Lies We Believe About Time Series

Lies we believe about Time

1. Overview

a. Top Five Things People Put Off Until the Last Minute

i. House chores/yard work: 35

ii. Holiday gift shopping: 25

iii. Making doctor/dentist appointments: 20

iv. Calling relatives: 15

v. Changing oil in the car: 5

b. Time is as much a mystery as eternity is.

i. I did some reading this week about some of the theology of eternity. It absolutely blew

my mind. There was so much written over the ages, and the relationship between God

and eternity that I couldn’t possibly read it all in my lifetime.

ii. So I figured maybe I could tackle the concept of time. So I read an article that blew away

all of my presuppositions about time.

iii. You have probably heard of Quantum Physics, where they deal with space and time and

how things work together. We get all sorts of great science fiction movies based upon

some of the ideas people get from the possibilities of Quantum Physics.

iv. An article in a Christian magazine by a person who believes in the literal 7 days of

creation got my attention. The author has a PhD in Earth and Planetary physics and a

PhD in nuclear physics. He starts off the article comparing the apparent age of the

universe to the literal biblical view of 7 days. He says that both views are right, that the

universe is both very old and very young. According to him, time began when God

spoke the light into existence and matter took shape from His word. The biblical 6 days

began in that instant of time when the big bang occurred.

v. According to this professor, the fallacy lies in how we measure time.

1. W e look back from our earth time today, our human time.

2. But Genesis looks at time from the beginning forward.

3. So according to this author, we need to have a calculator to compare “Genesis

time (time looking forward)” with our “Human time (time looking backward).”

4. He bases his calculations upon what is known as the “expansion factor” of the

universe which calculates the size of the universe today compared to when it was

spoken into existence.

5. This is an important number because of the relationship between time and space

and the speed at which matter moves.

6. All of this is possible because we know that when matter travels at or near the

speed of light, time literally comes to a stand-still. A spaceship taking off from

earth and traveling for 100 years at the speed of light will return and not have

aged but a few minutes, but the earth would have aged 100 years.

7. This is applied to the concept of the universe’s expansion. In the case of creation,

we are the ones traveling at nearly the speed of light for the 6 days, with each

passing day, slowing down more and more.

8. The multiplier he uses for his “expansion factor” is 1 trillion, as scientists estimate

the universe is 1 trillion times bigger now that it was when it was created.

9. Through calculations, the universe is 6 days x 1 trillion (the amount used to

calculate time and space) = 6 trillion days or about 15 billion years.

10. I have copies of the article in the back if you would like to read it. It would send

chills up any atheist’s spine!

a. Einstein’s first major contribution to the study of time occurred when he

revolutionized physics with his "special theory of relativity" by showing

how time changes with motion.

bob Higgins Page 1 5/27/2006

b. Today, scientists do not see problems of time or motion as "absolute" with

a single correct answer. This is because time is relative to the speed one is

traveling at, there can never be a clock at the center of the universe to

which everyone can set their watches. Your entire life is the blink of an

eye to an alien traveling close to the speed of light.

11. The reason I bring this up is to point out that time is as much a mystery as is

eternity. With all of our fanciful knowledge, the more we know the less we

realize that we really know.

2. Lie #1 – “This is all there is.”

a. This viewpoint is preoccupied with the present, and with what is seen.

i. 2 Cor 4:18 “…we consider and look not to the things that are seen but to the things that

are unseen; for the things that are visible are temporal (brief and fleeting), but the things

that are invisible are deathless and everlasting(eternal).”

ii. Visionaries see what hasn’t yet happened.

1. They focus upon the future, they see what is unseen, they see what is in the future.