[Thales Miletus]

Maybe, rather than "infinite," we Christians should use the words "eternal," or "timeless."

I have always viewed infinite and eternal as two spate terms. Infinite and finite are direct opposites. they are both mathematical terms. finite is capable of being counted a specific quantity. Infinite is a limitless quantity.

Eternal's opposite would be either transitory or mutable.

Thank you for sharing your insight.

[betty boop]

I have always viewed infinite and eternal as two [separate?] terms. Infinite and finite are direct opposites. they are both mathematical terms. Finite is capable of being counted a specific quantity. Infinite is a limitless quantity. Eternal's opposite would be either transitory or mutable.

Indeed Thales Miletus, that is my general understanding as well.

Looking deeper into the problem, however, it seems that the discernment of "quantity" is here the proposed mode and purpose of human investigation. Also I note that you do not define "Eternity" in positive terms, but only in terms of that which it is not — that is, something which is either transitory or mutable.

Regarding the latter, the negative case logically entails the existence of something which is not transitory or mutable (i.e., subject to change in space and time). What sort of being could this possibly be, if not God himself? If that is the case, then why don't you just cut to the chase and name this being God?

I think you are right to say that "infinite" and "finite" are mathematical terms:

In a famous essay, [Eugene] Wigner (1967) argued that the enormous usefulness of mathematics in the natural sciences is something "bordering on the mysterious", and that there is no rational explanation for it.... [H]ere the utility of mathematics for describing the physical world is a natural consequence of the fact that the latter is a mathematical structure, and we are simply uncovering this bit by bit.

Question: From whence cometh this "mathematical structure?" It seems very clear to me that it cannot possibly be a spontaneous natural development mindlessly bootstrapping itself by evolutionary processes arising within the world of space and time. Were that so, I daresay the world would be totally unintelligible to the human mind.

The "habit" of mathematics is to quantize things, so to bring seemingly disparate "quantities" into meaningful relation. But mathematics itself is not quantifiable. Nor is it dependent in any way on the direct observation of anything; rather it is prior to all observation.

Moreover, it seems very clear to me that there is much in historical human existential experience (personal and cultural) that does NOT reduce to the direct observational methods of the classical scientific method. And therefore is utterly beyond the reach or range of the "quantifiable."

I'll leave it there for now, dear Thales. Just some thoughts, FWTW. Thank you so much for writing!