God and eternity
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God and eternity are important concepts in
theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
.
Theist Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of a supreme being or deities. In common parlance, or when contrasted with ''deism'', the term often describes the classical conception of God that is found in monotheism (also referred to ...
s say that
God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
is eternally existent. How this is understood depends on which definition of
eternity Eternity, in common parlance, means infinite time that never ends or the quality, condition, or fact of being everlasting or eternal. Classical philosophy, however, defines eternity as what is timeless or exists outside time, whereas sempit ...
is used. God may exist ''in'' eternity or outside the human concept of time, but also inside of time.


Definition

In William Rowe's review of Nelson Pike's ''God and Timelessness'' the two common definitions of eternity are given. The first is timelessness, which could be described as a timeless existence where categories of past, present, and future just do not apply. The second definition is of God existing in all time dimensions such as past, present, and future. In this case, God would have already existed for an
infinite Infinite may refer to: Mathematics * Infinite set, a set that is not a finite set *Infinity, an abstract concept describing something without any limit Music *Infinite (group), a South Korean boy band *''Infinite'' (EP), debut EP of American m ...
amount of time and will continue to do so. Pike mainly wonders if God could be timeless and all knowing. He argues that if God knows all, then he will know what a person will do in the future and that will be the only thing they can do because that's what God knows will happen, so there's only one option. But, Rowe argues, if God is timeless then he would not know what that person is planning to do before they do it, so therefore he could not be all knowing if he is timeless but if he is all knowing he could not be timeless. Rowe mentions how Pike uses multiple arguments to disprove Anselm of Canterbury and another theologian of their own arguments about why God is eternal (Anselm was a
theist Theism is broadly defined as the belief in the existence of a supreme being or deities. In common parlance, or when contrasted with ''deism'', the term often describes the classical conception of God that is found in monotheism (also referred to ...
who believed God was all knowing and eternal).
Stewart Sutherland Stewart Ross Sutherland, Baron Sutherland of Houndwood, (25 February 1941 – 29 January 2018) was a Scottish academic and public servant and one of Britain's most distinguished philosophers of religion. He sat as a crossbencher in the House of L ...
also talks about similar perspectives regarding the definition of God's eternity. Sutherland agrees with Nelson's Pikes conclusion that the two common definitions of eternity are defined as timelessness which could be described as a timeless existence where categories of past, present, and future just do not apply. The second definition is of God existing in all time dimensions such as past, present, and future. However, it has been argued that if God is timeless then he cannot be
omniscient Omniscience () is the capacity to know everything. In Hinduism, Sikhism and the Abrahamic religions, this is an attribute of God. In Jainism, omniscience is an attribute that any individual can eventually attain. In Buddhism, there are diffe ...
, because there are many things which a timeless being cannot know. Therefore, God could not know what is happening
now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...
, what will happen tomorrow, or what happened yesterday. If this argument is true, it would seem to eliminate the idea of God's
foreknowledge Foreknowledge is knowledge regarding future events. It may also refer to: * Foresight (disambiguation) * Precognition - prior viewing of some future event * Knowledge of predestination * Prediction or forecasting – calculated, informed or unin ...
, and this will have the advantage that it avoids at least some of the difficulties of the compatibility of belief in God and belief that, in some sense at least, the future actions of human beings are free. Another perspective is offered from Lawrence Lafleur in his article, "If God Were Eternal". Lafleur believes if God was eternal, he could not be within time at all, he would have to be outside of it. He follows up with the argument that if God is outside of time, he could not interact with us since he would need some sort of access to the present to have a relationship with us. Thus, argues Lafleur, God would have no religious significance to us if he was eternal because then he wouldn't have any connection or hand in our
fate Destiny, sometimes referred to as fate (from Latin ''fatum'' "decree, prediction, destiny, fate"), is a predetermined course of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual. Fate Although often ...
. Another argument Lafleur uses is that if God is all knowing, praying and worship is pointless because God already knows because he has conceived the whole world and all of us. According to Lafleur, when we say eternal, what we really mean is everlasting. Only in this way could God be everything we think of him as, both everlasting and all knowing. The
Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts ...
is less clear on which of the two senses is true. The first sense, and perhaps the one with the longest pedigree, is that God exists independently of time. On this view, it cannot be said that God has lived for a certain number of years or will live a certain number of years into the future. The second notion is to say that God is in time but everlasting. This is sometimes called '' sempiternity''. Both conceptions agree that God's existence never ends. They disagree on whether God is in
time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, ...
or outside of it.
John Feinberg John Samuel Feinberg (born April 2, 1946) is an American theologian, author, and professor of biblical and systematic theology. He is currently listed as Professor of Biblical and Systematic Theology (retired) at Trinity Evangelical Divinity Schoo ...
, in his book ''No One Like Him'' argues for God's omnitemporality over his timelessness. Although agreeing with
William Lane Craig William Lane Craig (born August 23, 1949) is an American analytic philosopher, Christian apologist, author and Wesleyan theologian who upholds the view of Molinism and neo-Apollinarianism. He is Professor of Philosophy at Houston Baptist ...
that the biblical data are compatible with both views, Feinberg believes that it is easier to make sense of the notion of omnitemporality over atemporal eternity. Feinberg finds it difficult to believe that an omniscient, supremely rational being could know everything there is to know without being temporal. He also believes that the concept of fellowship is easier to understand on the omnitemporal model. Scripture also points to God as having fellowship with and interacting with human beings at various points in their lives, which seems difficult to understand unless there is a temporal sequence in God's thought life. Regardless, Feinberg affirms that both views are fully theologically orthodox, and that divine timelessness does have the advantage of not potentially slipping into the heretical notion of process theology.


Christian doctrine

There are many ideas about the true definition of eternality, especially in different religions such as Judaism or Islam. D. P Walker's research specifically focuses on the definition of eternity in the Christian doctrine. In his article “ Eternity and the Afterlife”, he states that the Christian eternity combines two notions: non-successive experience and infinite duration. This Christian conception of eternity, formulated by Augustine, Boethius, and Aquinas, is usually said to derive from Plato and the Neoplatonists.


See also

*
Attributes of God in Christianity The attributes of God are specific characteristics of God discussed in Christian theology. Christians are not monolithic in their understanding of God's attributes. Classification Many Reformed theologians distinguish between the ''communica ...
* Theistic finitism *
Fallacies of atheism A fallacy is the use of invalid or otherwise faulty reasoning, or "wrong moves," in the construction of an argument which may appear stronger than it really is if the fallacy is not spotted. The term in the Western intellectual tradition was intr ...


References

{{Reflist God in Christianity Attributes of God in Christian theology Christian cosmology