God & Time: part 1

As promised I will present the view that God is atemporal, or without time in this post.

In classical theism (classical theism means that God is simple, omniscient, omnibenevolent, omnipotent, and exists outside of time - in other words, God is the greatest possible being) the view that God exists outside of time is widely accepted. However, in contemporary philosophy and theology the idea that God is outside of time is a minority view. I think part of this is due to the fact that most people reject classical theism, and also like the idea of a more anthropomorphic God (more humanlike), but I don't - I like to worship a God who is wholly transcendent and not humanlike.

How do things work if God is outside of time? For starters, there aren't any moments for God if He exists outside of time. There is one eternal now, in one moment every action that God performed was completed. This is why the atemporal view of God is difficult to understand. The first difficulty is that of the Incarnation, how could God become man and interact in time, without losing His atemporality? Well, this is a difficult question to understand, but I would suggest that we might understand it by holding to a robust Trinitarian view of God and hold to the idea that while God the Son was in time, God the Father remained outside of time. Also, it is difficult to hold to a notion of free-will, unless one wants to argue for middle-knowledge, but I don't think middle-knowledge works. Third, it's difficult to understand how God can interact with a world in time if He is outside of time, yet again I'll appeal to the Trinity. Throughout the Bible God has used messengers, e.g. the Angel of the Lord, and has been in time Himself, e.g. Holy Spirit, the Son. This is something that I'll have to work on some more, because I don't want to hold to tri-theism, which in actuality is polytheism.

Advantages to holding to the view that God is outside of time, God sees all of time as if it were present, so there is a reason to trust that prophecy is accurate. For those who hold that God is inside of time, God knows the probably outcomes of future events, but can't be sure. Yet, if we assert that God is outside of time, then we can see how prophecy is accurate. I think this view of God is also the more biblical view of God, it's less anthropomorphic. Also, heaven is where God dwells, yet none of us would claim that we can travel to heaven. Why is this? Is heaven located within time? Another question to ask is, is time a creation of God? If God created time, then He shouldn't be constrained or restricted by His creation, but the view of God in time restricts God. If God is contrained by time because time has always existed, then there is another entity that is equal to God because it exerts some form of control over Him. This is why I hold to a timeless view of God.

Obviously there are many difficult issues to deal with. I'm going to continue to read through the different positions. Perhaps I'll be swayed to another position, but I just don't like the idea of God being constrained by time or not knowing the future, it just doesn't seem biblical.