Is there time in heaven?

[Will_Hall]

Is there time in Heaven. Are there any clocks. This is a very simple question... or possibly a very complicated one.

If there is no such thing as time in as we know it, this would explain how God knows what we are going to do before we know it: ie, predestination as we know it.

If there is "time" and God has to obey the same laws of nature as us, then possibly this explains "free-will" a1s we like to describe it.

Simple or complicated??? What say you?

[gharfish]

Are a forward progression of events happening outside of the physical universe a reality we can put on a timetable--clock them/it ? That's a good question.

[Sparko]

You have to define what you mean by heaven. If you are talking about God himself, he created time, so I don't think he is bound by it like we are. But we are created as 3D creatures who exist in space and time. To us time is required, just so we can delineate one event from another. Without time, everything would happen at once (or nothing would)

So I think no matter where we are, we will experience time. It might not be the same time as on earth, perhaps a week in heaven is a second on earth, or whatver, but I believe that we will always experience time. and don't forget that one day God will create a new earth and we will live there. I am sure there will be time there too, but it will never end.

also time in heaven is mentioned in the bible:

Revelation 8:1
[ The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer ] When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

[Brandalf85]

I often think of a quote from, surprise, Lord of the Rings.

The character of Bilbo Baggins is talking about how wonderful the Elf paradise of Rivendell is. He remarks, "Time doesn't seem to pass here. It just is."

[Manwë Súlimo]

I often think of a quote from, surprise, Lord of the Rings.

The character of Bilbo Baggins is talking about how wonderful the Elf paradise of Rivendell is. He remarks, "Time doesn't seem to pass here. It just is."

Truly you are a man after my own nerdy heart.

But Curtmudgeon beat you to it.

[Brandalf85]

Truly you are a man after my own nerdy heart.

But Curtmudgeon beat you to it.

That's ok, someone else deserves to be nerdy for a change.

Brandalf (I'm still better) 85

[Vigilante]

Perhaps time exists, but to an eternal creature I don't see what possible use it is anyway. In other words, it may exist, but it serves no use and so nobody cares.

There was an article recently I found on Digg that talked about this. He says that if you were to live forever, time would eventually appear to pass so quickly that you would not be able to form normal human relationships, because their lives would come and go so quickly to you as you live forever. I don't know if that's true but it would seem to make sense. Time passes very slowly to a child such that to wait an hour for ice cream might as well be a year. But time passes quickly for the adult, who only wishes he could add more hours to his day.
If you became immortal tomorrow, you'd still make some friends, life would go on. But they'd die, then you'd see whole generations come and go, whole civilizations rise and collapse, wars begin and end. Soon it would not be possible to even know anybody, their lives would be like a blip according to your experience of time. Unlike the child who must ask "are we there yet?" You'd be like the grandpa who watches his progeny grow overnight and explains to the mother how they grow up so quickly you should cherish every stage of life. Multiply that by billions of years until every life comes and goes so quickly you can't find the time just to say "hi" as they pass you by. You spend days just watching the grass grow because it doesn't matter anyway, you've got nowhere to go and are in no rush to stand up.

How this translates to Heaven? Time exists, because events exists, and some events have relative distances of "time" between them, but it doesn't matter. If you live forever, what is one hour or two? What's the hurry? Like God says, a thousand years is like a day, and a day like a thousand years. It doesn't matter, or has no real significance in eternity. The only purpose I can see for time in eternity is to mark future events. To say, such and such will happen so far in the future from now. In that case time might serve a purpose, but otherwise I can't see how it does.

[Manwë Súlimo]

Perhaps time exists, but to an eternal creature I don't see what possible use it is anyway. In other words, it may exist, but it serves no use and so nobody cares.

