No, I just don't see how omnipresence necessarily leads to omnitemporalness.
I guess I need to be shown first that the past and future actually exist in the same manner that the present exists, or that God experiences the past, present and future all at once.
I see neither as supported by Scripture (or necessarily refuted by Scripture, for that matter).
You can't be in "all places at all times"...without being IN all times.
You are arguing against unconditional election...thank you. Either God exists in the "now"...and KNOWS who will be saved (open theism:
arminianism), He chose unconditionally who would be saved (which is NOT foreknowledge), or He's omnitemporal, and His foreknowledge is based on Him witnessing everything, everywhere, at once.
God is everywhere that exists.
If the future exists right now, then God is there.
Of course, there was a time of existence when I was in my mother's womb, and God knew me.
Revelation - Chapter 4 Rev 4:1After this I looked, and, behold, a door [was] opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard [was] as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
Now how is it God didn't show John what would be hereafter if the future doesn't exist?:laugh:
Just plain simple theology landblasts the calvinist.
That's a good verse. Of course, did John see a vision of the future or did he see the future actually existing? Is the beast of ch. 13 really going to have all those horns and heads and look animal like, or is it a symbol of a nation, organization or individual? Most people I know believe it is a symbol, not an actual creature as depicted. So there is a difference between seeing a vision or symbols of something and actually seeing the thing itself exist in another dimension.
By the way, the Eternal Now theory is held by many a Calvinist. I don't see this as C/A debate. According to Webdog, I'm a clost Arminian! :laugh:
And I should clarify, because I've probably been sloppy with my wording - I believe the future exists, just not in the same manner as the present necessarily.
Nor do I find reason to believe that God experiences everything at once.
That is easy to see.
The debate has moved from "no time"..where we must look at all time including future and now is into ways and the order there of soteriological elements in God's eternal decree.
One guy pops in a reads one post and does not know where all 4 of us has been.
That is why I laughed.
I saw your path in full, therefore I understand.
Or someone could believe that God looks down the corridors of time and He knows what He will do to redeem His elect - he will regenerate them and call them to faith, etc.
And that person would be a Calvinist, while at the same time rejecting the Eternal Now theory.
Like I said earlier, I don't see this as a C/A issue - I'm sure there are C's and A's on both sides of the issue.
You said you believe God knows how you will die and when. How is that possible unless God has seen all things. How could Jesus stand as a slain Lamb from the foundation of he world if God had not seen Him slain? God sees all things as "Now". He is not bound with time as we are.
Ecc 3:11 He hath made every [thing] beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.