Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Time: Linear, non-linear or both?

aRs3N1c42 · 10-08-2004, 10:38 AM

I think that time is the 4th dimension of a continuum. Like space, time does not actually move, as a train moves along its track. The objects or people who occupy it move through it. This would lend to the possibility of folding time and punching a hole through it to arrive at a different when. Scientists have postulated about the existence of worm holes which are holes through the fabric of space that connect two points in space but actually involve significantly less "time" to traverse.

Now I'm gonna bring God into the picture. Suppose God exists outside of the space-time continuum but can intervene at any point in space-time that he chooses. From the view of the occupants of space-time, God is working in history creating causes and effects. From God's perspective He is the only cause since He created the universe and space-time. He is continually influencing space and time to have the ultimate end product (at the end of time?). Consider the possibility that God created the entirety of space and time in what is to Him an instant. He created the beginning and the end of the entire universe at the same "time" (which is confusing since there is no time for God). He created Me in the same thought in which He created Alexander the Great or the great Pharaohs of Egypt. He created my personality, my temperament and having done that, knew the choices I would make and need to make in order for His ultimate plan to be fulfilled. Does that mean God loves me any less? Does that mean I do not have free will? If God created the universe in its 4 dimensions with a certain structure that we will call the laws of physics, sociology, psychology, etc. and these attributes do not change without influence from the outside (aka supernatural events).

I'll admit that it does kind of rock the concept of free will a bit. This has been a sore spot in theology for eons; free will or predestination. I guess what I'm speculating is a both and neither.

So, in conclusion...

Is time linear? Since time is a dimension of the universe just like length, width and depth are, and one normally moves throughout these three dimensions in a linear fashion, it would seem to follow that one also moves through time in a linear fashion. That does not necessitate that one could not exit the fabric of space and time and re-enter at some other point in space and time. If the entire universe, in all 4 dimensions, is being molded (or has been molded, or even will have been molded) by an entity that exists outside of the governing laws of the universe, would He permit a person to leave space-time and re-enter if there was the possibility that causality would crap all over itself? I imagine that such a God would also have thought through the rules and ramifications governing such an occurrence and would have taken (will have taken) steps to prevent the implosion of causality as we know it.

Okay. I need to go soak my brain now, perhaps in some beer or distilled spirits. That's a lot of thought for one day.

10-08-2004, 10:38 AM	#25 (permalink)
aRs3N1c42 Upright Location: Somewhere over the rainbow	I think that time is the 4th dimension of a continuum. Like space, time does not actually move, as a train moves along its track. The objects or people who occupy it move through it. This would lend to the possibility of folding time and punching a hole through it to arrive at a different when. Scientists have postulated about the existence of worm holes which are holes through the fabric of space that connect two points in space but actually involve significantly less "time" to traverse. Now I'm gonna bring God into the picture. Suppose God exists outside of the space-time continuum but can intervene at any point in space-time that he chooses. From the view of the occupants of space-time, God is working in history creating causes and effects. From God's perspective He is the only cause since He created the universe and space-time. He is continually influencing space and time to have the ultimate end product (at the end of time?). Consider the possibility that God created the entirety of space and time in what is to Him an instant. He created the beginning and the end of the entire universe at the same "time" (which is confusing since there is no time for God). He created Me in the same thought in which He created Alexander the Great or the great Pharaohs of Egypt. He created my personality, my temperament and having done that, knew the choices I would make and need to make in order for His ultimate plan to be fulfilled. Does that mean God loves me any less? Does that mean I do not have free will? If God created the universe in its 4 dimensions with a certain structure that we will call the laws of physics, sociology, psychology, etc. and these attributes do not change without influence from the outside (aka supernatural events). I'll admit that it does kind of rock the concept of free will a bit. This has been a sore spot in theology for eons; free will or predestination. I guess what I'm speculating is a both and neither. So, in conclusion... Is time linear? Since time is a dimension of the universe just like length, width and depth are, and one normally moves throughout these three dimensions in a linear fashion, it would seem to follow that one also moves through time in a linear fashion. That does not necessitate that one could not exit the fabric of space and time and re-enter at some other point in space and time. If the entire universe, in all 4 dimensions, is being molded (or has been molded, or even will have been molded) by an entity that exists outside of the governing laws of the universe, would He permit a person to leave space-time and re-enter if there was the possibility that causality would crap all over itself? I imagine that such a God would also have thought through the rules and ramifications governing such an occurrence and would have taken (will have taken) steps to prevent the implosion of causality as we know it. Okay. I need to go soak my brain now, perhaps in some beer or distilled spirits. That's a lot of thought for one day.