Graeme Henderson

From the following website a simple definition of time is:

https://www.thoughtco.com/what-is-time-4156799

• Time is the progression of events from the past into the future.
• Time moves only in one direction. It’s possible to move forward in time, but not backward.
• Scientists believe memory formation is the basis for human perception of time.

Most seem to agree that time is a measure of the increase of entropy within the universe. Or that entropy increase is a way to measure or describe what time is.

Whilst an increase in entropy is an efficient measure of the passage of time, it is no more the creator of time than a watch or clock is. In many ways time is an artificial construct. Einstein posited and proved that time is relative to frame of reference of the observer and that time changes with both speed and gravity.

But, in my opinion, time is the description we give to that phenomena that humans have, whereby events that occur to the observer are collected and collated into an orderly and coherent experience which can be reflected upon and understood, and which can give meaning and purpose to our existence.

For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.
What do people really get for all their hard work? I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.
And I know that whatever God does is final. Nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God’s purpose is that people should fear him. What is happening now has happened before, and what will happen in the future has happened before, because God makes the same things happen over and over again.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 (NLT)

If we struggle with an understanding of what time is, we most certainly will struggle with the nature of eternity. And the sense that all humans have of a return to an existence that will never end.

When I sat down to write this I thought that it was our will that was the thing that enabled us to experience time, as opposed to the increase of entropy model. I thought that it is as we determine a course of action and undertake it; as I say “I will” that time is formed for us. However that cannot be true. The ultimate will, God, inhabits eternity. There is no time for God. As C.S. Lewis says:”

“Our life comes to us moment by moment. One moment disappears before the next comes along: and there is room for very little in each. That is what Time is like. And of course you and I tend to take it for granted that this Time series–this arrangement of past, present, and future–is not simply the way life comes to us but the way all things really exist. We tend to assume that the whole universe and God himself are always moving on from past to future just as we do. But many learned men do not agree with that. Almost certainly God is not in Time. His life does not consist of moments following one another…

If you picture Time as a straight line along which we have to travel, then you must picture God as the whole page on which the line is drawn. We come to the parts of the line one by one: we have to leave A behind before we get to B, and cannot reach C until we leave B behind. God, from above or outside or all around, contains the whole line, and sees it all.”  

C.S. Lewis, from “Mere Christianity”

I would say in the above example that God is not merely the page upon which the line is drawn but the universe in which the page exists. But the analogy holds true. We cannot in fact choose to pause on the line at all, we must obey the passage of time as some terrible master propelling us on toward our fate.

God is the creator and inventor of time, which occurred when he created light.

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

Genesis 1:3-5 (NKJV)

And gave the sun, moon and stars as ways to measure and delineate time.

Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so.

Genesis 1:14-16 (NKJV)

Time is a necessity for the rational beings in His universe to exist and make sense of the experience of the material universe. However there is in humans a sense of the eternal and the facility to both experience and long for the experience of it (see the quote from Ecclesiastes above).

The Bible is the record of the creation and loss of man’s experience of eternity and God’s activity within the created order to restore that, culminating in the life, death, resurrection and glorification of His Son Jesus Christ.

The promise is that any who wish to may experience eternity by choosing to trust in the name of the one who sacrificed himself to heal the rift between God and man caused by mankind’s rejection of its’ creator.

2 Corinthians 5:1-5 (NKJV) For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

John 1:1-4 (ESV)

There is so many extraordinary thoughts and revelations in this sentence.

In the beginning was Logos – the idea, the thought, the expression of God. But more, Logos was God and more was with (gk: pros) or toward/alongside God. Before Logos was nothing.

HE (gk: οὗτος houtos nominative singular masculine) exists in the beginning with God.

He is the Creator – there is nothing that exists that does not owe it’s existence to Him.

He is the embodiment of LIFE. The life force or life principle derives from Him, there is no external life force or agency that enlivens Him. He is the one who enlivens every living thing. The life force is a person /personality.

Without this self-revelation of himself we would never know these facts about our universe, ourselves and about Him, the Creator. There is no way from inside the universe that we could learn of anything outside this closed system. In fact we know very little about the entire system, it is so vast and complex. We know very little about ourselves, our own world and the systems that make up our environment and consciousness. To be presented with the facts of who created and the agency of creation is mind blowing and confronting when thought about deeply for any length of time.

