Time is a matter of relationship. We base our understanding of time on the relationship between sun, moon, and earth. The relationship of these three bodies within the space they were created are what constitute the passage of time. Days hinge on the orientation of the earth to the sun, and nights are dependent on the earth's orientation to the moon. We base time on this relationship. Outside of the relationship of bodies time cannot and does not exist. The beginning of all existence is founded on the relationship and interaction of bodies. As bodies cease to be, time ceases to be. We understand the idea of the end of time as the end of one or all of these heavenly bodies. Space factors into the equation because bodies require space to occupy and interact. So the nature of space-time is relational.
The 'how' of the matter gets a little more complex. How do space and time meet? What mathematical phenomenon brings these two seemingly independent factors into complement? My premise? Love. Love actualizes and contextualizes time and space.
What?! Love is not mathematical. Or is it? We are always attempting to quantify love. In temporal terms we love more or we love less.
"I love you."
"I love you more."
"No, I love you more."
...continue ad nauseum...
We love some or not at all. In an infinite sense we speak of God's love as unfailing, eternal, perpetual. Love is quantifiable and so I argue that love is indeed mathematical. Love seems to function proportionally to the presence of time and space. We love and we devote time and space to individuals, increasing our availability in proportion to our love. We retract our love and time and space decrease. Or we simply redefine our love and the circumstances of our time and space must be redefined.
If this answers the 'how' of space-time then the question of 'why' exists. Why love? Why space-time? And if God is love, then is God also space-time? We speak of God in terms of His three persons as incomprehensible without each person. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are members of the Godhead and constitute who we understand to be God. As three persons in relationship, one God, there is a concept of time and space that is only His. If God is space and time what does His space and time have in common with ours? I think God is space and time just as He is love. But His space and time are a relational notion within His being. In other words God functions eternally in a space and time of His own existence that independently has nothing in common with ours.
So if God has nothing in common with our time and space then how can He possibly enter into it? Love. "For God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." God's love is what generated creation from nothing. His love opened space and time to accommodate creation. His love for that creation created a common space and time in which to infiltrate that creation with His Incarnation. It is love that fills voids and gives purpose to space and time that would otherwise be meaningless.
Love contextualizes space and time. God and the world do not have time and space in common, they have love in common which allows for the intersection of common time and space. God so loved the world, that time and space opened up to His occupation in the temporal. When we believe in him we are reciprocating love and entering into His eternal life in time and space. The infinite occupies the finite and in turn the finite partake of the infinite.
We are creatures made in His image. We are designed to exist within time and space with one another, which means we are meant to love one another. The proportion of our love designates the time and space we allot to the receiver of that love. We devote our time and space to the things we love. The things we love fill our time and space. When our love is disproportionate to time and space, voids exist. These voids are empty, cold, lonely - formless.
Be cautious with your love. Once you have given love, created time and space, it cannot be uncreated. It can only be abandoned, left formless and void. We are imperfect creatures, fallen. We cannot love perfectly and therefore voids will always exist. The only protection we have is intentionality. Do not love capriciously, flippantly, but freely and intentionally.
God is love. God loves infinitely. Therefore, He exists within an infinite time and space. God loves those in finite time and space, therefore He can exist within finite time and space.
For God so loved...and then there was Incarnation - the occupation of the infinite into finite time and space. For God so loves, that His Word is never void. For God so loves.
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