Let's say before time began, God had a stopwatch and on this stopwatch, one revolution represented the passing of 30 seconds. If before God created time, God pressed the start button on this stopwatch, let it run through one revolution, how much time would have elapsed during that one revolution?
-
Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.
-
CF has always been a site that welcomes people from different backgrounds and beliefs to participate in discussion and even debate. That is the nature of its ministry. In view of recent events emotions are running very high. We need to remind people of some basic principles in debating on this site. We need to be civil when we express differences in opinion. No personal attacks. Avoid you, your statements. Don't characterize an entire political party with comparisons to Fascism or Communism or other extreme movements that committed atrocities. CF is not the place for broad brush or blanket statements about groups and political parties. Put the broad brushes and blankets away when you come to CF, better yet, put them in the incinerator. Debate had no place for them. We need to remember that people that commit acts of violence represent themselves or a small extreme faction.
Before God created time
- Thread starter Cieza
- Start date
I know I shouldn't post. But I have to say this is a daft question and you make atheists look like we are just picking a fight
I think the answer you will get is obvious. Time isn't relevant to God, only to us. Time is a dimension in space the same as any other, but God would be outside of these dimensions. It is like asking 'before God created light how did he see?'. You can assume the answer a Christian would answer is 'God doesn't need light to see'.
I would suggest asking more constructive questions to avoid embarassing who you represent, as even if you disagree with their opinions you are making an impression.
I can be a hypocrite as I often get frustrated, but I never claimed I was anything special.
I think the answer you will get is obvious. Time isn't relevant to God, only to us. Time is a dimension in space the same as any other, but God would be outside of these dimensions. It is like asking 'before God created light how did he see?'. You can assume the answer a Christian would answer is 'God doesn't need light to see'.
I would suggest asking more constructive questions to avoid embarassing who you represent, as even if you disagree with their opinions you are making an impression.
I can be a hypocrite as I often get frustrated, but I never claimed I was anything special.
Upvote
0
You're evading the question.
If God can do anything, then he can create a stopwatch. If he creates this stopwatch prior to creating time and presses the start button, would time be shown as elapsing on the stopwatch? Or is it impossible for God to create such a stopwatch without time being created as a result?
Upvote
0
S
solarwave
Guest
I really hope you know how impossible your question is.
No, time does not pass if there is no time to pass. God cannot create a working stopwatch without making a space-time. The whole thing is as crazy as asking how many miles per hour you can fit in a litre bottle.
Upvote
0
How could it be impossible?
According to Christians, God can do anything. If he can do anything, then he can create a stopwatch and press the start button.
I take that to mean by creating the stopwatch and activating the timer on it, he would be in effect creating time.
Upvote
0
There would be no time before time was created. You are wanting to talk about a square circle.
Upvote
0
S
solarwave
Guest
It is impossible to have time pass when there is no time by definition.
What do you mean by anything? I would use the word omnipotent and included in its definition wouldn't be the logicically impossible, as well as a few other things. Saying that 'God can do anything' is just the way average Christian might express something that is more complicated.
Yeah, I would say that that by definition of what a stopwatch is, it requires that space and time exist and so I would assume that a space-time would be created at the same 'time'.
Upvote
0
Q
Question.Everything
Guest
Cieza what a troll you are, stop wasting everybody's TIME here and leave.
Christians believe God can create anything, yes. A contradiction is not a real thing. A stopwatch that doesn't exist in time is like a rock so heavy it can't be lifted - it doesn't exist.
God could create a stopwatch before time but it wouldn't function because it has nothing to measure.
People like you make religious people mislabel atheists all the time. We're not all idiots.
Christians believe God can create anything, yes. A contradiction is not a real thing. A stopwatch that doesn't exist in time is like a rock so heavy it can't be lifted - it doesn't exist.
God could create a stopwatch before time but it wouldn't function because it has nothing to measure.
People like you make religious people mislabel atheists all the time. We're not all idiots.
Upvote
0
elopez
Well-Known Member
There is no time 'before' time. Do you realize that? Do you realize in turn how incoherent that makes your question?
The answer to your question is that there would be no time that could have elapsed as there can be no measurement or passage of time in an atemporal state.
Upvote
0
Agreed. But if God can do anything, then he could go back to before there was time and create a stopwatch and press the start button on the stopwatch. Question is would the second hand on the stopwatch move - indicating that there really was time?
Upvote
0
Well, there has to be a yes/no answer to the question. Before time, God creates a stopwatch. God then presses the start button. Does the timer move, showing that time elapses or does it not move?
Upvote
0
Does this mean that when God presses the start button on the stopwatch that the stopwatch does not start showing time to have elapsed? In other words, the stopwatch second hand does not move. Correct?
Most Christians I've met have said God can do anything. If he can do anything, he can make a stopwatch prior to when there was time and press the start button on the stopwatch.
Thanks for answering my question.
Upvote
0
God can create a rock so heavy that he can't lift it. That's equivalent to God relinquishing his omnipotence. And if God can do anything, then he can relinquish his omnipotence. So the sequence would be:
1. God creates the rock
2. God relinquishes his omnipotence
3. God can't lift the rock because he is no longer omnipotent or all-powerful.
How can you be sure the stopwatch wouldn't function? Perhaps when God starts the stopwatch, time also starts?
Upvote
0
leftrightleftrightleft
Well-Known Member
Your threads have gone from genuine and exploratory down to associating with the common troll.
Do you not have any grasp of how human languages work? A verb presupposes the existence of time. Verbs have no meaning if there is no time.
The phrase "before time" does not hold any meaning in the English language. There was no before time. Your question is nonsensical.
A similarly nonsensical question is: "Could God create a 1 kg weight before He created mass?" (This is a bit less nonsensical because it uses verbs and verbs don't presuppose the existence of mass or kilograms.)
Another nonsensical question: "Could God create a non-paradoxical paradox?"
Or: "Could God make 2+2=5?"
Upvote
0
ptomwebster
Senior Member
- Jul 10, 2011
- 1,484
- 45
- Faith
- Protestant
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Others
Upvote
0
Think of it this way, could god create a mechanical car without time? Yes. Now lets assume it takes exactly 30 seconds for this car to travel 10 feet. God then lets the car drive 10 feet. Has he created time?
The creation of a mechanical device that we use to keep track of time, (a concept of time that is only relevant to ourselves) does not really mean anything. Lets say the hands on the clock go round, what does that actually mean if there is no dimension of time?
I am not saying I think the concept of God doesnt contradict, but I dont understand your motivation for this question.
Upvote
0
S
solarwave
Guest
The second hand wouldn't move. I don't know if what you say is possible though. A stop watch obviously requires space and it seems science might suggest that space and time are closely connected. Or, looking at it from another point of view, to go from a stopwatch that is off, then on, requires time because change requires time.
C.S.Lewis: "His Omnipotence means power to do all that is intrinsically possible, not to do the intrinsically impossible. You may attribute miracles to him, but not nonsense. This is no limit to his power. If you choose to say 'God can give a creature free will and at the same time withhold free will from it,' you have not succeeded in saying anything about God: meaningless combinations of words do not suddenly acquire meaning simply because we prefix to them the two other words 'God can.'... It is no more possible for God than for the weakest of his creatures to carry out both of two mutually exclusive alternatives; not because his power meets an obstacle, but because nonsense remains nonsense even when we talk it about God."
Upvote
0
Similar threads