But the next sentence is the one that is probably the most difficult to understand.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

John 1:4 (ESV)

How is the life that Logos, the Creator embody, how is that the light of men? What exactly does that mean? Is it physical light? Spiritual light, almost certainly, emotional, moral, consciousness? All of the above?

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27 (ESV)

Jordan B. Peterson makes the point that we think in words. That we use words to organise our thoughts and to make sense of our world. (cit. The Importance of Being Ethical, with Jordan Peterson, Uncommon Knowledge with Peter Robinson, Hoover Institute, YouTube Apr 30, 2022 https://youtu.be/DcA5TotAkhs?t=1745 )

Is it in this sense, that at bottom, we are words or expressions of divine thought that are made flesh, that we are made in the image of God? Is it the ability to express ourselves and thus relate to “others” that enables us to be an expression of the light and life of God?

The statement “the life was the light of men” indicates that for darkness to be dispelled, for knowledge and awareness and understanding to flourish, we must partake of this life, we must know this life and we must inhabit or be inhabited by this life.

I couldn’t see any other solution to the problem of perception other than the imposition of the structure of value

Jordan Peterson at Franciscan University of Steubenville

And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. “

Genesis 1:3-4 (ESV)

It is God himself who sets the values that we live by. Even in such a fundamentally basic thing as light. Why is light good and not the darkness? If God had proclaimed darkness as good how would it have affected our perceptions of the world? God declares that matter and life are good and that the entire creation, with humanity, made in His image at it’s head, is very good.

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Genesis 1:31 (ESV)

All our morality and value judgements have at bottom the fact that God has set them and He has given them value. We do nothing more than either agree or disagree (at our peril) with his value judgements. The entire Bible is the narrative that explains our existence, and His interactions with us, in the context of His values judgements.

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.

John 17:17 (ESV)

When we look for truth we find that it is embodied in the person of Jesus Christ.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 14:6 (ESV)

Our values must be based upon the person and work of Jesus Christ, He is the one through whom all things were made and who upholds all things. He is the one who gives value to all things.

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Colossians 1:15-20 (ESV)

We have all heard of the Adam and Eve and the serpent who tempted them to eat the forbidden fruit, thereby rendering them rejected by God and cast forth from paradise to a world of thorns, death and destruction.

Have we considered the world or environment that they would have inhabited? From hints scattered through the Bible it would seem that their world would have been very different from the one we know and experience.

We now know that the universe is much more than the four dimensions we directly experience and observe. Height, length, depth and time are what we know empirically, but we also experience “spiritual” sensations, things that cannot be measured. Mind, emotions and will, are commonly agreed to be the “soul”. And we can experience emotions, love, hate, fear etc. All these things are undoubtedly real experiences but are intangible except to the one experiencing them.

We also know that there are many physical realms that other animals experience that we do not. There are wavelengths of light and other radiation that some animals can detect, of which, we are completely oblivious.

Back to Adam and Eve.

For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Luke 19:10 (KJV)

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

Acts 3:19-21 (NKJV)

If the Christian story is one of God restoring that which was lost, then the original experience of Adam and Eve must be a part of that restoration. So we find the Apostle Paul telling us a mystery.

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

1 Corinthians 15:50-53 (ESV)

We are promised that we shall partake in some new experience the likes of which we can only imagine. There will be a restoration of all that went before. This must include eventually the experience of Adam and Eve. So what was that experience? Can we gain any insight into what it may have been like?

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27 (ESV)

Really? In his own image? If God is anything he is beyond time and space, he must be beyond dimensionality and mere physical existence.

God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 4:24 (ESV)

To be created in God’s image then is to be somehow beyond mere physicality and to be spirit. That mankind is both a spirit and physical being is, in the words of C.S. Lewis “that terrible oxymoron.”

To make an organism which is also a spirit; to make that terrible oxymoron, a ‘spiritual animal.’

C.S. Lewis ~ A Grief Observed.

The offer of Christ is that we should experience eternal life. John 3:16. Therefore we can know that Adam and Eve experienced that kind of life, whatever that is. The question then becomes what is eternal life? That it is very different from this life must be plain.

• The requirements of eternal life are perfection for those who would experience it.
• It will be an experience both like and unlike that which we have had here on this earth.
• We are promised a new body.
• We will see Christ as he is and we will be like him.

