***And there are several others who believe that time does not exist at all.... ***
I suppose that all depends upon how you define time. ;^)
What a strange thread.
There is at least one professing Atheist wandering about at FR claiming that Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle proves there is no such thing as an omniscient God. ... And such an axiomatic approach sets as absolute the impossibility of Science figuring out a better way to characterize ‘position and momentum’ via some as yet undiscovered principle undergirding reality ... like Time is not ‘planar’ (brane-wise) for the entire created universe, thus momentum and position are impossible to measure simultaneously only because temporally our measurements are currently confined to the ‘arrow of time’ as we currently define it. Go figure!
Well, to recap, it all began when Kosta said God was outside of time and didn't interact in time, a point of view that was challenged by the fact the Holy Spirit does work in time, in Christ's sheep, in a very real and temporal sense.
Or else what is sanctification?
That led to all sorts of theoretical postulates (parallel lines in a curved universe actually do intersect) and further veered off into subjects like our well-founded certainty that "faith is reasonable" which I think most Christians can and will affirm along with Peter (good thing it wasn't Paul since Kosta has dismissed him as somewhat of a Gnostic.)
"...be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you..." -- 1 Peter 3:15
In fact, we realize faith in Christ is the ONLY "reasonable" approach to life if and when our minds have been renewed by the Holy Spirit, according to God's will from before the foundation of the world. Good trees produce good fruit in the here and now.
But some still insist this is all theoretical and presumptuous and we can't count of Christ's promise. Certainly not in real time. Yet that is not what Christ told us...
"My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" -- John 10:27
Are the tangible effects of being led by Christ evident in this life, in this moment in time? I've certainly found that to be true. It is a foreshadowing of the life to come...
"And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day." -- John 6:39
Here is what we know of time for certain...
"That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been" -- Ecclesiastes 3:15
And Romans 8:28, if one is to believe Paul.
Of a truth, math/science threads often devolve into a debate over semantics. It happens less frequently on theology/philosophy threads. But this was a math/science sidebar in the middle of a theology thread, so there you have it.
Neverthless, this particular sidebar - although somewhat semantic - turned more on the worldview of the participants – which I suspect you have noticed based on the excerpt you chose.
Obviously, those who believe time is an illusion (doesn't exist) have a different worldview from those who view time as geometric – line, plane, volume – in n spatial/temporal dimensions, spiritual and/or physical.
When the conversation runs aground in an irreconcilable difference in worldviews, it often behooves everyone just to drop it and go on to something else which is what we have done here. LOL!
By the way, my personal musing is that the Catholic/Orthodox v. Protestant/Reformed debate likewise turns on an irreconcilable difference in worldviews not unlike the one linked above.
The church in the worldview of one is physical; in the other, spiritual. The succession from the apostles in the one is physical; in the other, spiritual. The one emphasizes the mortals used of God; the other, God’s use of mortals. The one emphasizes the accoutrements of worship; the other, the words of God. The one, the good works of a man; the other, God’s working good through a man. And so on.
I thank God for both sides. Jesus chose twelve very different apostles (Peter, John, Thomas, Paul, etc.) and He accepted with commendation and rebuke seven very different churches in Revelation.
Truly, every Christian can find fellowship in the glorious body of Christ.
Also, my above musing relates to Dr. Eckleburg's reply - because the Scripture testimony of the Apostles John and Paul are particularly vivid on the spiritual side. Namely, the many blessed assurances that Jesus is God, the living Word of God, that God is Light and Love - and has done what we could never do, i.e. we can truly let go of this world - love Him, believe Him, trust Him and follow Him.
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded [is] death; but to be spiritually minded [is] life and peace. Because the carnal mind [is] enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. – Romans 8:1-9