When applied to God, the term “eternal” doesn’t mean “a long, long time.” It means he is outside of time altogether.
By Jimmy Akin, National Catholic Register, 3/28/17
(Go to Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3)
The fact that we live in time and God lives in eternity leads to all kinds of questions. For example:
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If God is eternal and outside of time, does he create all of history all at once?
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Does the fact that what is true in time changes mean that God’s knowledge changes?
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How can God be eternal and yet incarnate as Jesus Christ at a specific moment in time?
To answer questions like this, we need to think about the nature of both time and eternity.
Three Views of Time
Philosophers sometimes talk about three views of time:
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The view that only the present is real (so the past and the future are not real)
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The view that the past and the present are real (but the future is not real)
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The view that the past, present, and future are all real.