Jesus can now manifest physically, as in the upper room after his resurrection. He can eat and drink. He can be touched and felt. But he also exists in a glorified state as revealed in Revelation chapter 1. So we will experience both a physical and spiritual existence, but in a way that is no longer oxy-moronic. It will be natural and powerful and dare I say multi-dimensional. We will be beyond space/time. We will be truly eternal, spiritual beings of power and glory.

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NKJV)

Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.

Hebrews 9:23-24 (ESV)

More is unknown than is known. We know how much dark energy there is because we know how it affects the universe’s expansion. Other than that, it is a complete mystery. But it is an important mystery. It turns out that roughly 68% of the universe is dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 27%. The rest – everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter – adds up to less than 5% of the universe. Come to think of it, maybe it shouldn’t be called “normal” matter at all, since it is such a small fraction of the universe.

NASA Science https://science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy

What is unknown to science is what the Bible calls the heavenly realm. And the writer to the Hebrews tells us that is where Jesus now resides. Not only that, the physical existence we experience is merely a “copy” the true things.

The Scripture declares that Jesus entered into the heavenly realm to purify the heavenly things with sacrifices better than the earthly ones. Which begs the question why?

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

Romans 8:19-23 (ESV)

So the scripture tells us that the entire creation is subjected to the bondage of decay/corruption, that includes the hidden realms of “dark energy and dark matter”. Or in biblical parlance the heavens.

Which leads us to some incredible conclusions. Mankind’s actions are not merely effective in the “physical realms” that is the 4 dimensions of height, depth, length and time. Our moral choices affect the very fabric of the universe. Therefore we can say that moral law supersedes every other law. When God tells us “Thou shalt do no murder” or “Thou shall not covet” he is deadly serious because violations of those commands actually, somehow, affect all of the creation.

So for Jesus to proclaim “Your sins are forgiven” carries with it incredible ramifications. If we consider the impact of the original sin, that act, so innocent in appearance, actually corrupted not just the physical but the meta-physical realm. To be then forgiven the debt of having destroyed the universe, that is truly mind boggling.

What is man that you are mindful of him,
and the son of man that you care for him?

Psalms 8:4 (ESV)

And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

Mark 4:30-32 (ESV)

The parable Jesus tells here is of the growth of the Kingdom of God on the earth. What starts out, in what seems to be an insignificant manner, eventually becomes so influential that the entire world is under its sway. So much so that the forces of evil, the birds of the air, find places to make their habitation within the structures that society has erected based on the principles of Jesus teachings.

Let’s break this down. Jesus’ teachings in their day were absolutely iconoclastic in their scope and substance. For example the in Sermon on the Mount Jesus takes the Jews’ already high moral law and goes from mere external observance to heart intent.

You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

Matthew 5:21-22 (ESV)

You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Matthew 5:27-28 (ESV)

Jesus teachings were so radical and so at odds with the society of the day that it brought him into sharp conflict with the political forces of the day and eventually led him to his death on the cross. And that would have been the end of the story if he had not been raised from the dead . His disciples took up the message and practice of the Kingdom that Jesus established and within 30 years had transformed the society around them. So much so that when Paul and Barnabas went to Thessalonica they caused an uproar in the city and the indictment was that they had “turned the world upside down”

And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”

Acts 17:6-7 (ESV)

Christianity has, for the last 2000 years, been a disruptive influence in the societies where it has been preached, and the entire world has, through the centuries, had opportunity to hear the Gospel of the Kingdom. It is the defining foundation of our current western society. “Judeo/Christian values” are what all of the current democratic societies look to as the touchstone of their laws and societal norms. Ideas like equality and social justice spring out of the ideals of sanctity of human life that Christ preached. Care and concern for the environment come from the understanding that the earth is God’s creation and has inherent worth. “Do unto others what you would have done unto you” and the idea of “fairness” and a “level playing field” and “free speech”, all springboard from Christian teaching that all human life has value.

But we now see those very values being weaponised to demolish the foundations from which they spring. The enemies of freedom, individuality and peaceful free societies are using the institutions and ideals built on the basis of Christianity to destroy the fabric of the society which embody those very ideals.

