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Time
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0:00
Hi, I'm Dave DeWitt, and today I'd like to talk a little bit about time.
0:09
What it is, why it's important.
0:13
My motivation for this study is simply that I was intrigued by some papers I read on the
0:18
subject and decided to do some research on my own, focused on what I found in the Bible.
0:26
But what I found was quite amazing.
0:29
I discovered that this is a crucial Bible study.
0:34
The Bible has a lot to say about time.
0:38
The Bible's concept of time is dramatically opposed to the highly influential view promoted
0:44
by the liberal progressive secular world today.
0:49
Crucial biblical doctrines such as prayer of the gospel, sufficiency of the death of
0:53
Christ, and the character of God are linked to our view of time.
0:59
There are three commonly held Christian views about time which are wrong.
1:04
One is that there's no time in heaven.
1:07
Another is that God created time in Genesis 1, and a third is that God is separated from
1:13
time.
1:14
I'd like to say that this material is not difficult, but it is not something most people
1:20
think about.
1:22
So it may seem difficult only because we don't usually talk about time.
1:28
I also think you'll find it more interesting than you expect.
1:32
I did.
1:34
The purpose of this study is to determine the doctrine of time by making observations
1:39
from the Bible and the nature of the universe.
1:44
Christian theologians who talk about time usually jump directly to the involvement of
1:49
God in time without looking at the nature of time itself, and I suspect that's why
1:55
they make a lot of mistakes.
1:59
So here are two things I want to talk about in this podcast.
2:05
First I'll discuss the nature of time, how to define and describe time, and second I'll
2:11
look at the duration of time.
2:15
Did time have a beginning or an end?
2:18
Since we're going to talk about the nature of time, there's some questions to consider.
2:24
What is time?
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How do we know about time since we cannot detect it with any of our five senses?
2:32
Is time a fourth dimension of the universe?
2:36
Does time exist in the past and future or just the present?
2:40
Does all time exist at the same time?
2:44
Can we escape from time?
2:46
Is there time in heaven?
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First, the definition of time.
2:52
The best definition I found was in Wikipedia.
2:56
They say time is the continued sequence of events that occur in an apparently irreversible
3:05
succession from the past through the present into the future.
3:09
Now, my brief definition from all that is that time is a progression of existence.
3:16
Time requires something to exist, and that something must be progressing, that is, in
3:21
motion.
3:25
A corollary to this is time exists and is always five different things.
3:32
So there's five things we should know that are always true about time.
3:37
It is sequential, that is, things happen in time always impact other things that happen
3:43
in time.
3:45
It's continual.
3:47
Time goes on inevitably.
3:48
It cannot be stopped.
3:51
It's measurable.
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Moments of time can be measured, what we call minutes and hours and days and years.
4:02
Time is irreversible.
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What happens in time cannot be altered or undone, and time is unavoidable.
4:10
There's no one can escape the progression of time.
4:16
Now I want to talk to you about an A theory and a B theory of time.
4:21
Now the two theories, usually labeled A and B, are not my designation.
4:27
The term A theory and B theory were first coined by Richard Gale in 1966.
4:36
The A theory, or dynamic view of time, says time is moving from past to present to future.
4:45
This is probably what you and I believe.
4:48
It says the past existed but no longer exists.
4:54
Only the present exists, and the future does not yet exist.
5:00
In the A theory, if something happened yesterday, and then something else happened today, yesterday's
5:07
events are in the past, and today's immediate events are in the present.
5:14
Whatever happens tomorrow is in the future, which has not yet happened.
5:21
Yesterday's events did not just happen before today's events, but in past time from today's
5:27
events.
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When an event happens in sequence with some other event, for example, take the statement,
5:35
I wrecked my car, so I bought a new car.
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It means the first event is in the past with respect to the second event.
5:46
Now the second event may also be in the past, but it's future from the perspective of the
5:52
first event.
5:54
The consequence of past events exists, but the past events themselves no longer exist.
6:02
Now the B theory is a static, or not moving, view of time.
