Time & Eternity

[Amleth]

slip from your carcass.....and THEN what?

Back to before you were incarnate...

 

[Nakosis]

I said psychology. I never said that he was not a scientist. He might as well be a painter, with a gallery somewhere on a Web. Him having an opinion on painting does not make painting a science, just as him having opinion about psychology does not make psychology a science.

Ok, in which case I don't see whether psychology being a science or not is relevant to the topic. Probably better to point out he is not a physicist then.

Here's the view from a Physicist.

Julian Barbour's solution to the problem of time in physics and cosmology is as simply stated as it is radical: there is no such thing as time.

"There Is No Such Thing As Time"

 

[allfoak]

Time means a succession of cause and effect. If there are events, then there is time. Eternity means there were events always.



How so?
Colloquial framework , "since the beginning of time" does not mean it is a logically valid expression.

Time cannot be eternal, we have something separate from time called eternity.
We live within the constraints of time until our body expires and then we get to experience eternity.
This seems to be the general consensus among major religions.
How one spends eternity is disputed but eternity definitely is a separate concept from the concept of time.

 

[Thief]

Back to before you were incarnate...

nay....
I believe the body is intended to forma unique spirit
the clay hardens and fails
then the spirit comes forth

 

[whirlingmerc]

They are real, but God is outside time space and matter and ideal suited to be the greater of those

Time flows at different rates in the universe as well, as per the theory of general relativity, it goes slower near heavy bodies and faster away

 

[Curious George]

There is no time and eternity, only Zuul.

And Gozer.

 

[Etritonakin]

There is some talk in physics that time doesn't actually exist.
If this is the case then how do we measure the beginning of our own existence?
No time, no eternity... what then?

If everything which now exists has always existed, but is in a different and changing arrangement, time is essentially a measure of interrelationships associated with that rearrangement.
As one arrangement precedes another, time does "exist" -and as it has always been and will always be the case, eternity also "exists".
Even if we destroyed the present arrangement, the same "material" would continue to exist in a different arrangement.
If the process of rearrangement stopped -including consideration of the state by observers -there would be no reference for "time" -but the one state would still exist "forever".

That of which we are composed is "eternal", but our arrangement had a beginning.
Eternal life would be by indestructible/invulnerable arrangement.
Our present arrangement may cease to exist, but may be reproduced at will if the arrangement is recorded.

Biblically, our "spirit" -essentially the arrangement of whatever which makes up our personality -is to be placed in an extremely powerful and invulnerable arrangement of a body.

Ecc 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

Col 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Php 3:21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

 

[Repox]

So many references to eternity, as if it is possible for humans to experience it. Doesn't eternity mean no beginning and no ending? According to the definition, only God is eternity. No creature of God can enjoy eternity because they all have beginnings. I think humans want to glorify themselves. No, that is to critical. They want to be with of God in heaven, that's better. They want to enjoy the consequences of God being eternal. As for time, it has empirical measures. We all witness time as events transpire before our eyes. One can propose time to not really exist until one is late for work, then the boss will remind one about time. Is it more complicated than that? Oh, then, there is relative time, it depends on where we sit or where the clock is placed in relationship to a reference point.

Oh, yes, there is ontological time whereby one's experience or being determines the parameters of time. Thus, we have as many times as we have ontological experiences. It is philosophical, so we need philosophers to inform us. I need to refer to my philosophy books. We must get it right, otherwise we are all in time quandary.

 

[whirlingmerc]

They are real

'And as He spoke, He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began ... and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Last Battle.

 

[Repox]

Time cannot be both real and eternal. To be eternal, time cannot exist because there would be no beginning. I define time as a measure of events or change. In the universe, matter and energy through quantum fluctuations (macro events) undergo constant change. Therefore, we have a measure of time. If science can find an absence of change, there would be an argument for eternity in the universe. Theoretically, it is impossible to propose a condition for no change in the universe because matter and energy, regardless of dimension or level of observation, are always in a state of flux or change. Again, there can be no eternal functions in a universe composed of matter and energy. Perhaps, eternity is the real dividing point between heaven and the universe. Because God is eternal, it would follow that heaven, an attribute of God, is eternal. As for the universe, God's did not design it to be eternal. He designed it to be a prison for Satan, his rebellious angel.

 

[osgart]

time flows like a river, never to return to whence it was. eternity past progressed so slowly to finally form life, eternity now is fleeting, and eternity future must be the way to better things for we live in a sea of memories that trial and error has spawned us from. each new memory, a budding flower or a step in a better learned direction.

 

[allfoak]

Are they real?

Time is just eternity slowed down.