God and time

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kodiak

kodiak

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#1
Mar 8, 2015
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#1
I found a random website today that had a post about God and being in the boundaries of time or outside of the boundaries of time. It started discussing the difference in the Hebrew and the Greek view of time and how this can change the way we view God. It got me thinking, and I wanted to share this with you all and get your opinions. Here is the article. Does God Exist Outside of Time?


What are your thoughts?
 
MrPibbs

MrPibbs

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#2
Aug 10, 2016
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kodiak said:
I found a random website today that had a post about God and being in the boundaries of time or outside of the boundaries of time. It started discussing the difference in the Hebrew and the Greek view of time and how this can change the way we view God. It got me thinking, and I wanted to share this with you all and get your opinions. Here is the article. Does God Exist Outside of Time?


What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...
God is infinite. So tell me if you can...How does God measure time?
 
A

Adstar

Senior Member
#3
Jul 24, 2016
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kodiak said:
I found a random website today that had a post about God and being in the boundaries of time or outside of the boundaries of time. It started discussing the difference in the Hebrew and the Greek view of time and how this can change the way we view God. It got me thinking, and I wanted to share this with you all and get your opinions. Here is the article. Does God Exist Outside of Time?


What are your thoughts?
Click to expand...
God created the Universe.. Both it's Space and Time therefore God cannot be bound or dependent on His creation.. His time is independent of our times.. Not bound to or geared with our times..

2 Peter 3:KJV
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
 
kodiak

kodiak

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Mar 8, 2015
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MrPibbs said:
God is infinite. So tell me if you can...How does God measure time?
Click to expand...
Well I know God is infinite. The way I understood that article made it seem neither view denies that.

2 Peter 3:8 tells us about God measuring time. I can't find the words I want to explain it at the moment right now though. He doesn't view it the same way we tend to.
 
kodiak

kodiak

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#5
Mar 8, 2015
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Just so everyone knows and doesn't assume which way I believe. I have always and still believe God is infinite and not bound by our time. I just saw this today and am not even sure I fully understand what he is saying, which is why I wanted to create this discussion.
 
p_rehbein

p_rehbein

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Sep 4, 2013
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God created time for man.............God IS! And, when this old world is gone.............time will be gone.......there will ONLY BE IS!

Hard to imagine, but that IS the truth.
 
PrynceNY

PrynceNY

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Aug 16, 2016
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God created everything and cannot be bound by his creation.
 
T

Tintin

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#8
#8
Adstar said:
God created the Universe.. Both it's Space and Time therefore God cannot be bound or dependent on His creation.. His time is independent of our times.. Not bound to or geared with our times..

2 Peter 3:KJV
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
Click to expand...
For goodness sakes, use that verse in context, please! So much crap is perpetuated because people pull verses out of context and then build a theology around it.
 
T

Tintin

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#9
God is outside time but completely invested in His creation. He created time and then the heavens and the earth (the universe), gave it form and then filled it with inhabitants during a 6 day time period.
 
p_rehbein

p_rehbein

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#10
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Tintin said:
God is outside time but completely invested in His creation. He created time and then the heavens and the earth (the universe), gave it form and then filled it with inhabitants during a 6 day time period.
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Hey, wait, whut about the seventh day? Oh, that's right, He rested. I have to say that (in a way) this has always bothered me because it is impossible for God to get "tired," so why would He need to rest?
 
T

Tintin

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p_rehbein said:
Hey, wait, whut about the seventh day? Oh, that's right, He rested. I have to say that (in a way) this has always bothered me because it is impossible for God to get "tired," so why would He need to rest?
Click to expand...
When it says God rested it means God had finished creating everything and just enjoyed it. The day of rest was for our benefit, not His. He used it to model the need for a day of rest during the week. He certainly didn't get tired.
 
A

Adstar

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#13
Jul 24, 2016
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Tintin said:
For goodness sakes, use that verse in context, please! So much crap is perpetuated because people pull verses out of context and then build a theology around it.
Click to expand...
In context::
2 Peter 3: KJV
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.


I see no change in meaning of the verse due to the context.. I used the verse validly.. You declaring that i have not without any backing evidence is wrong...
 
A

Adstar

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#14
Jul 24, 2016
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p_rehbein said:
Hey, wait, whut about the seventh day? Oh, that's right, He rested. I have to say that (in a way) this has always bothered me because it is impossible for God to get "tired," so why would He need to rest?
Click to expand...
The Bible never says He needed to rest... I believe He did it as a sign to us.. Of the coming Sabbath rest..
 
kodiak

kodiak

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#15
Mar 8, 2015
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Did anyone even read the article? I didn't think the discussion would be on whether or not God is bound by time. I wanted the discussion to be more on The Hebrew definition of time. It appears that this is saying the Hebrew definition is that time was just events, not what we view as time now.... It appears everyone is just going off what I wrote. It does appear to talk about that, but not with the definitions everyone is used to.
 
posthuman

posthuman

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#16
Jul 31, 2013
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thank you for the link; that's an interesting article, and a very interesting topic, but i don't really put stock in Jewish and/or Greek views of such things in order to discern the truth.

