Question:

Does Einstein’s Theory of Relativity require that God be temporal or atemporal to logically interact with His creation?  What is essentially the effect of God that is greater than the speed of light in this understanding?  In his book A Brief History of Time in pages 25-28, Stephen Hawking describes time existing as a cone extending in two directions, with one point in the past and one point in the future with the present in the middle. Does this prefer an atemporal or temporal God? How does this affect humanity free will and God’s foreknowledge?   Can you explain how God could exist as an additional dimension in our 4D existence, and why we would/would not be able to detect this other dimension of existence.

Answer:

I do not normally do this, but I think I am going to duck this question. I do not think that a scientific theory can require anything of God so I am not going to answer your question–at least not directly.   What I can say is that God IS (Like God said to Moses in Exodus, “Tell them I AM sent you”) God is. Biblically, God is atemporal. His existence is not dependent on time or any of the four dimensions. I do not see how Einstein’s theory, which is just a theory after all, has any impact on the nature of God as God. God is what he is and a theory has no impact on that.

So, a scientific theory has no impact on the nature of God because it is only a theory about physical things and God is not physical.

Nevertheless, God exists outside of time and is atemporal, as is clear from many biblical passages.

God is not an additional “dimension” in our universe, because God created the universe. He is not a physical being who is not of this universe and we will never be able to “detect” God using a scientific instrument. He is not a “fifth dimension.” He exists outside of and before any conceivable sort of dimension.

I hope this is at least partially answering your question.

I found a little article on the web which has a number of passages on God and time. I think the article is good enough that I will not try to improve on it. The article is below.

John Oakes

Question: “What is God’s relationship to time?”   (see below for the URL for this article)

Answer: We live in a physical world with its four known space-time dimensions of length, width, height (or depth) and time. However, God dwells in a different dimension—the spirit realm—beyond the perception of our physical senses. It’s not that God isn’t real; it’s a matter of His not being limited by the physical laws and dimensions that govern our world (Isaiah 57:15). Knowing that “God is spirit” (John 4:24), what is His relationship to time?

In Psalm 90:4, Moses used a simple yet profound analogy in describing the timelessness of God: “For a thousand years in Your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.” The eternity of God is contrasted with the temporality of man. Our lives are but short and frail, but God does not weaken or fail with the passage of time.

In a sense, the marking of time is irrelevant to God because He transcends it. Peter, in 2 Peter 3:8, cautioned his readers not to let this one critical fact escape their notice—that God’s perspective on time is far different from mankind’s (Psalm 102:12, 24-27). The Lord does not count time as we do. He is above and outside of the sphere of time. God sees all of eternity’s past and eternity’s future. The time that passes on earth is of no consequence from God’s timeless perspective. A second is no different from an eon; a billion years pass like seconds to the eternal God.

Though we cannot possibly comprehend this idea of eternity or the timelessness of God, we in our finite minds try to confine an infinite God to our time schedule. Those who foolishly demand that God operate according to their time frame ignore the fact that He is the “High and Lofty One . . . who lives forever” (Isaiah 57:15). This description of God is far removed from man’s condition: “The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away” (Psalm 90:10).

Again, because of our finite minds, we can only grasp the concept of God’s timeless existence in part. And in so doing, we describe Him as a God without a beginning or end, eternal, infinite, everlasting, etc. Psalm 90:2 declares, “From everlasting to everlasting You are God” (see also Psalm 93:2). He always was and always will be.

So, what is time? To put it simply, time is duration. Our clocks mark change or, more precisely, our timepieces are benchmarks of change that indicate the passage of time. We could say, then, that time is a necessary precondition for change and change is a sufficient condition to establish the passage of time. In other words, whenever there’s change of any kind we know that time has passed. We see this as we go through life, as we age. And we cannot recover the minutes that have passed by.

Additionally, the science of physics tells us that time is a property resulting from the existence of matter. As such, time exists when matter exists. But God is not matter; God, in fact, created matter. The bottom line is this: time began when God created the universe. Before that, God was simply existing. Since there was no matter, and because God does not change, time had no existence and therefore no meaning, no relation to Him.

And this brings us to the meaning of the word eternity. Eternity is a term used to express the concept of something that has no end and/or no beginning. God has no beginning or end. He is outside the realm of time. Eternity is not something that can be absolutely related to God. God is even beyond eternity.

Scripture reveals that God lives outside the bounds of time as we know it. Our destiny was planned “before the beginning of time” (2 Timothy 1:9; Titus 1:2) and “before the creation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4; 1 Peter 1:20). “By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible” (Hebrews 11:3). In other words, the physical universe we see, hear, feel and experience was created not from existing matter, but from a source independent of the physical dimensions we can perceive.

“God is spirit” (John 4:24), and, correspondingly, God is timeless rather than being eternally in time or being beyond time. Time was simply created by God as a limited part of His creation for accommodating the workings of His purpose in His disposable universe (see 2 Peter 3:10-12).

Upon the completion of His creation activity, including the creation of time, what did God conclude? “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Gen 1:31). Indeed, God is spirit in the realm of timelessness, rather than flesh in the sphere of time.

As believers, we have a deep sense of comfort knowing that God, though timeless and eternal, is in time with us right now; He is not unreachably transcendent, but right here in this moment with us. And because He’s in this moment, He can respond to our needs and prayers.

Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/God-time.html#ixzz2yWkcFzjP