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It says that time is a fourth dimension of the cosmos where no past, present, or future
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distinctions, but all of the time exists simultaneously.
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Events are like the arrangement of the letters in the alphabet.
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Some events happen before other events, but a prior event is not in the past, it's just
6:32
merely before some other event and after some other event.
6:39
Letters in the alphabet which occur in a certain order doesn't mean one occurs before the other.
6:45
This is the view preferred by modern physics, often embraced by both atheists and pantheists,
6:51
and the basis of the Hollywood movies about time, especially if you have a DeLorean with
6:56
a flux capacitor.
6:59
The capacity to move back and forth in time assumes the B theory.
7:05
Some time travel movies picture the B theory like a piece of paper or a ribbon which contains
7:11
all time.
7:13
All parts of the ribbon exist simultaneously, and if the part you are in, or what you're
7:20
currently experiencing, touches some other part of the ribbon, or there's a wormhole
7:25
transporting you from some other part of the ribbon, then you can move in time, which actually
7:31
exists at the same time as your time.
7:35
I suspect the vast majority of the people in the Western world today believe the B theory.
7:41
It's like evolution.
7:42
They invent a theory, then they use their theory to prove their next theory.
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I suggest that the real reason the B theory is popular is because it's contrary to the
7:55
Bible.
7:57
Ted Sider offers this example.
8:00
If you're living in the year 2016, A theory says the year 1967 is 49 years in the past.
8:11
B theory says the year 1967 is 49 years before the year 2016.
8:20
The biblical perspective, let's take a look at a biblical perspective about time.
8:25
No serious understanding of the Bible, or observation of reality for that matter, could
8:30
conclude the B theory of time.
8:33
There's simply no observation of it anywhere.
8:37
We can put biblical events on a timeline, but it's a dynamic developing line, not a
8:43
static pre-existing line.
8:46
There's a historical past and a predicted future, which can be applied to the present.
8:54
This is possible because time in the Bible is linear.
8:59
The Bible does not see time as beginning or ending, but it does see our cosmos as beginning
9:05
and ending.
9:07
Biblically time is not presented as circular or cyclical, as in the pantheistic religions.
9:17
Biblically understood, time moves in a direction from a real past to a real present into a
9:24
real future.
9:26
In the Bible, many things happen simultaneously.
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For example, at the same time Moses was on Mount Sinai, the Israelites were building
9:35
a golden calf.
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But past things are not simultaneously with present things or future things.
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Moses on Mount Sinai is not simultaneous with Joshua's conquest of the land of Canaan.
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But there was a real past, there's a real present, and there's a real future.
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But only the present exists.
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So the B-theory, the most popular theory in progressive secular society today, must be
10:08
rejected.
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Here's seven observations about the nature of time.
10:15
Number one, time always moves in a progression from past to present to future.
10:22
When referring to time, it is inappropriate to say some things are merely before, during,
10:27
or after other things, because those things do not necessitate a progression.
10:34
Notice since time, by definition, always has a past, present, and future, it can never
10:41
have a beginning or an end, because then there would be a present time which does not have
10:47
a past, and one which does not have a future.
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Second, from any point in time, every other point in time, is either past, present, or
10:58
future.
10:59
There can only be one of those.
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Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as President of the United States on January 20, 1981.
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Every point in time is either past, present, or future from that point, but it cannot be
11:16
any two of them or all of them.
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Three, any point in time itself has all three aspects of time at the same time.
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Ronald Reagan's inauguration is in the past time from the inauguration of Bill Clinton.
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It's at the present time as those attending the inauguration, and it's in the future time
11:42
of the inauguration of Abraham Lincoln.
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Four, only the present exists.
11:51
This is the most important thing to understand about time.
11:55
The consequences of the past impact the present and the future, but the past itself no longer
12:01
exists and the future does not yet exist.
12:06
Take the old example of the depressed guy who jumps off a 30-story building.
12:11
Right after he jumps, he realizes this is a bad idea, and he prays, dear God, forgive
12:16
me for jumping off this building.
