For a while now I have wanted to write a little about the philosophy of time specifically with regard to time’s nature and some of the implications of that. I don’t think that I have ever seen an article in a religious periodical on this subject, though I do know that the nature of time has been a subject of philosophical discussion. A Google search on “nature of time” by itself will bring up a number of articles on the subject.
My interest in the subject stems partly from the pleasure I take in reading science fiction, which it seams almost always involves the concept of “time travel,” but more importantly and primarily because of several implications that the nature of time has with regard to the nature of man and the nature of God. I don’t think I will get into these latter matters in this post, but I hope to write about those implications at a later time.
The Bible actually has a good deal to say about time. Most of that has to do with the wise use of the time that has been given us, but there are certain implications within the Bible that deal directly with its nature. I will try to point out a few of those implications.
It is difficult to define the word “time” and it is even more difficult to describe, certainly at least in ways with which everyone would agree. One place defines it as “the indefinite continued progress of existence and events in the past, present, and future regarded as a whole” (“time,” New Oxford American Dictionary 2nd edition, Oxford University Press, Inc). Okay, so far, so good. But can we do better?
Another defines the term to mean “A nonspatial continuum in which events occur in apparently irreversible succession from the past through the present to the future” (The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition as quoted by The Free Dictionary). I like the way “nonspatial continuum” makes that definition sound, but the definition I like best is this: “the continuous passage of existence in which events pass from a state of potentiality in the future, through the present, to a state of finality in the past” (Collins English Dictionary as quoted by The Free Dictionary).
The last definition starts to get at some of the aspects of time’s nature that I want to discuss. Specifically it describes future events as being in “a state of potentiality” and past events as having “a state of finality.” It also mentioned the present, but did not describe the kind of state events have at that time, but we might add that present events have a state of actuality. These are fundamental differences of the three time references.
You might say that I am only stating the obvious, and you would be right. However, not everyone would agree. Some theorize that there is no fundamental difference between the past and the future, to say nothing of the present. They would argue that the future is as “final” as the past. That is, they claim that everything that will be simply will be. That the events of the future are as fixed in time as the past, and that nothing done in the present can or will ever change a single item of what already will be.
This philosophy goes by several names. It is sometimes call “Fatalism,” because of its emphasis on “fate.” It is also called “determinism,” because it claims that all future events will be determined by the chain of events that come before. In religious realms it is sometimes called “pre-determinism” because of its relationship to the Biblical doctrine of predestination. In this form it postulates that God has decreed the events of the future so that nothing can overrule that decree.
We believe that neither the Bible nor modern science supports this doctrine. The future is not like the past. The past is immutable, concrete, fixed, and final. The future is exactly the opposite. It is mutable, abstract, unfixed, and potential. We can’t change the things we have done; we have to live with the consequences of our actions. But tomorrow is an empty slate. We can choose a different course if we want. We can turn from the errors of the past, and follow a course of correction. God has made it so by creating time in the way that he did.
