Relatively speaking

The theory of relativity was ground breaking, providing us with a new way to look at space and time.

Einstein not only defined light as the universal constant, he also defined relativity around that same law. His thinking repudiated centuries of thinking that presumed the earth or sun to be the reference point for all universal observations.

His thinking shook the world, because it made all observations of space-time, “relative” to the position of the observer, regardless of the observer’s position.

That is a useful line of argument, but it breaks down instantly if the observer steps out of the universe, for then all time and space events inside the system must be uniquely relative to the absolute position of the external observer. This does not refute relativism, it confirms it. God is the external observer who defines all time and all existence, relative to His absolute constancy and as such all space-time is ultimately relative to Him.

Jesus confirmed this, saying that “the times and seasons knows no man, but His Father only”. So even Jesus is subject to the ultimate absolute and as such His Father was His only reference point throughout His lifetime ministry.

This brings up an interesting idea. We have always concluded that there is no time in heaven, for eternity is timeless. Whilst that has merits, I must conclude that relativism is still constant in heaven, for Jesus abided by that law in His life and will continue to do so until he rolls up the heavens like a garment and time is no more.

Eternity has no finite beginning or end, but within eternity are discrete seasons that do start and end – in fact “Project Earth” is one such example of a season with a defined beginning and end. To that end we can empirically confirm the beginning and we also know that there will be an end, for the sun is slowly burning out.

Seasons are event horizons. They are also time-based, because they have a beginning and an end. So we can safely conclude that time does exist in heaven. This agrees with relativism, in terms of which eternity is only true for the absolute, external point of reference, namely The Father. Thus all sub-sets of His domain are also sub-sets of eternity and thus subject to time: that includes heaven, which having been made by Him does have a defined beginning and an implied end.

I will explore this further in my next article.

(c) Peter Eleazar @ www.4u2live.net