We use the word time in so many contexts that a whole glossary of meanings would fill a book. In a scientific sense the word time is used to describe and define processes of all kinds. In fact, it could be said that all of science can be reduced to the way we measure time (and its corrollary, dimension).
Yet our minds cannot grasp an infinite progression of time(the future) or an infinite regression of time (the past) .. Since we cannot contemplate the extent of the bubble of time in which we live, we simply pretend that time is finite and we create words to relieve us of the troublesome implications of a universe is which time does not exist. We simply say that something is "zero" if it falls below our sense of importance. Conversely we say that something is "infinite" if it goes on in the other direction. Within these boundaries, we have created a whole structure of certainty. We have assured ourselves with a strong feeling of confidence that we understand the universe in which we live. We have invented a mathematics system which is internally consistent. This system gives us a strong feeling of certainty: we have taken a vote and we all agree that what we think we know is, in fact, the truth about our world.
Stephen Hawkings in his book A Brief History of Time observes that the only thing we know about time is that it generally seems to move in one direction, from the past into the future. Yet as common sense as this seems, discovering what is the exact present time is elusive because when we try to determine what time it really is, in the cosmic sense, it is already gone. All of our measurements of the cosmos are hopelessly flawed because the phenomena which we observe now happened millions if not billions of years ago and the objects may have disappeared completely.
What does all of this mean?
The Judeo-Christian scriptures are filled with tantalizing references to how time interacts with mankind. For example, the highly allegorical acount of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden makes a reference to the "tree of life." The "fruit" of this tree would have taken Adam out of the time domain and would have "lived forever." Consequently, when Adam ate of the "fruit" of the tree of the "knowledge of good and evil," he was told that he would "surely die." The implication here is that Adam crossed over into the bubble of time and the process of his eventual death was set in motion.
God, in the Judeo-Christian scriptures is described "I am." Other references describe God as "the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end." Jesus referred to himself as "I am."
Clearly, these characterizations of God have him outside the time domain, as he would have to be if he is, in fact, the great engineer in the sky who invented all of this.
As a clear-eyed seeker of widom and truth, there is one absolute truth that cannot be denied: faith is not an option, in order to build any foundation for a reasonable life, we must first decide what we believe. The meaning of our lives is totally determined by what we choose to believe.
It's about time we sat down and wrote down for ourselves what we belive. It is an eye-opening experience.
