The above article claims that
Einstein's theory of relativity can be demonstrated with the aid of
an atomic clock that supposedly keeps accurate time plus or minus
one second every 3.7 billion years. The higher it is above sea
level the faster this atomic clock runs, which supposedly proves
that time runs slower in a bungalow than a penthouse. "For
every foot above ground, for instance, the clocks showed that
someone would age about 90 billionths of a second faster over a
79-year lifetime, Dr Chou said."
The first question that comes to
my mind is, "how do you know the time keeping mechanism isn't
impacted by gravity?" Einstein said gravity was merely
acceleration. If you stand on a giant magnet in space where there
is no gravity (with metal shoes on of course) and swing around a
rope with a metal ball on the end, you may be able to experience
it. Swinging the ball in a vertical rotation, the magnet you are
standing on would always be pulling the metal ball downward. On the
upswing the ball would decelerate and on the downswing the ball
would accelerate. If you were also standing on a scale you would
weigh more on the upswing, because in a free fall an object on a
scale would weigh nothing. Wouldn't that mean gravity is actually
caused by the upward deceleration? Now apply this mind experiment
to atomic motion.
If atoms are held together with
negatively charged electrons orbiting around positive protons, and
if electrons are generally attracted to other atoms too, then the
electron would be ever so slightly accellerated when the electron
is in the portion of it's orbit that moves it toward the nearby
massive object. Which would also mean that the atomic clock would
more freely vibrate at higher altitudes because it would have less
of this 'wobble'. Time as we define it is measured by the passing
of events, whether it is an atomic vibration or the Sun's orbit
around the earth. So the question remains, "do events really
happen in God's realm?"
Some think not because it implies
a beginning for God when the first event occurred with Him. But the
alternative makes no sense to us either; that is that everything
happens at the same time for God.
Yahwey always speaks to us as if
events do occur with Him. There are a few biblical exceptions which
are often cited as 'proof' that Yahwey is beyond time and events.
Here are some of them:
Jeremiah 1:5
LITV 5 I knew you before I formed you in the
belly; and before you came out of the womb, I consecrated you. I
appointed you a prophet to the nations.
Besides this verse
being full of event statements that Yahwey says He is experiencing
and causing throughout a time range, it could simply mean that
sometime after conception Yahwey became familiar with Jeremiah's
spirit. Or maybe He even designed Jeremiah's spirit.
2 Peter 3:8
KJV 8 But,
beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with
the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one
day.
For sure this verse is
about patience. Whether it addresses time travel or transendence I
have my doubts.
Psalms 90:4
KJV 4 For a
thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past,
and as a watch in the night.
That Yahwey has been alive for a
long time does not make sense to us because He had no beginning.
Time as measured by a passing of material events needs a creation
made of matter that contains events. That does not mean Yahwey did
nothing before He created the universe. One thing is for certain
though, when He speaks to us about time He does it in a plain and
straightforward way that we can easily understand. In the Genesis
account of creation, time was already passing before the creation
of the Sun, moon and stars. He created them to measure the time
that He uses to build relationships with us.
Genesis 1:14
EJ2000 14 And God
said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide
the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for appointed
times and for days and years;
The following excerpt is from
gotquestions.org
Question: "What is
God's relationship to time?"
Answer: ...
In a sense, the marking of time is
irrelevant to God because He transcends it. Peter, in 2 Peter
3:8, cautioned his readers not to let this one critical fact
escape their notice—that God’s perspective on time is far different
from mankind’s (Psalm 102:12, 24-27). The Lord does not count time as we do. He is
above and outside of the sphere of time. God sees all of eternity’s
past and eternity’s future. The time that passes on earth is of no
consequence from God’s timeless perspective. A second is no
different from an eon; a billion years pass like seconds to the
eternal God.
Maybe Yahwey does transcend
'time' whatever that means and some things are incomprehensible to
us, but the above statement goes way too far, in my opinion. Time
statements throughout the Bible are very important to Yahwey. And
He eventually does 'lose His patience' (just as He planned to by
the way) and He did take vengence on the old covenant holdouts.
There are no unbelievers in the new covenant for God to take
vengence on. Time travel and Einstein's theory of relativity are
sometimes taken as facts. They both result in nonsense and would
turn Yahwey's creation into chaos. See The Heavens
Rule.
I was taught to, "keep it simple if you can." Yahwey
chose the first century Christians to complete the foundation of
the new creation before he destroyed His old covenant
world.
Ephesians 1:4
ALT 4 just as He
chose us in Him before [the] laying of the foundation of
the world [or, before beginning of the creation of the
universe], so that we shall be holy and unblemished [fig.,
without fault] before Him, in love,
Ephesians 1:4
ECB 4 exactly as he selected us in him ere the
foundation of the cosmos, to be holy and unblemished in his sight
in love:
Ephesians 1:4
CLV 4 according as He chooses us in Him before
the disruption of the world, we to be holy and flawless in His
sight,
The 490 years was up when the church was driven out of
Jerusalem. The compliment of the nations would enter into the new
covenant before the destruction of the old covenant. Paul used this
Gentile portion of time as extra grace-time, to continue reaching
out to his old covenant unbelieving brothers, who were still as
doggedly in the flesh mode as Paul once was.
Matthew 18:21-22 (Peter's bretheren were sinning against their
truth)
YLT 21 Then Peter
having come near to him, said, `Sir, how often shall my brother sin
against me, and I forgive him—till seven times?' 22 Jesus
saith to him, `I do not say to thee till seven times, but till
seventy times seven.
Romans 11:25
CLV 25 For I am
not willing for you to be ignorant of this secret, brethren, lest
you may be passing for prudent among yourselves, that callousness,
in part, on Israel has come, until the complement
of the nations may be entering."
Dodson:
-
πλήρωμα
plērōma
play'-ro-mah
- fullness, fulfillment,
completion
- (a) a fill, fullness; full
complement; supply, patch, supplement, (b) fullness, filling,
fulfillment, completion.
Paul still had time to save some more of the old
covenant holdouts.
Romans 11:13-14
YLT 13 For to you
I speak—to the nations—inasmuch as I am indeed an apostle of
nations, my ministration I do glorify; 14 if by any
means I shall arouse to jealousy mine own flesh, and shall save
some of them,
James 5:19-20 (Jacob to the twelve tribes in covenant
transition)
YLT 19 Brethren, if
any among you may go astray from the truth, and any one may turn
him back, 20 let him know
that he who did turn back a sinner from the straying of his way
shall save a soul from death, and shall cover a multitude of
sins.
This is the perfect
world to grow up in. If it wasn't God would have thought of a
better one!