The Eternity Myth

By Larrywomack.com

 The Trouble I Have with Eternity

In most minds, eternity, means existence for a limitless amount of time.  Many use eternity to refer to a timeless existence, altogether outside time. There are many arguments for eternity.

Aristotle claimed to prove that matter, motion, and time must exist eternally.  He argued that eternity must have either come into existence and begun to move, or have existed in an eternal state of rest before beginning to move.

Theists attribute the movement or existence of eternity to God.  One need not, however, believe in God to support the infinite existence of eternity.  For example, a nonbelieving mathematician can maintain that numbers and their relationships exist outside time, and are, therefore eternal.

The theists are usually categorized from one of three points of view.  Each drawn from a different definition of eternity:

• The timeless existence of God is where categories of past, present, and future just do not apply.

•  The infinite existence of God concludes that God exists for or through eternity; having existed for an infinite amount of time and continuing to exist for an infinite amount of time.

• The outside existence of God states that God exists outside the human concept of time, but also inside of time. Advancing the premises that if God did not exist both outside time and inside time, God would not be able to interact with humans.

The timeless existence definition assumes some notion of infinity; a series of moments that has begun and has not ended. A series of moments, however, that has begun and not ended does not seem to be eternal.  For even if moments continue for the rest of time, there would still be time before the moments began.

Augustine of Hippo concluded that time exists only from within the created universe.  God, the creator, therefore, exists outside time.  He said that for God there is no past or future, only an eternal present.

The notion of God as Creator, completely independent of everything because God made everything, requires God to be independent of the both space and time of the universe. Concluding that God must have existed before time began, existed always and will continue to exist even if the universe (and time itself) ceases to exist.  If this hypothesis holds true, the question becomes how can God outside the universe influence events within it?

The eternal life concept, presented in the Bible, indicates that Humankind, as a special creature from God, can grasp the abstract concept of eternity in contrast to the lower animal world, which cannot grasp it.

Theists commonly believe that although mankind can grasp the concept of eternity, one may, however, only obtain eternity once he or she has died and returned to God.

Whichever definition of eternity is used, humans can never fully comprehend it.  Because it exists in time as we know it or it exists in time, as we do not know it.  Eternity is impossible to define.

I challenge the argument for the existence of eternity because the possibility of creation ascribed to God is only an intellectual exercise with no substantive or even abstract confirmation.