Russell Stannard - What is God's Eternity?

Could God be eternal? For God to be eternal, God would exist outside of time, would not experience time's flow. God would have no past, present or future. As Boethius said in the 6th Century, "Eternity, then, is the whole, simultaneous and perfect possession of boundless life". God's relationship to time helps assess God's existence and discern God's essence.

[tmariepi]

This was so fascinating. I loved listening to him. Excellent interview.

[orbital]

If there is such a "thing" as god it won't operate along human logic, 99% of the times I hear people talking about god, even intellectuals, I hear description of its antropomorphic behavior...

[GulfsideMinistries]

I don't like the block theory of time, but I can see how it easily fits with Einstein and the general claim that God knows the future. To that extent, Russell's analogy works. To Robert's point, it doesn't fit with regard to our effecting God.

The classical answer: God is impassible. That is, He *cannot* be effected in any shape or form. God is not subject to causation and therefore is not in time (which is the correct order--not that God is not in time and therefore not subject to causation).

In one sense, that *does* render God remote. But in another, it does not. If you deny the block theory and hold the classical view of time, God is not "in" in the present, because God is not in time at all. God is entirely simple and not subject to causality. In fact, God is the root of all causality. He is, if you like, the Principle of Causality (in jargon, the Act of Acts). Thus, anything that is or has been or will be, only is has been or will be because God was at the root of that causing it to so be. Thus God is rather literally closer to you than you are to yourself, insofar as you are related to yourself by a sequence of parts making up a whole, but God is wholly and entirely present to each of your parts and to the whole of you; indeed, those very relations that constitute you only exist because God is causing them. So, again *literally*, God is closer to you than you are to yourself.

Or as theologians have long said, God is both imminent and transcendent.

[johnbacsa]

There is something missing in his discussion. In quantum mechanics, several events (states) can coexist and their evolution over time is controlled by the wave-function. In a sense, different possibilities coexist and we only see one possibility evolve, but there exist many possible states corresponding to configurations and realities (with different probabilities of happening). We only see one happening.

[psgiles]

I view my whole life as preparation for spending eternity with Him. I’m 74, a believer, father...great grandfather...and I’ve never been more aware of what I’m When my wife passed on, I studied to be, and became, a Chaplain. Now I have a ‘ministry of presence’ to help others no matter what their faith is...or isn’t. I do not like the term religion - I consider Christianity a relationship & NOT a religion. Jesus brought the Kingdom of God to any/all of us with a new Covenant freeing us from the human-made laws noted in the Old Testament. He doesn’t require anything for our salvation EXCEPT to god on believing’ in Him...and follow His commands, all of which are based on love. If you’re a non-believer & have read this far, I encourage you to start reading about intelligent design. Hugh Ross, an astro physicist, has some great science-based books that will catch your attention. You can buy Kindle versions and “Creator and the Cosmos” is an excellent one to start with. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Oh! Look for a church that follows/teaches scripture and not it’s own dogma and man-made rules & laws.

[eddieparris]

It is my thought that time is an anthropomorphic construct that emerges from the human mind's inability to experience the infinite bulk of objective existence.

[tomhodges]

I think Russell wanted to say " that question is irrelevant" more than once

[andrebrown]

While this argument does not budge my lack of belief in a god, I like hearing them try to prove with words that a god exist.

[jean-pierredevent]

The block universe and knowing everything makes me wonder if God is not bored. But perhaps he only feels love and all other states are the absence of love which we can feel but he not.

[toothybeaver]

Time is Consciousness. That is why when you are in a coma, you have no idea of Time.

[uremove]

Very thought provoking! My problem with the “Block Universe” model, is it assumes ONE future ie. a single worldline. Yet, if you subscribe to the Many Worlds Interpretation, (which seems to be the dominant interpretation these days) there are many futures/worldlines, indeed almost infinite! Yet, this version of ‘me’ only sees one. How could God then distinguish this ‘me’ from all the other identical ‘me’ versions with different futures?

I much prefer Carlo Rovelli’s ‘relational’ model of time, which says there is no universal time, that time is different for every individual. So, a ‘Block Universe’ perspective as a ‘view from nowhere’ makes no sense. In this way, every particle, every interaction, every person exists in its own individual time bubble. This seems to have more possibilities for novelty, (which makes it more risky, but more creative), than a deterministic Block Universe.

[jordanthompson]

God can be; both changed in time, and also exist outside time (in a 5th dimension). Just because you know the unfolding of all events does not mean it will change your actions. Knowledge and action are not the same. God can experience time the same way we do; concurrent to his higher dimensional experience. Does his higher dimensional awareness somehow void his lower dimensional awareness? No.

[chuck]

Sounds a lot like God is running the simulation. I love these discussions.

[callumclarke]

God is Speceless timeless Immaterial Conceptual by Nature, God Created Time space and Matter, Russell is Correct, if God is in Time, then he is not God, , God is not in Time. God mite no the Future, but we are still Free agents but God knows the Destination what we are ultimately going too choice, it's the Materialists as the Problem with Free will

[AlmostEthical]

We are moving through space at about 2 million kms per hour. That path through space would be our worldline in a block universe, with each of our contributions being extremely tiny wiggles vast path.

Another point, if God can oversee the entire block universe, then it must be a higher dimensional entity. Our main theory that includes extra dimensions is string theory (which is not so popular these days). But would God be only in the fifth dimension? Surely God would then be in the eleventh dimension. Then again, if we are using the Bible as a source, God was basically an ancient war deity who occasionally demanded blood sacrifice. There might be a more sophisticated explanation.

[Bostonceltics]

How do people know gods sex and gender?
In either case "god" all knowing or not how to account for their actions and all the suffering, Did god know about the Holocaust, guinea worms, amputation?
It's like god is all powerful but also free of responsibility it's very hard to understand.

[CocoaBeachLiving]

Really great stuff. I can't make myself buy into religion, but since I simply don't have the enough facts, I'll keep listening.. 😉

[sharonjackson]

Stannard's analogy of a God viewing a video of reality while also being in the video only works if you posit two Gods. God is both immanent and transcendent, but in order to accommodate a block universe, you would have to split God into two separate beings.

[setiandromeda]

If god creates an eternity how is that eternity inferior to the god?same if god can create it ad he is eternal what makes god to not having been created? Is our human quest for cause faulty?what entertains or motivates god? Why god ad where ad how god?
If god knows the past present ad future it means sort of he does nothing.what then is a prayer for?why all. emails to god? Do we have freedom of choice ad if none why say god judges ad yet everything is known about me from beginning to end.coz if I can change anything god knows then god does not know everything. Exactly what is god upto.?yet he cant be upto anything coz everything is done ad nothing else can be done
Is it that what people call god especially the judeo xtian theology is absolutely false ad if there is a god or gods they are totally different.is it so difficult to disprove wichcraft to its believers ad same with modern religion as an offshoot of wichcraft? If as we agree there was something before the big bang what was before god or gods?what purpose does our struggle to create ad get to know god serve in the scheme of things?
Iifanything ad if at all it's only after understanding all there is in the universe that we can now start focusing in beyond the universe otherwise our quest is simply flawed ad a waste of energy

[Electro_Spunk]

I'd be interested in his view on God as a disciplinarian.
If we accept time as being intrinsicly linked to 3d space, or 3+1 (which I do), and God knows our "future" transgressions, is there really a need for hell? Should the religious not expect Hitler to be punished?