God and Time

Last updated on: March 15, 2010 at 11:06 pm by James F. McGrath

God and Time 2010-03-15T23:06:00-04:00 James F. McGrath

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Today in my religion and science fiction class we reached the topic of time travel, in conjunction with LOST at least initially, but really looking at the broader subject not only during this class period but also the next.

There are key issues at the intersection of our concepts of time and religious thought. For time travel to the past to be possible, one has to have what is sometimes referred to as the “B view of time,” i.e. time as just another dimension, in which moments all exist as though part of a filmstrip, with the possibility existing of movement not only forwards as in our everyday experience, but in jumps backwards as well.

This same view of time is necessary if one wants to think of God as “outside of time,” envisaged as though a three-dimensional being looking at a filmstrip from outside it, seeing every moment as “present” eternally.

Whatever the benefits of such a viewpoint might be, today in class we noticed some negative consequences for religion which are often ignored.

First, on this view of time, free will goes out the window. Such a universe is not simply deterministic, as would be the case if we lived in a universe in which time is simply a succession of instances (the “A view”) but in which our apparently free choices are nonetheless sufficiently determined by prior causes. In the universe in which time travel is possible and/or God is outside of time, not only the script but the filmstrip exists eternally from the moment of the universe being created. We are not even actors, but only seem to be making choices in a universe in which past and future already exist and have always done so.

Second, on this view of time, redemption seems to become impossible. You may or may not be happy that Benjamin Linus seems to be making some moral progress on LOST, but the possibility of genuine free will seems necessary if we are to talk meaningfully about redemption, whether in a religious sense or in any other. And if Ben’s diabolical plans and his change of heart (if he’s had one – either a change or a heart) are of no moral value if he is simply a character on a filmstrip, as it were. Which, of course, Ben Linus is…providing a useful illustration for further discussion, perhaps.

Finally, on this view of time, and if time travel is possible, then there is no need to posit God as creator. If the future can go back and intersect the past, then presumably a future experiment with the Large Hadron Collider might cause the Big Bang, both annihilating our universe and bringing it into existence in a time loop that is without beginning or end. Sure, that would be a strange universe, but no stranger than one in which a Creator God “just happens to exist.”

Now, to be fair, I’m not discussing here the issues that exist with other views of time. But one thing that is true at the intersection of sci-fi and religion is that many religious believers and many science fiction fans share a belief or are at least open to the possibility that we live in a world in which God is outside of time and/or time travel is possible. And I think most of those who adopt such a view have not given much thought to the implications.

Well, it’s time to end this post, but there’s plenty of time for discussion…whatever time is…

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