I think the nature of heavenly beings, God and angels is an interesting branch of this blossoming topic. I propose some ideas for taking this into a new topic so we can stick to the time focus in this one. Feel free to think of a thought stimulating question and start a new topic.

And although the openness theology and God's foreknowledge have strong time elements, that topic could also be a fruitful area to inspire some original thought.

We had this topic in class recently. In trying to make it simple and "close to home" I just said it's like God can run a video (or DVD) and fast forward it or rewind it; that's why he can't make a mistake in prophecy - He knows for sure the incidents and how they will end.

It still doesn't explain where we are in the scheme of things. Has our DNA gone ahead of us and we're living it in slow motion?

I'm sure everyone reading this section knows time is the motion of the planet around the sun etc.

The Bible is ONLY written for this this earth. Do you realize there were no commandments when Abraham walked this earth.

The first words of Genesis were Written AFTER generations from Abraham. It's all there for mortals to make sense of what God is, has done and will do in our language.

if Heaven is a planet "out there" it would have time. If it isn't what could it be?

HEY ELLEN

I am sure that there were commandments
from the beginning with ADAM AND EVE
I agree that in the beginning
every thing was related by word of
mouth for a long time....but I still
believe that the commandments were
there all along

dgrimm60

I agree with you 100%. Adam and Eve walked, talked and ate with God.

pk

It would seem that considering Gods' Commandments or laws before they were etched in stone at Sinai and how they might be in other worlds could be a fruitful idea for another topic, but I do like to see how a good segue can reconnect and keep us on the topic at hand.

Tying together the idea of commandments and time and other places in the vast universe, the one time bound commandment of the big ten, #4, has raised interesting speculation about observing Sabbath in heaven, other worlds, or even in the new earth as described in Revelation, chapters 21 and 22, as a place without any sun or without night. It would be difficult to mark Sabbath's start and end with no sunset. And with varible orbits and rate of spin on other planets, even in our own solar system, Sabbaths could hardly be on a universal schedule.

This topic has come up many years ago... In the meantime, suffice it to say that the City (New Jerusalem on the New Earth) is described as needing no sun or moon, because the "glory of God" is the light. We ought to understand the difference between the New Jerusalem and the new earth. They are not identical objects.

Furthermore wetmore (:)) the text does not say that the sun & moon cease to exist, but rather that they are not needed "in the City."

Isaiah tells us the Sabbath WILL be observed in new earth & the universe. How the seven-day cycle is marked is best left up to our Father, who has the situation under divine control.

Valid point, (albeit beyond the time related point) God outshines the sun so it may not be needed for light anymore nor perhaps its life sustaining role for earth since God has made the new earth his home. But it still says there will be no night there, which could suggest some alteration of the evening and the morning daily cycle.

Of course, as with most things in Revelation, what is spoken of as the New Jerusalem, especially noting how it is described, is symbolic of God's people, the redeemed. So one could understand it simply as the saints settling on the earth made new again.

Not needing sun or moon or the absense of night because God dwells with men likewise has symbolic significance likely beyond our time topic.

But Revelation may be another fruitful topic.

Some have suggested an eternal Sabbath and if God never turns the lights out so we can see the passage of the sun through the sky as the earth turns, it may effectively say that the Sabbath doesn't pass into night.

As for the weekly seven day cycle, that was created at the begining. Do you suppose that God creates all worlds using the same seven day sequence? The point I was making was that since we can observe that the orbits and the rate planets revolve is variable which would make the respective seven days variable as well.

I thank our God all the time for the weekly Sabbath rest, why, because I need it and we all need it.
I am so glad i've seen the truth before it was too late...
Oh no...
I'm starting to get Reformed ideas: www.sdarm.org.au
They are the very first people I met right here in Adelaide, South Australia.
They introduced me to the Mainstream sda, and I am so thankful, because i'm here to stay, hidden in the truth of Jesus Christ.

It's not just the the sun burns out, though, and isn't needed: in the process it expands out to beyond the earth's orbit and engulfs the earth.

All the answers make sense, in that they all seem to say 'it's God's problem and he can sort it', but they should at least address the actual phenomena.