Time is Meaningless

This is going to be a weird one.

Since I was a young lad, I've been very familiar with the idea of heaven. Really, don't most people believe in heaven, somehow? For the most part, yes, especially when it comes to loved ones passing away-- everyone believes their grandma/uncle/best friend went to heaven. Now, whether they themselves are also going to heaven is something a lot of people assume, and if not, it's just not something they think about.

Heaven is . . . peaceful? Painless? Happy?

. . . Eternal?

Sure, sure, why not? But have you ever considered what eternity really means? I have, and to be perfectly, vulnerably honest, it kinda scares me. It blows my mind, for one thing. All I have to do is think about the idea of eternity for about 2 seconds, and I'm done; my mind is blown. It keeps going? Life never stops? There is no end to existence?

This really is something that can't be imagined, and that's why it blows your mind. Someone who doesn't believe in God, and therefore, heaven, may be moved to think:
"yeah, that's why I'm glad I don't believe in it, because it doesn't make sense."

But you have to believe in eternity, whether or not you even believe in God, because after you die, the universe will go on, and on, and on, and even ten quintillion years from now, when the universe will supposedly collapse on itself and end up as a single, infinitely small black hole singularity, time will still go one. So yes, everyone must believe in eternity.

But I suppose the idea that you'll be around for it is what makes it scary in light of it's never-endingness. For a long time, I've found myself with the heebie-jeebies when I think of myself being eternal. These heebie-jeebies also leave me feeling a bit guilty because I know that eternity spent in the company of my infinitely loving, infinitely knowledgeable, infinitely perfect Jesus would be full of joy and wonder. I mean, what kind of Christian am I to be scared of spending eternity with God?

But I've had a thought in recent weeks that I've found comforting. A thought which has, for the most part, dissolved my fear of spending eternity with God.

There is no time in eternity.

I've realized that the idea of time in light of eternity is quite ridiculous. It's not as though eternity will have "begun," or "keep going," or anything of the sort. It's not as though, epochs into my future with the Lord, I'll look back and say "Wow, it's year 15,587,000,072,576. Cool!" There will be no new establishment of time markation, as if there is a new year zero, and we can begin measuring again from that point.

Eternity will not have begun. Rather, eternity will be a new state.

Looking back at past instances in my life where my belief in God was challenged in relation to various aspects of God's existence, I wish I understood then what I do now. There's obviously the paradox of the Trinity (one god that is three gods, somehow) to tangle with, but I'm not going to go there right now because I think it's impossible to explain (and 2000 years' worth of great theologians would concur). But consider how people wrangle (Christians included) with the idea that God has always existed; how is that supposed to make sense? "If God wasn't created, where did he come from?" we're asked. "How can God exist if he never began?" The typical theist's response is that "God is surely outside of time," or that "time does not apply to God," which is scoffed at by the inquisitor, and rightly so. The response given by the believer is playing right into the hands of the inquisitor, as it fails to address the real question, which should be:

"How can you say that time even exists?"

Because, as a concept, time is not particularly founded. What is it? How does one measure time? Really, when you come down to it, time is just a human method of understanding the universe. It is impossible to prove time. So, when we're asking how God exists if he never began, we're not getting the whole picture. The truth is, the very concept of "beginning" itself implies time. To try and shoehorn the idea of an infinite God into something like time, which is entirely a human idea that cannot be proved, is absurd.

To add, most people today who do not believe in God, when questioned on the origin of the universe, would reply that they believe in the Big Bang. But frankly, I find it much easier to accept the idea of an omnipotent God to whom time does not apply, than to accept the idea of everything somehow coming out of nothing at some distant point in the past. A Big Bang needs a catalyst, and a catalyst could not simply manifest itself out of nothingness. The problem with the Big Bang is that it tries to fit the idea of existence as having begun at some point, i.e., time. But at least belief in a God existing outside of time puts the question out of our ability to answer.

It's not like you're going to be able to explain the existence of existence anyway, so you might as well point to a God to explain it all. At that point, at least you can say it's out of your hands.



It's a long time coming, but here is my point:
Scripture says that when we see the Lord in heaven, we will become like him. Here we find ourselves essentially sharing in his God-nature thanks to our union with God through Jesus Christ. If time is a human concept, one that does not apply to an infinite being such as God, then time will no longer apply to us, either. Eternity will be our new state. Do you think God fears the vastness of eternity? No, because there is no timeline to His eternity-- it is simply his state. And eternity will be our state, too, then, and thus, there is nothing to fear.

We will be like God.