The current situation in the USA is a prime example of this. The BLM movement utilises the ideal of free speech and free association and freedom to protest to vandalise and wreck private and public property and to bring anarchy in the name of a more equitable society. In western society we have seen an eroding of the previous high moral values to an “anything goes” morality based upon the ideals of personal freedom and expression.

Sexual immorality now is the norm rather than the exception and the idea that I might be doing myself or others harm by my uncontrolled lust for another is no longer even considered. We have children and young adults viewing porn, violence and addicted to all other kinds of destructive behaviours. We see the rise of governmental control of society far beyond what would have been accepted in times past, in the name of “public safety”.

The “birds of the air” certainly have made their nests in the shadow of the mustard tree. These are signs of the times that Jesus foresaw and predicted. One wonders what will be the resultant outcome of these signs? What sort of society will we be leaving to our children and grandchildren?

And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

Luke 18:1-8 (ESV)

Recently I was thinking about the headlong rush to save the planet by moving to renewable energy sources. I was musing on the ludicrous hypocrisy of those who demand that we all stop burning “dinosaur squeezings” and embrace wind and solar as the alternate means of powering our lifestyles. I mean most of those calling for these changes live lives built around the usage of either coal or oil or both. Most of the devices we use today are made from products sourced either directly or indirectly from oil based products and from energy from coal or gas fired (or nuclear) power stations. For example; the devices we all communicate with are made with precious metals and plastics and other exotic materials all made or mined or developed by (in the main) countries that do not use the more exotic forms of “green energy”. To make matters worse we demand that we live lives of extreme comfort. We want to turn the liveability dial up to 11! So we have homes and businesses and cars that have to have air-conditioning and heating and all our appliances and furnishings and clothes etc all need to be the latest and greatest. Our manufacturers all outdo each other in bringing out yearly offerings all for our consumption and pleasure. We no longer see it important to make things that last – we live in an age of planned obsolescence. And we love it to be so. Our world wide travel industry uses a massive amount of fossil fuels to enable us our lifestyle choices for work and vacations.

So what to do about this ? How to change the way an entire planet lives and change the aspirations of everyone on it?

Into these mainly depressing thoughts, an idea hammered away at my consciousness trying to rise unbidden to the surface of my mind. What if the answers were not to be found externally? What if no amount of behavioural change could fix the planet?

What if it was our moral choices that affected not only the world, but the entire universe?

In the beginning that was the original choice. To choose life in obedience to God or knowledge of good and evil and become our own “gods”.

What if the entire sweep of history was God returning the entire universe to that original premise? The premise that it is mankind’s choice to live in obedient relationship to his creator God that is the primary factor deciding the fate of the entire universe.

If so, that changes everything. Yes, sure we still will need to make changes to how we go about managing the planet. But by far the biggest issue will be, how do we live our lives, morally? How do we determine right and wrong? What kinds of people should we be aiming to be? How do we communicate this radically different idea to everyone, everywhere? How can we do it?

C.S. Lewis

Some thoughts on my listening to this today:

Time itself is one more name for death

Heaven itself is a state where the former things have passed away..

Me…

Hell then? A state where the former things – the corruption of life is allowed to go to its fullest end. The sadness, the grief, the horror and the brokenness is complete. 

The lie of the spiritualist – “the happy past restored” 

“Why are they so sure that all anguish ends with death?” 

“Why should the separation which is so painful to  the lover left behind be painless to the lover who departs?”

“She is in God’s hands, if so she was in God’s hands all the time and I have seen what they did to her here.” – subtle lie of the enemy. He was the one in who hands she was and who stole her life from her. 

“In the only life we know he (God) hurts us beyond our worst fears and all that we can imagine.” 

Again another lie – it is not God who hurts us… we ourselves have formed the instrument of torture. It is the whole sin filled world that is the instrument of pain and death and we have contributed and participated in the construction and maintenance of its edifices. WE are the ones who ultimately hurt ourselves and each other – our sin nature and our sinful acts perpetuate the system by which we ourselves and others suffer. We naturally followed the course of this world and the prince of the power of the air (the devil) and the passions of our flesh (Ephesians 2:1-3) and by nature were destined to God’s wrath, condemnation and judgement. 

But GOD – being rich in mercy has delivered us from this “body of death” (Romans 7:24) and made us alive together with Christ (Ephesians 2:5).