Is Time a dimension or a Measurement?

[The Biblicist]

It's more than a measurement. It'sa measurement along a defined axis. Height, length, width, and time, the four dimensions we use to define or coordinate location.

Heaven is a location but do you think it is measured by time? In contrast our universe is measured in three different ways. You have defined space but time is measured in past, present and future whereas matter is measured in energy, motion and phenomena. Isn't the only way we use time to coordinate location is by imaginary grid lines and artificial time zones?

 

[Yeshua1]

Heaven is a location but do you think it is measured by time? In contrast our universe is measured in three different ways. You have defined space but time is measured in past, present and future whereas matter is measured in energy, motion and phenomena. Isn't the only way we use time to coordinate location is by imaginary grid lines and artificial time zones?

Heaven is not located in what we consider to be real time and space, is it?

 

[Rob_BW]

Heaven is not located in what we consider to be real time and space, is it?

I have no idea. And I'm okay with that.

 

[Yeshua1]

I have no idea. And I'm okay with that.

It is timeless though, and made up of "stuff" that would not be same as what we know matter as being, not physical as we define it!

 

[rsr]

I believe that our visible universe has a spiritual realm which we cannot see except when God opens our eyes which is a spirit "dimension" that can be measured in terms of invisible, spiritual versus tangible and physical. That may be called a parallel universe but I don't believe time in and of itself is a parallel universe but is part of this creation which universe is measurable in different terms (space, matter, time).

I think we may be talking past each other. Certainly God exists within our universe, but I cannot think he is necessarily bound by it. Could it not be that the spiritual realm is, in fact, another universe that intersects with our universe at certain points, i.e., the points that God has ordained?

 

[rsr]

Anyone who tries to talk about God and His relationship to time is only speculating at best and even then it is uneducated speculation. It is a ridiculous endeavor.

Position noted. Feel free to ignore it.

I don't think anyone here is going to get his knickers in a twist and accuse others of heresy. We all agree that God is both transcendent and immanent and he, his works and our universe (or universes) are a mystery to us in many ways. But it doesn't hurt to talk about it.

 

[rsr]

Perhaps I'm going crazy (no comments being solicited here), but has the name of the topic been changed?

 

[Adonia]

Often we hear and read of theologians claiming that God exists "outside" of time and yet one can look in vain to find such language ever used in the Bible.

Just because something is not in the Bible does not mean it isn't true and I'll side with those theologians who surmise that God indeed does exist outside of time. He was there in the beginning as He is here right now.

We know very little of what actually is because we exist in only one part of time - the here and now. I think it will be only when we move over into the next dimension will we be able to fully comprehend every fact of the unknown i.e. the why of all that we go through and all that exists.

 

[The Biblicist]

Position noted. Feel free to ignore it.

I don't think anyone here is going to get his knickers in a twist and accuse others of heresy. We all agree that God is both transcendent and immanent and he, his works and our universe (or universes) are a mystery to us in many ways. But it doesn't hurt to talk about it.

No, it is just an interesting topic and as you rightly stated I think everyone believes that God transcends time,space and matter. I was just using everyone else as a sounding board as I worked it out in my own mind.

 

[BobRyan]

Often we hear and read of theologians claiming that God exists "outside" of time and yet one can look in vain to find such language ever used in the Bible. They simply do not understand the nature of time. They think that time is a "dimension" or "sphere" rather than a measurement of things that have a beginning and end.

length is a dimension
Width is a dimension
depth is a dimension
time is a dimension

The can be expanded and shrunk based on velocity.

The thing people are missing is they think that in a higher dimension ... the lower dimensions do not "exist" which is false. Higher dimensions must include every dimension below them to even have the higher dimension.

 

[The Biblicist]

length is a dimension
Width is a dimension
depth is a dimension
time is a dimension

The can be expanded and shrunk based on velocity.

The thing people are missing is they think that in a higher dimension ... the lower dimensions do not "exist" which is false. Higher dimensions must include every dimension below them to even have the higher dimension.

Yes, I believe the universe is three in one and that each aspect is trinity as well and without one the others do not exist and so they co-exist together as one universe.

 

[Bro. James]

Time is eternity marked off for man by God. Man has divided time into femto seconds and smaller--more than the time he spends with his Creator. Man worships the creation which somehow evolved with little or no help from the supernatural.

Using Peter's equation for time: 1000 years = 1 day, Jesus has not yet been gone two days. If we live to be 100 earth years, that is 2.4 hrs. in God's time.

The chronology is according to Divine Plan, on time, since before time and surely coming to pass on time.

Time is a dimension of sorts--like X-Y-Z. But there are dimensions the nature of which we have not a clue.

Man still thinks he evolved, given enough time. Man knows not how to calibrate his chronometer.

Man can look at creation at 50,000 diameters and still not proclaim: "My God, how great thou art." The response is more like: "My Big Bang, how great thou art." Man still has difficulty in contemplating his navel. Obesity is rampant.

It is 1159 pm on the 6th day since creation. Where will we spend eternity?

Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Bro. James

 

[Reynolds]

I would say that God exists outside time. Time is a dimension, just as are the other dimensions (the ones we know and the ones we don't) and they are the expressions of his creative power. For time to exist, it must have a beginning. God has no beginning, so time is an expression of his nature, but he is not bound by it, just as he is not bound by our concepts of width and length and height. Is god inside or bound by the other three dimensions?

I believe that "the beginning" in Jn 1:1refers to the beginning of time.

 

[Baptist Believer]

At the most fundamental level, time describes a sequence. First one thing happens, and then another.

We know from observation that the passing of time (sequence of events) is measured/observed at different rates according to velocity and gravity.

As humans, built of matter and operating within a certain set of physical circumstances in our natural environment, are living within a sequence of events. We are tied to what is called time and our experience with this sequence can be measured accurately from our various similar positions of observation/experience.

Knowing these things about time, we can speculate that God observes time (sequences) quite differently than we do since, with the exception of the incarnation, God is not composed of matter and confined to physical circumstances.

 

[Yeshua1]

I believe that "the beginning" in Jn 1:1refers to the beginning of time.

The creation of all things....

 

[Reynolds]

The creation of all things....

The creation of angels?

 

[rsr]

I believe that "the beginning" in Jn 1:1refers to the beginning of time.

Rather, I would say that the beginning of time begins with John 1:3 (Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.) "Beginning," in this instance refers to a point before time, when the entire cosmos was subsumed within the Godhead. Is that a millisecond before creation or a trillion years (as we would measure it)? I have no way of knowing.

 

[JonC]

Perhaps I'm going crazy (no comments being solicited here), but has the name of the topic been changed?

[Edited – member asked for no response to his confession]

 

[BobRyan]

At the most fundamental level, time describes a sequence. First one thing happens, and then another.

True. Without time there is no "and then this happened" and so no "And then God said ..." because that would be an event that takes place in time.

 

[BobRyan]

Rather, I would say that the beginning of time begins with John 1:3 (Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.) "Beginning," in this instance refers to a point before time, when the entire cosmos was subsumed within the Godhead. Is that a millisecond before creation or a trillion years (as we would measure it)? I have no way of knowing.

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". This is before "day 1" of Earth's creation week.
On day 1 the earth is already formless and void with water covering the surface of the deep. (Oceans)

not -- "in the beginning God created time"...