God and Time

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

PaulThomson

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2023
3,474
455
83
Well it seems Logical to Me which is what i was saying that’s sort of how I see it but what your saying also is there which is how you see it

I understand your position now and hope you understood mine
If God experienced all of time as a single moment, scripture could say "Everlasting/all ages to the Lord is/are as the blink of an eye."

But scripture says "A day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day." This indicates to me that God does experience time, but because he is everlasting to everlasting, millennia to us seem like mere days to Him. He does not see all of time in one instant.
 

Pilgrimshope

Well-known member
Sep 2, 2020
14,148
5,722
113
It's Temporalism.

Of course, God exists within time because He is old and sitting on a throne.

Have you not watched any movies with God sitting on His throne?

Me know too much about God.
If God experienced all of time as a single moment, scripture could say "Everlasting/all ages to the Lord is/are as the blink of an eye."

But scripture says "A day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day." This indicates to me that God does experience time, but because he is everlasting to everlasting, millennia to us seem like mere days to Him. He does not see all of time in one instant.
Yeah I don't think I ever said God experienced time as a single moment I said he exists outside of time and looks Into and throughout time and foresees all things and works his will according to that foreknowledge not arbitrarily. I said God created time ....
 

Pilgrimshope

Well-known member
Sep 2, 2020
14,148
5,722
113
I wouldnt disagree that God created time as we experience it. However, that is not to say that God doesn’t exist in time or that time is not part of His essence. I think we would all agree that “love” is an eternal attribute of the Triune God. So, while God created “love” as we know and experience it, love is also part of who God is…and therefore an eternal attribute of His nature and being.
Yeah everyone has their ideas about things like this no one really knows for sure how this works but I agree what I think doesn't exclude what someone else thinks I was just stating my thought about it . I don't see any concept if time without a universe created by God .. but I'm just a common old fogie who has a thought about it it's an interesting question I'll keep reading along
 

Mem

Senior Member
Sep 23, 2014
7,159
2,174
113
If God experienced all of time as a single moment, scripture could say "Everlasting/all ages to the Lord is/are as the blink of an eye."

But scripture says "A day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day." This indicates to me that God does experience time, but because he is everlasting to everlasting, millennia to us seem like mere days to Him. He does not see all of time in one instant.
God exists, the Father in the Son and the Son in Him and the Spirit in Them and Them in the Spirit. So, how would existing imminently as much as transcendentally not be possible seeing that God is The One all-encompassing Being. When is any moment that He is not here or a space that He is not there? If darkness is light to Him then would it be logical to conclude that time is nothing to Him?

We're having difficulty pinpointing the meaning of time, so I thought that perhaps a search of the antonyms of time might provide some insight and most of the antonyms provided implied no time to be synonymous with death. However, scripture tells us there is no darkness in Him and that in Him is life, so it seems that He does exist without time but yet, Jesus died.
 

Inquisitor

Well-known member
Mar 17, 2022
2,947
866
113
I wouldnt disagree that God created time as we experience it. However, that is not to say that God doesn’t exist in time or that time is not part of His essence. I think we would all agree that “love” is an eternal attribute of the Triune God. So, while God created “love” as we know and experience it, love is also part of who God is…and therefore an eternal attribute of His nature and being.
A small correction here.

You said, "love is also part of who God is"?

Love is the whole of God.

God is love.

1 Corinthians 8:3
If anyone loves God, he is known by Him.

Love is not an attribute of God?

Love is the only concise definition of His entire nature, will, etc.
 

PaulThomson

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2023
3,474
455
83
God exists, the Father in the Son and the Son in Him and the Spirit in Them and Them in the Spirit. So, how would existing imminently as much as transcendentally not be possible seeing that God is The One all-encompassing Being. When is any moment that He is not here or a space that He is not there? If darkness is light to Him then would it be logical to conclude that time is nothing to Him?

We're having difficulty pinpointing the meaning of time, so I thought that perhaps a search of the antonyms of time might provide some insight and most of the antonyms provided implied no time to be synonymous with death. However, scripture tells us there is no darkness in Him and that in Him is life, so it seems that He does exist without time but yet, Jesus died.
What antonyms of time are you referring to. Which wise sources say death and darkness are antonyms of time?
 

PaulThomson

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2023
3,474
455
83
Yeah I don't think I ever said God experienced time as a single moment I said he exists outside of time and looks Into and throughout time and foresees all things and works his will according to that foreknowledge not arbitrarily. I said God created time ....
Are you saying He foresees bits and pieces of history at different times, but does not foresee every moment at once?
 

