God and time

Everlasting: lasting through all time without beginning or end

Eternal: timeless, outside time, atemporal

God as eternal

• more traditional view

• Aquinas argues for this view because of God’s immutability

  P1) Everything in time changes

  P2) God is immutable so doesn’t change

  P3) Therefore God cannot be in time

  C) God is outside of time

• God must be immutable because he is supremely perfect so he doesn’t need to change. How can he change and still be supremely perfect or have always been supremely perfect?

Objection

• Kenny argues that the concept of eternity is incoherent

• He uses the example of Rome to show the absurdity of the concept of an eternal being:

  P1) Rome burned in 64CE which is simultaneous with eternity

  P2) You are reading this now, which is also simultaneous with eternity

  IC1) Therefore, 64CE is simultaneous with now

  C) This conclusion is absurd and therefore the concept of eternity is incoherent

Response

• Kenny misunderstands ‘simultaneity’ which is why he incorrectly assumes an eternal being is incoherent

• For an eternal being, ‘now’ remains and it marks the whole life of the being. There is no past or future, everything is present for an eternal being

God as everlasting

• seeing God as everlasting allows him to: be personal, love the world and interact with the world

  P1) God is without beginning or end

  P2) God interacts with and has a personal relationship with the world

  P3) The world is temporal

  P4) Any being that interacts with or has a relationship with the world must be itself temporal

  C) Therefore God is an everlasting being existing within time

The difference between God as eternal and everlasting

The difference is God’s relationship to time

If he is eternal, he is outside of time. If he is everlasting, he is inside of time