There was an article recently I found on Digg that talked about this. He says that if you were to live forever, time would eventually appear to pass so quickly that you would not be able to form normal human relationships, because their lives would come and go so quickly to you as you live forever. I don't know if that's true but it would seem to make sense. Time passes very slowly to a child such that to wait an hour for ice cream might as well be a year. But time passes quickly for the adult, who only wishes he could add more hours to his day.
If you became immortal tomorrow, you'd still make some friends, life would go on. But they'd die, then you'd see whole generations come and go, whole civilizations rise and collapse, wars begin and end. Soon it would not be possible to even know anybody, their lives would be like a blip according to your experience of time. Unlike the child who must ask "are we there yet?" You'd be like the grandpa who watches his progeny grow overnight and explains to the mother how they grow up so quickly you should cherish every stage of life. Multiply that by billions of years until every life comes and goes so quickly you can't find the time just to say "hi" as they pass you by. You spend days just watching the grass grow because it doesn't matter anyway, you've got nowhere to go and are in no rush to stand up.

How this translates to Heaven? Time exists, because events exists, and some events have relative distances of "time" between them, but it doesn't matter. If you live forever, what is one hour or two? What's the hurry? Like God says, a thousand years is like a day, and a day like a thousand years. It doesn't matter, or has no real significance in eternity. The only purpose I can see for time in eternity is to mark future events. To say, such and such will happen so far in the future from now. In that case time might serve a purpose, but otherwise I can't see how it does.

In other words, we would become an Ent?

Now, now, don't be hasty.

[Cow Poke]

...
also time in heaven is mentioned in the bible:

Revelation 8:1
[ The Seventh Seal and the Golden Censer ] When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.

The "thirty minutes" mentioned by Sparko... I have to remind myself that John was taken to Heaven and given the incredibly difficult task of writing the things which he had seen - the things which are, and will be 'after these things'.

So John is SEEING things that are indescribable - eye hath not seen nor ear heard, etc - and he's trying to convey them to us with a human language! When he hears the voices "as a mighty thunder" or "a trumpet talking to me" (Charlie Brown's mom?) he is doing his best to equate the awesomeness of Heaven to terms that we can understand.

The 30 minutes? His best attempt to describe the scene at hand, according to his understanding. But "actual" 30 minutes? Or a space of time best equated by John to something we would understand.

I happen to think (with my own little twisted brain) that WE think in terms of time / 3D / space.... but i'm not sure these exist in Heaven. We have a LIMITED understanding of celestial aspects based on our attempts to define "what is" by our own laws of physics.

God, of course, is not SUBJECT to the laws of physics, because He wrote them, and can suspend or altar them at any time. SO.... I think i'll just spend the first million years in Heaven saying "Wowwwwwwwwwww... I never IMAGINED it would be like THIS!"

That's my story and i'm sticking to it! <grin>

[Vigilante]

In other words, we would become an Ent?

Now, now, don't be hasty.

One of my favorite quotes.

But yes, something like that. Spend time in the moment, appreciate everything, what's the hurry?

[Sparko]

The "thirty minutes" mentioned by Sparko... I have to remind myself that John was taken to Heaven and given the incredibly difficult task of writing the things which he had seen - the things which are, and will be 'after these things'.

So John is SEEING things that are indescribable - eye hath not seen nor ear heard, etc - and he's trying to convey them to us with a human language! When he hears the voices "as a mighty thunder" or "a trumpet talking to me" (Charlie Brown's mom?) he is doing his best to equate the awesomeness of Heaven to terms that we can understand.

The 30 minutes? His best attempt to describe the scene at hand, according to his understanding. But "actual" 30 minutes? Or a space of time best equated by John to something we would understand.

I happen to think (with my own little twisted brain) that WE think in terms of time / 3D / space.... but i'm not sure these exist in Heaven. We have a LIMITED understanding of celestial aspects based on our attempts to define "what is" by our own laws of physics.

God, of course, is not SUBJECT to the laws of physics, because He wrote them, and can suspend or altar them at any time. SO.... I think i'll just spend the first million years in Heaven saying "Wowwwwwwwwwww... I never IMAGINED it would be like THIS!"

That's my story and i'm sticking to it! <grin>

I agree that God is not limited by time, but I think we still will experience time/duration in heaven. That was the point I was making. Heaven was created by God just like the rest of the universe and I think time passes there for his creatures. but not necessarily in sync with us. When we die we go to heaven until the resurrection, but it doesn't mean, for example that if you went there today and met Paul, you would find that he has been sitting around for 2000 years. We could all conceivably wind up there at the "same" time - at the judgment. perhaps Paul would think he just got there too. Or not.