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God says, you're forgiven.
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As the guy falls past the 20th floor, he prays, I mean, I want to be forgiven right now.
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God says, you're forgiven right now, but as the guy falls past the 10th floor, the jumping
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is in the past, it no longer exists, but the consequence of the past impacts the present,
12:44
which exists in the future, which will exist, even though the future does not yet exist.
12:50
Nonetheless, all decisions are made in the present because only the present exists.
12:58
Apostolic exhortations like the Apostle Paul's statement, making the most of the time because
13:03
the days are evil, can only refer to the present time.
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Present time is temporary, not permanent.
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Since there's only present time, how long is the present?
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At any point in time, present time is a location, not a duration.
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But the present is not only a location, it's also a location in motion, which continually
13:32
is changing.
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For example, 68% of the human body is made up of cells.
13:41
Scientific American tells us about 330 billion cells are replaced daily, equivalent of about
13:49
1% of all your cells.
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In 80 to 100 days, 30 trillion will have been replaced, the equivalent of a new you.
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Our bodies are not the only thing changing continually.
14:06
All of this universe appears to be continually changing, deteriorating, in fact, according
14:12
to the second law of thermodynamics.
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For example, more than 99% of all organisms that have ever lived on earth are extinct.
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Some say we're like a flowing river, ever-changing, others say we're like a flip chart of instantaneous
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pictures moved through a simultaneous to simulate motion.
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However, the three things are true.
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Only the present exists.
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Present time is in motion, so every instance of time is temporary.
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And third, the nature of time, of present time, is that it creates the past.
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History is a record of what has been created by present time.
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The sixth aspect of time is that time in heaven measures what does not deteriorate.
15:09
Two basic observations.
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First, there's time in heaven.
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There are evangelical songs that say in heaven time will be no more.
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Well, it's just not true.
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I'll read you a few verses.
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Revelation 4, 8.
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And the four living creatures, day and night, they do not cease to say, holy, holy, holy,
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is the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.
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Revelation 8, 1.
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When the Lamb broke the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about a half an
15:43
hour.
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In Revelation 9, 15, there were the four angels who had been prepared for the hour
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and day and month and year were released so that they would kill a third of mankind.
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Second, the difference between time in our cosmos and time in heaven is that our time
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is measuring deterioration.
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Time in heaven and hell is not as far as we can observe biblically.
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In a context of deteriorating surroundings, the difference for time in the heavenlies
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is not that it goes away or changes, but that it measures surroundings that do not deteriorate.
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Seventh thing about time is the human spirit experiences time but does not change with
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time.
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Our spiritual nature, which will be somewhere forever, may become better or worse, does
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not deteriorate as an entity like our current bodies do.
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The human spirit will leave this body, exist in a temporary body, move to an eternal body,
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and eventually reside in New Jerusalem or the Lake of Fire without the end of time or
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deterioration of the resurrected body.
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So here's my summary and conclusions.
17:12
Although the consequence of past time exists, past time itself no longer exists.
17:19
Future time does not yet exist, and only present time exists.
17:24
History, even biblical history, is a record of what happened in what was then present
17:31
time.
17:33
We learn that the time is sequential.
17:37
Things that happen in time always impact other things that happen in time.
17:42
It's continual.
17:44
Time goes on inevitably.
17:46
It's measurable.
17:47
We can measure it in things like minutes and hours and days and years.
17:52
It's irreversible, what happened, and time cannot be altered or undone.
17:59
And it's unavoidable.
18:01
No one can escape the progression of time.
18:05
But only present time exists.
18:08
There's no such thing as time travel because time is active, not static.
18:14
The nature of time never changes.
18:17
It's the same on earth, in heaven, in hell, and as far as we can tell, everywhere.
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Time is not different in heaven.
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It's just that here, time is measuring a deteriorating universe.
18:32
Thank you for listening.
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A longer paper on the subject with footnotes for the quotes is available on our website,
18:39
relationalconcepts.org.
