the present present and the future present. I haven’t read the book in about a year, but that’s what I remember. Augustine scholars, correct me if I’m wrong. His concept of time is VERY philosophical and deep. I’m just skimming the top.

Don’t know if I’m still being Augustinian here:

Time is God’s creation, like the universe. And, like the Earth, it will pass away. Time was created to serve God’s plan. But unlike God, time is temporal, and God is not bound by time. This is why we can pray for the dead. God, who is outside of time, hears our prayers before we say them. The human mind likes to think chronologically, but as Jeremiah and numerous other places in the Bible illustrate, “Before I created you in the womb, I knew you.”

This is why it seems as if God acts so slowly when we pray. God has the full knowledge of time, God exists in eternity, and God sees us 5 years from now in the same fashion as he sees us today. All of time is present to God. So pray for those people you said you’d pray for 10 years ago, even if they are dead now. God hears your prayers, and 10 years ago, he knew you would say them today. Why would an all-powerful God who created time be subservient to it? That would make time God to God. But we know that God is God of all. We know that:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” (Jn 1:1-2).

Notice it does NOT say, “in the beginning became the Word”. The very structure of the opening passage of John implies that there was a beginning, but that God and His Word (Jesus) existed before that.

Same with the beginning of Genesis: “In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth…”

It does NOT say that “In the beginning, God came to be, and he then created the heavens and the earth.”

By its very structure, Gen. 1:1 implies the existence of God *before *the beginning came to be, just like John 1. John and Genesis, though millennia old, illustrate a very profound concept: Time has a beginning, God does not. The Bible also illustrates that time will end, but God will not. In fact, many Biblical references refer to the end of time, or “end time” as the “Day of the Lord.” Just one day? No, the end of days. One eternal Day.
 
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giegietx:
Dear WhiteDove,

I voted for both, but the thought there is incomplete. I agree w/ Theresa, Calbreese, and jmm08. I believe that Time is a tool and a gift of love created by God to save us human beings from eternal damnation. It is also a gift of honor, to be used to (co)participate in helping our neighbor get to Heaven. I also recommend Peter Kreeft’s book about Heaven, which if I remember correctly is called, Everything You Wanted To Know About Heaven But Were Afraid To Ask. He discusses this issue in a most interesting way, and of the difference between Kronos and Kairos time. I think you can still get it through Our Sunday Visitor press, or maybe through InterVarsity Press. And any book you see by this author is worth reading; his work is excellent!
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Thanks, I will have to read this book!
Ramblings as I think aloud:
As many posts have indicates God being omnipresent and omnipotent is both outside of and within time (all three persons).

My questions are about the nature of time in heaven. It would seem that heaven is out side of “our time”. It is difficult (for me at least) to imagine an existence without time. It would seem that events and actions happen in heaven (intersession of saints for example). Yet it is impossible for me to imagine events and actions without a time reference. I can imagine time being limited to the universe that we inhabit. I can imagine God, an angel, or a saint being able to look upon our physical universe and be capable of seeing this universe at any time reference they choose. Maybe even be capable of viewing all time frames simultaneously (however, I really can’t imagine the sight). This would also explain how a saint could intercede on behalf of many of us at once as they have no time restraints (they have an infinite amount of time for intercessory prayer (and therefore capable to intercede for an infinite number of souls).
The problem I have with this is that with regards to the return of our Lord, no one but God knows the time. Does this mean that our universe can not be viewed as I have indicated? Is there perhaps a veil that prevents all but God from seeing the future of this universe? If that were the case, then this veil would have to be lifted with the progression of “our time”. However this would put heaven into “our time” in a sense.
GieGieTX,

Does the book address this in anyway?

Thanks,
GastonWI;)
 
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sweetchuck:
People should read St. Augustine’s confessions for a better understanding of time. I think it’s Book VIII (8) or something closely thereafter that gets into Augustine’s concept of time. His notion is that time is constantly present…

I agree with that and everything else you said.
Also, God is not bound by our “time”, He is outside of time. He can be here without leaving where He is. That is why I disagree with an earlier poster who said that God died, God never dies, Jesus as man died though. Make sense?
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WhiteDove:
What is God’s relationship with time?
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I hesitate to speak about this because it involves some things very hard to understand. But while God naturally stands outside of time, and time as it is generally defined may not exist for men there, there still seems to be duration in heaven, a before and after. For example, Saint Paul says that the angels looked forward to the day of salvation for men, as if there was a period for them before it occurred and after. And too for example there is a scene in heaven in Reveltion 4 where tevents occur, though of course much of this is symbolic.
 
in answer to the original poster’s question.

I do not think time exists. I did not pick the time does not exist option, because it includes the idea of eternity, which is wedded to time, so therefore does not exist either.

I think that what we experience and call time, is actually everything moving through space, and in a different position relative to one another. That is why we cannot go back in time, we can never reposition everything again the same way. We are never in the same space twice.

the divine is responsible for the way things are, and is present in all things, the divine is the author of that which we call time.

cheddar
 
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