I want to thank Michael for an extensive response to my last blog post. I will respond to him for sake of further clarification. I am not a specialist and think some of what I say will turn out to be faulty. But it is fun and worthwhile to think about such things, if for no other reason than they reveal how little we know, which can open us to worship.
I quote from Michael here, then respond below: "I noted this line of thought in your presentation last night and wanted to ask you about it. Here is what I am wondering: if God does not know the future, wouldn't we have to also say the following: 1. That God is as much inside the flow of time as we are?"
My response. We need to be careful about our God talk. One approach many theologian embrace is to differentiate between what is known as ontological (God's being and nature) and economic (from the Greek oikonomia referring to the economy of salvation, i.e., how God works among us). While this is not the only way to approach God talk, it is helpful.
Who is God? How does God work? What can God do and not do? etc. These kind of questions are fodder for speculative theology and philosophy (and Physics). The qualities of God are based on our human minds' capacity to understand and express something about the eternal God. Hence, the idea of God contains within it a recognition that God is outside of time (He supercedes all things). Michael asks a valid question, but he is in the realm of onotolgy and God's inherent qualities. However, once we have identitied qualities of God (all knowing, all powerful, outside time, etc.) the next question is 'how does this perfect God deal with the world?'
That is the realm of theological "economics" (how things work, not money!) A fundamental teaching of Christianity is incarnation. Incarnation is based on kenosis, or self emptying. (cf Paul/Phillipians:Though He was in the form of God He did not deem equality with God something to be grasped, rather he EMPTIED Himself and took on the form of a slave). First rule of Christology, Jesus is HUMAN and DIVINE. The Word became Flesh. Baby Jesus is a real baby, not God faking like He is a baby. Jesus' self described limitations, including ignorance, are a result of His humanity.
My question is, once God creates a universe, does He also have to, in some ways, "empty Himself" in order to interact with that universe? I would say 'yes.' God communicates through the prophets, hence human language is employed, or images, or other concrete things. We do not experience all of God, but a diminished "piece" (to speak metaphorically). In fact, the OT makes it clear, "No one can see God and live." (So God let Moses glimpse His backside; perhaps another metaphor?). My question is this, "Does God enter time to engage His creation, and, if so, in the process of self emptying, does He enter into Time as we know it? This is a choice of God, so it tells us something about Him (sacrifical Love) but also hides something (We encounter God in a diminished form).
If Almighty God is working with us in this time and place, then is it possible that Time is real even for God at those moments? If time is real, then IF the future is unformed, THEN there is a sense in which God would not know every detail about every future event.
[Now a disclaimer: when I have the temerity and audacity to talk about God knowing, I am way above my pay grade. Goodnesss gracious how can any person imagine a Being Who simultaneously can know about every event in the entire cosmos???? With respect to that gap (between what I can understand and reality) it is tempting to just shut my mouth and write about Albert Pujols! However, to never broach the subject, even if out of humility, could lead one to decide talk of God is not important. So we soldier on!]
My point being, we need to differentiate between what God can do (in theory) and what God is able to do in light of the creation He has formed and the rules of that creation. It is fair to say, "God cannot..." in the second sense without negating "God can" if He had chosen to make a different kind of creation.
That, to me is the key issue. Not what God is or can do, but what God IS DOING in the real world/universe which He constructed and in which He is lovingly redeeming all things.
Michael continues: 2. That "eternal" wouldn't mean he transcends or contains time in some way but only that he is longer-lasting than anything or anyone else--that he was simply here earlier and could remain longer than everything else in creation? 3. That if this is the case, he could not have created time, since he is inside it like everything else?
In light of what I have said above, the second point is mute. God is eternal and it means more than really old. And God can create time from outside BUT choose to enter it. The question is, once God enters time, what happens. IF the future is not already laid out like unread chapters of a novel, then the blank pages would still need to be written. God, having enterred into time, has give us co-authorship responsibility. He continues to work in and through and with us. But we still share in the creative process and until we act the future is unknown (and unknowable) because it does not exist already, it has not yet happened.
Okay, I am off to hospital visits. I hope these reflections are of some use. I will engage Michael's other points in days ahead.
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