God and Science in Two Theories of Time

creation, creator, creature, genesis, being

In recent years, scientists have moved the discussion centered around the existence of God into theories of time. Typically there are two theories of time within the context of scientific debate. The two primary theories of time are identified simply as A-theory and B-theory. There is also C-Theory, but for now the focus is on A and B.

Typically the debate is that the A-theory of time is outdated and the existence of God only goes with A and is not compatible with B-theory. However, this article will prove that God is not only compatible with both A- and B-theories of time but is required in order to sustain both.

A-Theory Throughout History

First, let’s focus on A-theory. According to this mode of time, the reality we live in distinguishes time as past, present, and future in a chronological order. If you are familiar with the popular medieval arguments of God’s existence, those arguments are used with the understanding of A-theory of time.

Let’s take for example the argument from contingency, also known as Aquinas’ third way (and before Aquinas known as Avicenna’s Necessary Existent). According to the argument from contingency, everything around us in the universe is dependent on something else for its existence.

For instance, humans are contingent on the marital embrace to be conceived; the earth is contingent on gravity to keep it from falling into the ether, etc. To take it a step further, the universe itself is contingent on something in order for it to continue expanding.

A non-theist might object and say that the universe we live in belongs to a metaverse, and that’s what our universe is contingent on. However, even if that were true, the metaverse itself would be contingent since each universe within the metaverse would depend on each other universe’s existence in order to make up its substance. According to Aquinas, contingency cannot go on forever, because there has to be something that brought the first contingent thing into existence. If that had never occurred, nothing would ever exist. You can probably see how an endless string of things that has no ultimate cause would be absurd.

There Cannot Be Two Creators

Therefore, there has to be something outside of the universe that exists that isn’t contingent on anything – pure existence itself. Because this being is not contingent on anything else, there can only be one, because if there were two, their existence would be contingent on the things that distinguish them from each other.

To illustrate this, let me tell you a story about two gods named Rain and Sand.

Rain and Sand both claim that they are the creators of everything that exists. However, there is a cosmological conflict. If they are the creators of everything that exists, they cannot be contingent on anything. The fact that Rain’s name is Rain causes him to be different from Sand; therefore Rain is contingent on his name to distinguish him from Sand.  As a matter of fact, anything that makes Rain different from Sand becomes a matter of contingency in order to distinguish one from the other.

The logical conclusion is that a Creator God has to be both one and simple, with no distinguishing parts.

Most of the time theists will argue (truthfully) that God is outside of time. Since the future is contingent on the present, and the present is contingent on the past, God is outside of time. To understand this framework is to understand A-theory of time. A past, present, and future are clearly defined in reality, and God can be said to exist outside of them.

In recent years, however, scientists have come up with a different theory of time that they think better explains the universe. This new theory is called the B-Theory of time.

B-Theory of Time

B-Theory is also known as the tenseless theory of time. Accordingly, B-theorists argue that the past, present, and future don’t actually exist in reality. Rather, these are subjective distinguishers created by the perception of human beings. Instead, according to the B-theorists, time is continuously happening right now, eternally.

Unfortunately, B-theory is often used by non-theists to argue against the medieval proofs of the existence of God. If there is no real existence of the past, present, and future, there’s no need to distinguish something as outside of time if time doesn’t really exist in a chronological fashion. In other words, there’s no need for a first mover.

B-Theory and the Eternal Now

Does B-theory actually contradict the existence of God? I argue that it does not. While B-Theory does propose an alternative to some medieval cosmological arguments (such as Kalam), it doesn’t explain how the universe is being constantly sustained, nor does it explain how time can be present all at once now.

In Jimmy Akin’s article “3 Views of Time and Eternity”, he builds a theological case for what theologians refer to as the Eternal Now. Elaborating on this concept Akin states that

He (God) is eternal because he is the absolute fullness of being which cannot be understood as a sum of fragments or of “particles” of being which change with time…The absolute fullness of being can come to be understood only as eternity, which is, as the total and indivisible possession of that being, God’s own life.

Because God is completely outside of time, He doesn’t perceive time in tenses. He doesn’t perceive it at all, since He is the meaning of the fullness of being at every moment. It follows that if He is fully present at every moment, God’s omnipotence and omnipresence are compatible with the B-Theory of time; as a matter of fact, these attributes of God are foundational to B-Theory.

An Unusual Take

I believe that both A- and B-theories of time are true, and I believe that the existence of God is foundational to both. The A-theory of time can be said to be true in the sense that human beings do perceive time as past, present, and future since we are not fully omnipotent or omnipresent at every moment.

B-theory can also be said to be true in the sense that it demands omnipotence and omnipresence from a divine observer with an intellect outside of time and the universe. Both can be simultaneously true, and best yet, the divine is necessary in both modes of time.

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3 thoughts on “God and Science in Two Theories of Time”

  1. Pingback: Behave Yourself, Fiction Catholics Should Read: Diary of a Country Priest by Georges Bernanos, and More Great Links! - JP2 Catholic Radio

  2. Pingback: MONDAY EDITION – Big Pulpit

  3. Thanks Briana for an interesting article about time. I was surprised that there was no mention of entropy as “Time’s Arrow,” but I guess that’s outside the province of philosophy or theology. Or is it? At any rate there are some theoretical physicists who claim that time is not fundamental, but just a feature introduced by quantum gravity. I don’t understand their reasoning, which is not to say that it might not be valid.

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