Even a timeless God would need to appear to be in time to relate to timebound creatures on their own level. Abraham says something, then God says something, then Abraham says something, then God says something. There's a temporal sequence.
In human dialogue, that means we wait until someone is finishes speaking because we don't know how to respond until we've heard what they have to say. But apart from open theism, every theological tradition at least thinks that God knows the future, so in that respect, a dialogue between God in man is going to be a bit artificial.
A comparison might be a movie reel. Even if events are sequential, the movie reel is static. Moreover, the plot and dialogue were scripted in advance.
Hey , Mr.Hays , what are your thoughts about text that make it seem that God is in time? Like Genesis 18.
ReplyDeleteEven a timeless God would need to appear to be in time to relate to timebound creatures on their own level. Abraham says something, then God says something, then Abraham says something, then God says something. There's a temporal sequence.
DeleteIn human dialogue, that means we wait until someone is finishes speaking because we don't know how to respond until we've heard what they have to say. But apart from open theism, every theological tradition at least thinks that God knows the future, so in that respect, a dialogue between God in man is going to be a bit artificial.
A comparison might be a movie reel. Even if events are sequential, the movie reel is static. Moreover, the plot and dialogue were scripted in advance.