Having now found my copy of Mere Christianity, I have taken the opportunity to review C. S. Lewis's passage concerning God's relation to time, and I find that I see much to discredit his case. First and foremost, he does not make any specific reference to Scripture. This is rather disturbing to me, since I feel that my case is strongly supported by Scripture, and anyone's case would certainly be to the better if there were something in the Bible to back it up. Secondly, his reason for suggesting that God is outside of time is the difficulty of grasping how God can hear millions of prayers all at the same time. Besides the fact that there are other more biblical ways to deal with this difficulty, such as the angels in heaven each relating to God what they hear (since "angel" means "messenger"), I am certain that God is at least capable of devising a means by which He can hear every prayer in a timely manner. This is certainly no grounds for making such radical assertions as God being outside of time. Thirdly, as the saying goes, "Analogies prove nothing." His illustration of writing a story is not proof but only an illustration of his point. Fourthly, he does not deal to any qualitative degree with the objections raised in my first treatise (see below). This failure is closely linked to my first objection. Fifthly, he is very pragmatic about the whole thing: "This idea has helped me a good deal. If it does not help you, leave it alone." He does not say that it is valuable because there is some truth to it; instead he says it has been valuable because it worked to explain certain difficulties in his thinking. Finally, he admits that his interpretation is only almost certain. This may seem insignificant, but I think Lewis felt the conviction that he actually had no ground on which he was standing. Remember, "The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward to question him." (Prov. 18:17)
I don't mean to rail on our beloved author and philosopher, but why bother to be wrong about something you can be right about? Think these things over, and let me know what you think of my original treatise. Something that I am realizing as I study is that neither logic nor reason nor scholarship nor reflection hold as much sway as influence does; the ideas that we are around tend to become our ideas. Therefore be sure that these ideas are supported by the best from the other categories.
I do believe "the beginning" is a time reference but not that it is a reference to time itself. Perhaps I have not sufficiently clarified yet the distinction I make between time itself and measurements or markers of time. As I have suggested previously, I do not believe that any abstract concept was created (though I'm not sure what to do with Proverbs 8:22-31 concerning wisdom), time being one of those concepts. As a result of my recent crash course in philosophy, I will assert that time is not a force; it does not have an essence, nor can it be thought of as having "being" (whatever that means). If it does not have being, then we should not say that at some point it came into being, by special creation or any other means.
On the other hand, markers of time are those events to which we relate other events in terms of before and after, and measurements of time are the distances between events that happen in a consistent pattern. All of history is essentially categorized in relation to the birth of Christ; a day is measured by the rising and setting of the sun. These markers and measurements are not what constitute time itself, as if the existence of time is dependent upon the existence of markers or measurements. Therefore they are distinct from one another.
As incited above, time cannot be said to have existence unless it can be determined that it has "being." God, on the other hand, does have being and can be said to exist.
"In the beginning," in my estimation, is only a marker for the beginning of all created things. I am assuming here that before that point in time, nothing had been created, and all that existed was God. This is not necessarily so, but the opening verses of John's Gospel imply that God was the only existing thing at "the beginning."
To me, “time” is essentially the principle of sequence: events happen in a numerical order and not all at the same point. Any event may happen before, after, or at the same point as any other event just so long as all events are not said to occur at the same point.
What I am trying to say is this: If time does have being and at some point was created or came into existence, and if time is the principle of sequence, then nothing sequential could have taken place before the creation of time. These two conditions are confusing, however, because a principle does not have being.
You are assuming that time is capable of being created as if in a crystal ball so that it is contained, that God may be outside of it. I am assuming that time is a principle and therefore incapable of being created or having existence. One thing that I have been noticing along the way is the very careful use of time-related words in the Bible. I will try to get a list to you of the more significant passages that I would draw support from as soon as I can.
Exodus 20:11 "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."
John 5:19 Jesus gave them this answer: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does."
Proverbs 8:23 "I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began."
Daniel 12:1 "At that time Michael, the great prince who protects the people, will arise. There will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then."
Matthew 24:21 "For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again."
2 Peter 3:4 They will say, "where is this 'coming' He promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation."
1 John 3:8 He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work.
1 Kings 18:37-38 "Answer me, O Lord, answer me, so that these people will know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You are turning their hearts back again." Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.
Daniel 10:2-3, 12-13 At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.... Then he continued, "Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia."
Mark 1:10-11 As Jesus was coming up out of the water, He saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, Whom I love; with You I am well pleased."
Matthew 26:18 He replied, "Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, 'The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with My disciples at your house.'"
John 7:6-8, 30 Therefore Jesus said to them, "The right time for Me has not yet come; for you any time is right. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify that what it does is evil.... You go to the Feast. I am not yet going up to this Feast, for the right time has not yet come."
At this they tried to seize Him, but no one laid a hand on Him, because His time had not yet come.
Galatians 4:4 But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law,...
John 17:24 "Father, I want those You have given Me to be with Me where I am, and to see My glory, the glory You have given Me because You loved Me before the creation of the world."
Ephesians 1:4 For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight....
2 Timothy 1:9 ...Who has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of His own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time (lit. "from eternal times"),...