i know some people look at traditional Jewish folklore and such, and think hey that must be true, they are Jews, they are the people of God -- but look, read your Bible. the Jews are the people He chose for Himself, to bear His name, for sure -- but they also became totally engrossed in idolatry and prostituted themselves under every spreading tree and on every high hill. so if you can find an old Hebrew idea about the earth being flat, or an old Hebrew idea about YHWH having a goddess wife Ishtar, you're going to believe it just because it comes from Jews?? that don't hold water. the scriptures give us an awful lot of reasons not to trust their traditions, actually -- though we maybe ought to expect to find grains of truth in them.

anyhoo -- back to the topic --

time isn't a "thing" -- you can't hold it in your hand or isolate it from all other substances.
((in a total void, does time pass?))
we measure it according to relative positions of matter and energy in the universe. "6 hours from now" means the earth has rotated a little bit. if time is dependent on all the matter and energy in the universe, and all the universe is created -- isn't time also created?

and further: the heavens cannot contain the Lord, so how can time itself contain Him? such a narrow view, even though it spans all of time! for God is great - very very very very very very very great!!!!!!!
when Solomon dedicated the temple, he said:

But will God really dwell on earth?
The heavens, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you.
How much less this temple I have built!
(1 Kings 8:27)​

pretty wise guy, this Solomon. ;)

in short -- no, i do not believe God is constrained by time, but that time itself is also His creation.
from everlasting to everlasting, He is God
 
kodiak

kodiak

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Mar 8, 2015
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#17
I give up, I don't believe what the article is saying. I believe God is not bound by time and he created it. I wanted to better understand what was being said about Hebrew time and thought you all could help. I didn't want to, and still don't want to, believe it, you can understand something without believing it. Better understanding others views gives you a better way of seeing how It is wrong, and how to help them. You all seem to have understood what the guy believes much differently than what I understood he believes.

It seemed he was. Saying that events happen and God sees these events too, He is right there with us when things happen. The author didn't appear to me to be talking about time in units, but just the events that everyone sees happen. Did I understand his view correctly?
 
longtrekker

longtrekker

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#18
Sep 23, 2014
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.

I remember a sermon about Gods' time which quite intrigued me - it essentially boiled down to this; God is in His vast library He reaches out for the volume of the 13th century and the events happen as He reads them. He puts back the book and retrieves the volume on the fourth century BC and again the events occur as he reads it..He then pulls down the book on the 19th century...etc
 
notmyown

notmyown

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#19
May 26, 2016
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#19
kodiak said:
I give up, I don't believe what the article is saying. I believe God is not bound by time and he created it. I wanted to better understand what was being said about Hebrew time and thought you all could help. I didn't want to, and still don't want to, believe it, you can understand something without believing it. Better understanding others views gives you a better way of seeing how It is wrong, and how to help them. You all seem to have understood what the guy believes much differently than what I understood he believes.

It seemed he was. Saying that events happen and God sees these events too, He is right there with us when things happen. The author didn't appear to me to be talking about time in units, but just the events that everyone sees happen. Did I understand his view correctly?
Click to expand...

Kody, when i read the article it seemed to me the author is having a problem with God's sovereignty. :rolleyes:

you're right to doubt it. we should check with a Hebrew scholar on that whole Hebrew verb tense bidnez. ;)

the author seems to have trouble understanding God is both transcendent and immanent; it's part of His omnipresence.

he also seems not to get that when God speaks to us in His Word, He stoops! He condescends to our finite, limited understanding and babbles in baby talk, so to speak, just as i do with my grandsons to help them understand me.
(though they're much closer to me than i to the God of heaven and earth)

God doesn't literally change His mind, i don't think. but He employs terms we can comprehend in that manner.
this made me chuckle...

"Basically, God has completed a lot but He’s not done yet."

that conflicts (and agrees lol) with what God says He's accomplished from His perspective. redemption is accomplished (It is finished!), though not everyone He will redeem is yet redeemed. Christ says ALL authority has been given to Him (Matt 28:18 i think), yet the Bible also says in 1 Cor 15 He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet. a now, and a not yet from our perspective. but God knows what He set out to do, and He knows He has done it.
God says we ARE seated with Him in the heavenly places. hmmm... seems like He sees it as a done deal, right?

i know you know all this, and you're correct, in my estimation, in saying you don't have to totally understand something to know it's wrong. you know the Truth, thus you know a lie when you see one.

does it seem to you this author isn't jiving with the law of non-contradiction? a thing cannot be A and non-A at the same time in the same way? or that he's trying to resolve it in his own way? idk why, but that occurs to me. :)

i wish i could help you better, but honestly! the article makes little Biblical sense.
time is God's creation; He rules over it. He is above it (transcendent) and graciously with us in it (immanent).

did that help? at all? :p
 
B

BeyondET

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But of coarse God is outside the boundaries of time and the universe as well within these boundaries for He alone Created them.

God is the Alpha and the Omega, God is at the beginning of time and is at the end of time and anywhere in between He so choices.
 
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