God is EveryWhen

Have you ever thought about God and Time? Sure, all of us think about God and Eternity, but what about God and Time - It is a deeply philosophical subject. Unfortunately, I am taking Philosophy of Religion right now, so deeply philosophical subjects seem to be the norm these days. As part of this class, I had to write a research paper on something deeply philosophical. I had so many things to choose from that for the life of me, I can't possibly imagine why I would choose such a topic as God and Time. Nevertheless, that was the topic I chose...

In my wildest dreams, I never thought that time could be such a difficult concept to grasp. Some philosophers think that only the present is real - that neither the past nor the future are real. Hmmm... I distinctly remember working all day in my yard yesterday and the pains in my back and muscles clearly prove to me that yesterday was about as real as today's aches and pains. To be fair, they say that yesterday was once real but no longer and that tomorrow will be real but not yet. Sounds like philosophical mumbo-jumbo to me. If that is not bad enough, though, apparently some philosophers don't even really think time exists at all except in our minds. I guess time is just our minds way of dealing with the passage of ... um... time? Anyway, my aging body disagrees - as does my aging mind. They both tell me time is VERY real and it is passing by much faster than it used to.

If you think about it, though, knowing (if indeed this is something we can really know) how God relates to time can really help with certain questions such as foreknowledge and even predestination. Where I came to on this, however, is that God is Omni-Temporal - or stated a bit less eloquently that God is EveryWhen. Most of us would agree without question that God is omni-present (i.e. existing everywhere in the universe at the same time). Why wouldn't the same be true for time as it is true for space? That would make sense, since most scientists see time as little more than an extension of space - a fourth dimension - but that differs significantly from many (I won't say most) philosophers. Nevertheless, why wouldn't God exist everywhen? Why would we say that God is Omni-present, omnipotent, and omniscient, but not Omni-temporal? Why would we think that a limitless, omnipotent God would be limited by anything - including time? For that matter, if God created everything then he created time, too! Certainly an almighty God cannot be limited by his own creation!

Maybe it is not that big a deal, and maybe you are wondering what's the point. Good point. I can't say I disagree. However, when you are being forced to think philosophically, it is certainly an interesting thing to think about. And I was forced, so I did. By the way, if you want to read my 5000 words of philosophical whatnot about this, feel free to read my paper on the subject... you can check it out here..... http://www.box.net/shared/fi5to9808s

I just hope I get a decent grade.