What is the definition of Eternity?

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In-His-Mercy

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What is the definition of Eternity? As far as I can see Eternity is either when time stops , ie there is no change or motion, or when time is limitless and never ending.
Thanks.
 
To be eternal is to have no beginning or end.

When we die, we will enter into eternity, but can never be anything more than immortal since we all have beginnings. Only God is eternal, everything else is finite in at least one dimension.
 
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@ProdglArchitect

Thank you for your reply.

But to have no beginning and no end may imply either the Eternity of the nothingness of vacuum or could mean Infinity on all axes including time.
 
God is beyond all time and is not bound by it. Eternity is the same way. It is not linear and our human words cannot even attempt to express what an eternity not bound by time means

“Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.”
  • Psalm 90:2
“And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
  • Matthew 25:46
 
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In-His-Mercy said:
But to have no beginning and no end may imply either the Eternity of the nothingness of vacuum or could mean Infinity on all axes including time.
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Actually it can’t. Infinity in all axes implies dimension, which is a concept only relevant to physical existence. Eternity is a concept without dimension, it simple is.

The same is true of a vacuum. A vacuum is not simply the lack of being, it is the lack of physical occupation. When we speak of the vacuum of space, it is only a vacuum in the sense that there is no physical matter filling it. It still has properties like dimension and time.

You are applying physical concepts to a reality that is fundamentally non-physical. Even if something spreads out in all dimensions infinitely, it still has physical dimension, which is a finite construct, as well as a point from which the spread began, which is also a physical quality. Anything physical has a beginning, and therefore is not eternal.

What you are describing is mere infinity, not eternity. Eternity is a concept which the human mind is simply unequipped to truly comprehend by nature of its own finite, created, existence.
 
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@ProdglArchitect

Thank you very much for your illuminating reply.
 
No problem, I hope it helps.

It’s really hard to separate our thinking from the physical, since that’s all we really know. >_>
 
@ProdglArchitect,

If I place a circle such as a ring of gold in the vacuum of space would that make it eternal? The circle has no beginning and no end.
 
In-His-Mercy said:
If I place a circle such as a ring of gold in the vacuum of space would that make it eternal? The circle has no beginning and no end.
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It has no beginning or end once you start moving along it, but you have to start that movement somewhere, which means there is a beginning to the infinite path.

The is the problem with people who believe that the universe is a self-creating loop. That doesn’t work. Even if the universe ends and creates itself again, without an initial act of creation the cycle could never begin.

Also, you place the circle.

#1 - You place it, meaning that prior to its placement it wasn’t there, meaning it isn’t eternal.

#2 - It’s a gold ring. Gold is a physical element, which was created, and therefore not eternal.

#3 - The vacuum of space is still a physical quantity. It lacks matter, but still has dimension. Given that it is physical in nature, it was therefore created, and is therefore not eternal.

Nothing in the scope of our universe is eternal. The universe is not eternal, and nothing within it is eternal. Everything in our universe is governed, to some degree, by at least time, and most things are governed by far more dimensions and properties than that. Time is a property of physical existence, with a finite beginning. Therefore, the most anything in the whole of creation can be is infinite, it cannot be eternal by virtue of having a beginning.

Like I said before, you won’t actually be able to comprehend eternity. We can imagine a line going far back and far forward from our current position, infinite in either direction if you like, but that understanding is still limited in that there is a specific reference point form which we are viewing the line. There is a start to the forward, and a start to the back. It is therefore not an eternal line, just an infinitely long one. Even when we’re dead, if we make it to Heaven, we won’t be able to comprehend God’s eternal nature. We’ll probably be able to understand it better, but it is simply outside the scope of our capacity to comprehend it in its entirety.
 
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