[Cow Poke]

I agree that God is not limited by time, but I think we still will experience time/duration in heaven. That was the point I was making. Heaven was created by God just like the rest of the universe and I think time passes there for his creatures. but not necessarily in sync with us. When we die we go to heaven until the resurrection, but it doesn't mean, for example that if you went there today and met Paul, you would find that he has been sitting around for 2000 years. We could all conceivably wind up there at the "same" time - at the judgment. perhaps Paul would think he just got there too. Or not.

Isn't that what i SAID??? (kidding)

Good points, all.

[Tanakh Keeper]

Is there time in Heaven. Are there any clocks. This is a very simple question... or possibly a very complicated one.

If there is no such thing as time in as we know it, this would explain how God knows what we are going to do before we know it: ie, predestination as we know it.

If there is "time" and God has to obey the same laws of nature as us, then possibly this explains "free-will" a1s we like to describe it.

Simple or complicated??? What say you?

Interesting question.

I think that time does exist, but it doesn't have any effect on the souls that are there.

For the souls that are already there, they will see a continous flow of new souls into Heaven. So those that died at an earlier point in time will be joined by their loved ones that died at a later point in time. However, the passing of time doesn't affect the souls that are in Heaven, i.e. souls don't age.

What I don't know if whether the souls that are in Heaven are aware of the passage of time. I guess we will all find out once we get there.

[Vigilante]

Interesting question.

I think that time does exist, but it doesn't have any effect on the souls that are there.

For the souls that are already there, they will see a continous flow of new souls into Heaven. So those that died at an earlier point in time will be joined by their loved ones that died at a later point in time. However, the passing of time doesn't affect the souls that are in Heaven, i.e. souls don't age.

What I don't know if whether the souls that are in Heaven are aware of the passage of time. I guess we will all find out once we get there.

You talk about souls in Heaven, but we are supposed to have bodies. I guess we'll look more or less like humans as they were intended to be without sin or death in the body. We'll have a wrist, but no need for a wristwatch I'm guessing.
One question relating (in a way) to time is the apparent "age" of said souls/bodies in Heaven. When an 80 year old dies or a 3 year old child, what sort of body will they have? What about an aborted child in the womb? I would think babies have their place in Heaven, and who wouldn't want to enjoy the company of youth as we can now? But eternally? Eternally a baby? Eternally a fetus? Eternally the terrible twos? I wouldn't think so. Do bodies then still "age" in some sense in Heaven? Or do all human souls inherit bodies that about equal in stature? That just seems boring, life is so much more exiting with the different levels of age and maturity, the older teaching the younger, and all those dynamics.

We just may not know until we experience it.

[Tanakh Keeper]

You talk about souls in Heaven, but we are supposed to have bodies. I guess we'll look more or less like humans as they were intended to be without sin or death in the body. We'll have a wrist, but no need for a wristwatch I'm guessing.
One question relating (in a way) to time is the apparent "age" of said souls/bodies in Heaven. When an 80 year old dies or a 3 year old child, what sort of body will they have? What about an aborted child in the womb? I would think babies have their place in Heaven, and who wouldn't want to enjoy the company of youth as we can now? But eternally? Eternally a baby? Eternally a fetus? Eternally the terrible twos? I wouldn't think so. Do bodies then still "age" in some sense in Heaven? Or do all human souls inherit bodies that about equal in stature? That just seems boring, life is so much more exiting with the different levels of age and maturity, the older teaching the younger, and all those dynamics.

The body dies and is buried in the ground. It decomposes in the coffin. The soul goes on to Heaven. It seems to me that souls are invisible to our human eyes. I don't know what form or shape a soul has. It doesn't make sense to me that a soul would be capable of wearing a watch. That is a physical object while a soul isn't.

A soul would have the "consciousness" of whatever age they had when the body died. Eternally a baby? In experience, but not in body.

I agree with you that we can't really KNOW the specifics of our souls existence in Heaven, it is something we each will find out once we get there.