Pilgrimshope

Well-known member
Sep 2, 2020
14,148
5,722
113
Are you saying He foresees bits and pieces of history at different times, but does not foresee every moment at once?
Im saying I've lost interest and have already stated what I think.
 

notmyown

Senior Member
May 26, 2016
4,927
1,272
113
The doctrines of immanence and transcendence don't specifically address the temporal mechanics of how God goes about the business of being eternal, and thus the specific ways in which he does, or does not, interact with what we call time.

So it's great to bring this up, and it does give us some guardrails, but I don't think it acts as an immediate defeater for either side of the topic.


God Bless.


.
i agree! i wasn't attempting to do that; i just really don't know :p

this thread does remind me, a little, that in days gone by it was said philosophy should be the handmaid of theology, and not the other way around. but perhaps that's just me.
 

Mem

Senior Member
Sep 23, 2014
7,159
2,174
113
What antonyms of time are you referring to. Which wise sources say death and darkness are antonyms of time?
While there has been mention of dictionaries, I didn't want to leave out the useful resourcefulness of thesauruses.
 

PaulThomson

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2023
3,474
455
83
While there has been mention of dictionaries, I didn't want to leave out the useful resourcefulness of thesauruses.
So which thesaurus did you use to conclude that death and darkness are antonyms of time?
 

PaulThomson

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2023
3,474
455
83
Im saying I've lost interest and have already stated what I think.
But not with enough clarity yet for this old fool precisely to grasp your position. I'm not trying to be unkind. I'm just trying to get to understand what you posted.
 

Pilgrimshope

Well-known member
Sep 2, 2020
14,148
5,722
113
But not with enough clarity yet for this old fool precisely to grasp your position. I'm not trying to be unkind. I'm just trying to get to understand what you posted.
The way to summarize my thinking is God is eternal . And time is not an actual reality it is a construct so one can measure against eternity

i look at eternity as reality and the construct of time as a bit of an illusion because of death . If we didn’t understand time and how it’s always fleeting away and we can’t get it back when it’s gone …..how could we ever grasp the rewards of eternity ?

thisbosnthe best way I can think to summarize clearly my ( opinion and thought regarding the interesting question

I wasn’t offended or anything I was just meaning that there’s really never going to be any provable answer given the subjective nature of the question

seems like a post where I would just leave my thoughts and then read along for any o retesting takes others come up with regarding the original post

I really can’t think of anything else to say I believe time is a result of creation and is a bit of an illusion or construct rather because we’re mortal
 

Mem

Senior Member
Sep 23, 2014
7,159
2,174
113
So which thesaurus did you use to conclude that death and darkness are antonyms of time?
The Classic Thesaurus generated by Power Thesaurus. They offer APA, Chicago, Harvard, or MLA if you have a preference of citing format. The APA is Classic Thesaurus. (2016). Antonyms for Time. Retrieved May 14, 2024, from https://www.classicthesaurus.com/time/antonyms

I didn't look up any antonyms for darkness having already concluded its the antonym to be light.
 

PaulThomson

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2023
3,474
455
83
The Classic Thesaurus generated by Power Thesaurus. They offer APA, Chicago, Harvard, or MLA if you have a preference of citing format. The APA is Classic Thesaurus. (2016). Antonyms for Time. Retrieved May 14, 2024, from https://www.classicthesaurus.com/time/antonyms

I didn't look up any antonyms for darkness having already concluded its the antonym to be light.
How does the website choose its synonyms and antonyms. It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense with its choice of synonyms and antonyms.
 

Mem

Senior Member
Sep 23, 2014
7,159
2,174
113
How does the website choose its synonyms and antonyms. It doesn't seem to make a lot of sense with its choice of synonyms and antonyms.
I didn't have the energy to research all that as thoroughly, although I found it to be of interest, nonetheless. Interesting that may devote more time looking into it eventually.
 

Omegatime

Well-known member
Apr 29, 2023
1,156
431
83
Pennsylvania
If God experienced all of time as a single moment, scripture could say "Everlasting/all ages to the Lord is/are as the blink of an eye."

But scripture says "A day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day." This indicates to me that God does experience time, but because he is everlasting to everlasting, millennia to us seem like mere days to Him. He does not see all of time in one instant.
I see you have never studied time
 

Chaps

Active member
Apr 3, 2024
307
114
43
California
To avoid accidental equivocation, we need to be really careful not to mix eternal divine attributes with anything created and contingent, or accidentally slipping from one category to the other.

God Bless.

.
Are you so sure that time is not a divine attribute?