Q&A: Time
Time
Question
Question—
When we discuss foreknowledge and free choice according to the way we understand things—that is, without saying that the Creator is above time, which is a concept we do not grasp, and therefore you said at the time that one cannot use that to resolve this—
then the question is: after all, we believe that in the end there is an accounting, and in order to know about each and every person what he is doing at every given moment, and on that basis judge him, that is not something possible within the framework of time.
Seemingly, we are forced to say that if we believe in reward and punishment, then we are forced to believe that He is above time, or that He has some other kind of perception of time that we do not understand. That could resolve His knowing in advance despite our free choice, because we simply do not understand His perception of time. And if we necessarily believe in reward and punishment, then we would necessarily believe that He has a different perception of time, in order to know at every given moment what billions of people are doing.
Or, going the other way: if He is limited and His time is like our time, then there is no judgment and no Judge, because there is no one who can see everything at every given moment, in our concepts of time.
Please answer in a way that can be understood, thank you.
Answer
I didn’t understand anything here.
- I didn’t say that this is not an answer because we do not understand what “above time” means. Indeed, we do not understand it, but in any case it does not answer the question. The fact that He is above time may help Him arrive at the answer, but the question still remains: if He has the answer, how do we have free choice?
- I did not understand why an accounting, and reward and punishment, require that He be above time. (What does that even mean?)
Discussion on Answer
What does that have to do with the concept of time? He does these tasks in parallel. Even a person can do several things in parallel.
But the point is that there is a limit to how many things can be done in time,
and if you claim that the Creator does not have such a limitation in time, then you are basically claiming that He can do infinitely many things in time, while time is not infinite. One cannot understand how at every given moment infinitely many things can be done; that is a contradiction.
We are forced to say that for Him time is not the way we understand it.
I’ve given up.
That’s really a shame. I’m sorry. This way I won’t understand anything.
And who am I, a lowly servant, before the cedar of Lebanon—but what happened to you?
“You weren’t like this in the past. For some reason you no longer put in the effort you once did into a clear and convincing explanation that makes it understandable how it answers, and your patience is also not what it once was; your patience runs out quickly. Don’t let age get the better of you.
If you invest once or twice in a lucid and well-understood explanation, you’ll save yourself a lot of aggravation.”
In any case, be strong and courageous.
I don’t know whether in the past I was like this or not, but before you expect me to invest in an explanation, invest a little in thinking about the question and the answers you received. I assume that if you think a bit, you will easily understand that doing several tasks in parallel is not problematic at all, and certainly has nothing to do with being above or below time.
Can you walk and at the same time listen to a song? So are you also above time? Can you listen to two songs in parallel? I can. Can you build a camera system that transfers information about ten people into a computer’s memory? I can. So I assume that the Holy One, blessed be He, can too.
Now go and see whether you couldn’t have understood that by yourself—and certainly after I already explained it. So is it any wonder that I lose patience?!
And what does this have to do with infinitely many things at all? And even if it were about infinitely many things, what does it mean to say that “time is not infinite”? Are these even two words that connect to each other at all?
Okay, thank you.
What I meant by the words “time is not infinite” is as I explained above, namely: for every given moment—say, a fraction of a second—it is a fraction of a second, and not infinite time. Therefore, in that fraction of a second, when there are more than 8 billion people doing things that the Creator needs to know about, plus other things that He needs to do in that same fraction of a second, does all this not show that for Him time works in a way we do not understand?
And the example you gave, if I understand correctly, is that you are basically trying to say that there is no logical impediment here, only a physical problem, to which the Creator is not subject. But I tried to show that this already seems to be in the category of a logical impediment, because it seems that even if there are more and more and more things in this fraction of a second, the Creator will grasp them all, and that already seems like a logical impossibility—to grasp infinitely many things, literally without end, in a fraction of a second that is limited. And that is what I meant when I said that time is not infinite, as above.
But maybe what you are really saying is that there is no such thing as infinitely many things happening at every given moment, and therefore even if there were 8 billion to the 8 billion people, and so on, it would still only be a physical problem, and that the Creator can indeed overcome.
I hope I understood you and that you understood me.
I didn’t understand you, but it seems that you understood me.
I’ll explain.
In the concept of time as we understand it, is it possible that the Creator knows, regarding all more than 8 billion human beings, what they are doing at every given moment (aside from all the other things He is supposed to know at every moment), in order to reward them?