March 22, 2007

• To winningthelaurel re: God outside of time

  Let's look at it from the aspect of dimensions.  It is impossible for two things to occupy the exact same space.  Think of two points. They cannot occupy the same place, but if you add a dimension they can both be on a line.  In one dimension two lines cannot exist because there is only room for one, but in the additional dimension of a plane they can be accommodated quite nicely.  Two or more planes can be accommodated if we add a third dimension to get space.  Now for the really fun part.  Think of two balls in space that cannot occupy the same place.  Place one on the table in front of you.  Add a fourth dimension of time and remove one ball and replace it with the other.  Seen from the fourth dimension, both balls are in the same place.  I thought of that in the bathtub, eureka.  Ok, God, I see how time is the fourth dimension...  What's the fifth?  "Spirit."  Now I have to think about what that means, because God did not explain it.

  Is spirit eternal, outside of time?  It would seem so.  Bible references.  There are probably many that mention God's unchangable eternal no-beginning-no-end nature.  I should look some of them up.  Or think about what God calls Himself at the burning bush, "I AM."  Jesus also got the Pharisees riled when he said, "Before Abraham was, I AM."  This is tenseless, simultaneous and not restricted by time.

  "Immanuel" is "I AM WITH YOU."  Now that is something to think about, too.

  Another fun mind game:  Let's represent time as a line. Use something like a pencil that you can move around.  Now put the points of your birth, your salvation and your death on it.  Turn the pencil so it is pointed at your eye.  (Just point!!)  The three events will overlap each other and appear to be taking place simultaneously.  Maybe that is how God sees time from one of His dimensions.  That's why God knows the past and the future, because He is in all of them.

  This is all very interesting, but I have never really found anyone interested in discussing it.  What logic problems result if God is outside of time?  Did Jesus have a hard time dealing with time as God incarnated?  He knew what would happen, but he still had to wait in faith.

  I have thought about prayers for the past and have tried it out, because it should work in theory.  God has the power to work all that has happened for good a la Romans 8:28.  There is also someplace in CS Lewis "The Great Divorce" about how when we decide to follow Christ that the grace received is retroactive and that the light flows backward over our lives, and we will find that we have always been in Heaven.  Those who reject Christ will have the Hell that they have chosen flow backward in time over their lives, and they will find that they have always been in Hell.  Maybe that is it, that we can pray that whatever has happened in the past be transformed and used to bring glory to God.  Prayers of thanks for the past are easy to understand.

  Satan obviously doesn't know the future, because although he was obviously behind Christ's death on the cross and must have rejoiced before and during, he must have been horrified to see his attempts at evil so totally overturned by God for good.  Gollum in Lord of the Rings is a bit like that.  His evil lust for power was actually what saved Frodo and caused the destruction of the ring.  I think Gollum is the most interesting character in the book and equally interesting that Gandalf suggested that Gollum be left around as potentially useful. 

  

  • 05:02
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