Sunday, November 23, 2008

Thinking about Time

Throughout the day I've been thinking about time. Interesting thing, when you think about time vs. eternity. What is "eternity" (as from a Biblical perspective)? Quite honestly, I think it's a concept that we humans have very little grasp of in our current, temporal form (which, to some degree, happens to be a temporary form as well). "Way back when," you know, "In the beginning God created everything." (an amalgam of Genesis 1:1 and John 1:3 from the NLT)

First, that's pretty cool of itself, and shows how incredibly creative God is. Second, think about what He created: everything, from things so large we can't see the end (the universe) to things so small we can't see their constituent pieces (atoms). But along with all that He created the laws of physics (to keep us well-glued to this planet, for instance, and the light and heat we get from our sun to keep us visible and warm) and time itself. Apart from our universe, where does time exist? I don't think it does. Sequentiality (there I go, making up words again!) is a gift that God gave us to allow us to enjoy a chronological life. When we try to think about and discuss "what's after life" - we run into a problem because we try to think in temporal terms - the very terms that God created in us through the universe. I don't think those limits exist outside our universe... and that's a very difficult thing to try to comprehend. Hence our somewhat inadequate terms "forever" and "eternal" and "infinite" - I don't think they really do justice to the life (or death) that awaits once we've finished our chronological lifetime in this universe.

It's not a "forever" per se - it's a life outside of the limits of time. That's weird (but, I'm sure, quite wonderful; at least as long as you're prepared it will be).

Anyway, that's just what I was thinking about at times today. On a completely different topic of time, I wonder what's to happen now... I've introduced the woman of my dreams, the love of my life, my beautiful wife (yes, they're all the same person! and sometimes it does seem like she has three personalities... but I love them all! :) to the fantabulous world of Facebook. Will she have enough time to get done the things she normally did before being introduced to Facebook? Will the amount of time I get to spend with her change? Will I have to interact with her through Facebook now? Will I have time to help explain all the oddities of Facebook to her? (I'm kidding, of course; hopefully you have found her through my own Facebook account, although I'm not sure I've listed it before now.)

On another completely different topic of time, I'm fairly confident I won't have enough time at work to accomplish all the tasks I need to get done tomorrow. But I think I'll put off thinking about that until at least Tuesday, at which point the tasks will be overdue and thrice as stressful. :)

For those who have made it this far, I'll share an original joke:

A manicure is something that makes a fake person better.

Until next time... (sorry, couldn't resist)

4 comments:

Christy said...

I've always like the Chicago song that says (or sings) "Does anyone really know what time it is? Does anyone really care?"

Laudio said...

Hey! I thought I was the only one who thought about these kinds of things in my spare time.

Not really. I do have some thoughts on this that I hope I can write down in a logical and coherent manner. As soon as I have time... (for real -- how ironic.)

Tony M said...

Yeah, that "logical and coherent" thing comes into play when discussing something like this, where the "concept" is something that's totally foreign, completely outside the realm of the conceivable.

Ninfa said...

Trying to get caught up on some of my visits to blogging sights... sorry I am just now reading this. :o)

I know that Tony and I have discussed this idea of time many times before. I actually find it quite comforting to think that time is not an issue once we are done here. For me it makes the whole belief system a little easier to handle. What I mean is, I know what I believe, but when I start to factor time into the whole thing (A human concern, not a Godly one) those questions that Satan likes to shake you up with start to creep in. Example: "Where did God come from?" This is again a human concept because we had a beginning. Remove Time from the equation of everything outside of this universal sphere and my brain can accept that God never had a beginning because time does not hold him... He holds it.