The Futurity of God

2018

International Journal of Indonesian Philosophy & Theology

The belief that an eternal-atemporal God is present to temporal beings is at the heart of Christian doctrine. The problem with such belief is that there seems to be a metaphysical barrier between them. Therefore, the doctrine of divine timelessness is incompatible with divine presence. This essay will show that such a contention is false, given that His awareness of the temporal beings will be sufficient to account for His presence. Furthermore, this is also consistent with the view about the existence of deep interaction between God and human beings and of human free will. This philosophical analysis is pertinent to the proper understanding of the doctrine of divine eternity and divine presence. It also has a significant bearing on the provision for the basis of a meaningful conversation with other theological traditions, such as those living in Indonesia.

This working essay approaches the question of Divine Temporality from the standpoint of metaphysics and chains of causality, using St. Thomas Aquinas's notions of the divine first mover, and of God as the “First Efficient Cause”2 to argue that a temporal God cannot logically be called immutable. Central to this argument is the concept of motion and the point of its initiation within the cosmological event of creation. I will argue that creation was a singular cosmological event comprised of distinct metaphysical occurrences. The metaphysical progression of creation constructed shows that time began after the action of the First Efficient Cause. Its initiation simultaneously with motion provided linear sequentiality to the perpetual changes of the newly created universe—this sequentiality provided the order which allowed a universe in a state of perpetual change to be concurrently perfect. But, an immutable God cannot be subject to the perpetually mutable state of the universe that he created. But because omnipotent, he can interact with it, and because omniscient, He is aware of the progression of time within it, but he is not subject to time. It concludes by briefly exploring how God acts in the temporal realm while maintaing atemporality, thus refuting the possibility of conditional temporality or alternating states of temporality and atemporality.

2013

In contemporary discussions it is often assumed that God cannot be timeless if presentism is true, but that God can be timeless if four-dimensional eternalism is true. I argue that the Christian God cannot be timeless on either ontology of time. Contemporary atemporalists have not fully grasped the details of eternalism, nor fleshed out the implications of eternalism for understanding the Christian doctrines of creation, conservation, and incarnation. Once the details are developed, it can be shown that eternalism is not compatible with divine timelessness. Instead, the Christian God would be temporal as understood on eternalism. In order to demonstrate this, I shall do the following in this thesis. In chapter 1 I shall lay out the relevant desiderata and methods for assessing the doctrine of divine timelessness. Chapter 2 will give an up-to-date discussion of the philosophy of time, and lay out the theories that are needed to understand the doctrine of divine timelessness. Chapter ...

2008

2015

This thesis is an investigation of the image of God arising from understandings of quantum science and argues that it enhances ideas about God. It considers the significance of religious interpretations of quantum science and briefly examines the case of Christian theology and God's actions in the world. The nature of quantum phenomena requires the use of imagery likened to that used in many mystical and religious traditions. Using a multivalued approach, I give equitable consideration to multiple scientific and theological interpretations to describe the God-concept presented by sources writing on the mystical implications of quantum science. The quantum demands an intellectual and academic openness, requiring the use of resources outside of science, and pushes for a holistic approach and a transition to a postmodern paradigm. Therefore, the quantum is said to be a re-enchanting force, calling for a re-evaluation of the spiritual dimension in our overall understanding of reality.

God Reborn The Birth of God as a Superbrane A Story of Intelligent Design and the Creation of the Quantum Universe in the Uniphyscon of Quantum Entangled Omnispace, 2020

Foreword: A claim to have some answers to pertinent and profound questions in regards to the perennial quest of the human race to understand itself in being and in mind can be no statement of whimsicality. Such a proposition demands a thorough investigation of the issues at hand; not a one-sided or biased examination of selected data and information; but a rigorous scientific approach to evaluate all the evidence supplied in the history of the developments, both in the popular culture and its science and the philosophies supporting it. It is of limited value to parade the scientific discipline as the rational and impartial paradigm for the future; if that same worldview proves itself incapable to elucidate or to explain the most basic of elementary questions asked or problems faced by the now globalized citizen, placing hisher hope and expectation into that same projected future. And the overwhelming problem facing mankind at the beginning of the 21st century is that of its own philosophy. 'Where are we now as a race?', 'Where are we going ?' and 'Where did we come from?' are some common questions asked, but not answered by the expert authorities in organized politics, science, culture and religion. Why do we seem incapable, despite having built a monumental edifice called the scientific way and methodology; and notwithstanding the progressing technology derived from that; why then can that same worldview not answer a simple question like: "If there is such a thing as God, as so many of us have been told, then where and what is it?" We find an evolved human genetic disposition to form allegiances and to carry and ascribe to certain beliefs, often founded or exposited upon by certain individuals or groups. Kings and knights, magicians, clerics, and sages of old have transformed into the experts and advisors of the new. Consultancy has become the catch-phrase, often stifling the natural curiosity to find answers for one's own questions in a denial of one's own creative impulses through an adventure of self-discovery. Today,

This short paper looks at time and its relation to God. It argues that God is temporal, not atemporal. He is not timeless, but timeful.