Sunday, June 10, 2012

There Is A Time For Everything


1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)

Time. What is it? Ever since the Big Bang, time has been shot like an arrow. This arrow can be slowed down and sped up, but it cannot be stopped or reversed. It will forever continue forward. Why can’t it go backwards? Because this would violate the Second Law of Thermodynamics which states that “all physical or chemical changes tend to proceed in such a direction that useful energy undergoes irreversible degradation into a randomized form called entropy. They come to stop at an equilibrium point, at which the entropy formed is the maximum possible under the existing conditions.” (Lehninger 362) Time is irreversible because it, like many other processes in nature, is irreversible. This essentially rules out the probability of a Delorean going precisely 88 mph requiring exactly 1.21 GW being able to go back in time.

Figure 1

So the next scripture that is interesting is 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 8: “But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” How is that possible that a thousand years to us is one day to God? We know that Einstein’s general theory of relativity explains how time can be different for two people going the relativistic speeds. Time essentially slows down for whoever is traveling relativistically when compared to the other frame of reference. The speed of light is 299,792,458 meters per second. To effectively make 1000 years compare to 1 day, someone has to be traveling  299,792,457.9988764 meters per second, or essentially the speed of light. God is Light.

So what does this mean? It means that God is traveling the speed of light. According to the theory of relativity, if something is going the speed of light then there exists no time. So I believe that by mentioning a number so great like a thousand years to one year was God’s way of helping the people 2,000 years ago understand the infinite. There is no time in God’s realm. This can be explained using a simple solution: God’s realm is not in the same dimension as us. His dimension includes time. Einstein himself said that in the fourth dimension there is no change. God is perfect and thus does not require change. He is an eternal being. His dimension includes more than just time as an arrow, but rather time as a multiple of arrows. He can see all that was, is, will be, could be, and should be.

So, why does time exist? Why is it here? It’s for us. Any loving father wants his son or daughter to grow up and be like him. God is our eternal Heavenly Father and wants us to be like him…that makes sense. So he uses time as a way to see if our choices leads us to him. Our agency is our God given right. (Agency will actually be discusses in relation to Quantum Mechanics in my next post) So we are in a certain dimension where the necessity of time is crucial to God knowing whether or not we are able to return and live with him. It is our moment in the infinity to prove that we love God more than Lucifer. Progression can only happen through change. Progression can only happen through growing in glory. We must make the right choices. This is our purpose. The great teacher Amulek said, “For Behold, this life is the time for men to prepare to meet God; yea, behold the day of this life is the day for men to perform their labors.” (Alma 34:32)

“This life is the time for me to prepare…” We have time to prepare to meet god. It’s as easy as that. Time is not necessary for any other purpose except to help us to prepare to meet God. Time is a mortal thing, not an immortal thing. There will be no need for it after this mortal life.

There are several different ideas of what time could be and this is just one idea. I might amend it if I come up with something more plausible or I think of something that contradicts it.

Pictures
http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2010/02/multiverse_2-660x266.jpg (Biba)

Bibliography
Biba, Erin. What Is Time? One Physicist Hunts for the Ultimate Theory.” www.wired.com. February 26, 2010. http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/02/what-is-time/
Lehninger, Albert L. Principles of Biochemistry. New York Worth. 1982.

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