God put Himself on a timeline when He created the world and time itself. He did that for a reason. We are creatures. We understand linearly.
To say "Poof! God is infinite and therefore cause and effect don't matter" is simplistic.
God created cause and effect. God is the cause. We are the effect.
To deny that God had a "preordained" plan of salvation before you were born is to deny the Scriptures. Period. It's there in black and white for all to read.
God created the heavens and the earth in seven days. On the FIRST day He created the light and the darkness. On the SECOND day He created the firmament. On the THIRD day He created the earth , etc.
God is timeless, but He created within time. And He created the human mind to understand time for a reason -- because He wants His creatures to understand the order of existence -- God creates and men are created.
He decreed the end from the beginning. THAT is the most important aspect of what we are to know of time.
"That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been" -- Ecclesiastes 3:15 "Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure" -- Isaiah 46:10
That isn't just poetic hyperbole on the part of God. That's the truth of existence.
It's hard to wrap our minds around this considering we are all indoctrinated with the modernist "Just Do It" mentality, but we "just do it" by God's will. And the rewards of that understanding are great.
"For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." -- Philippians 2:13
God created time, but that doesn't mean He is subject to it. Yes, we understand time linearly, but this type of speech about God is anthropomorphic and does not accurately state the concepts of infinity or timelessness.
To say "Poof! God is infinite and therefore cause and effect don't matter" is simplistic.
When did I say "cause and effect do not matter"? That God is not subject to creation does not mean that cause and effect do not matter.
To deny that God had a "preordained" plan of salvation before you were born is to deny the Scriptures. Period. It's there in black and white for all to read.
Scripture is written from the point of view of man, who is subject to time. The idea of "preordained", to us, means that BEFORE we were born, God sat down and made a plan. True enough, for us. But was there EVER a TIME that God did NOT have a plan? Does God subject to the chronological movement of time, or are we?
He decreed the end from the beginning. THAT is the most important aspect of what we are to know of time.
I agree that there is Divine Providence. All I am saying is that God is transcendant. Although He chooses to operate inside of time, He is not subject to it.
Regards