Cosmologic philosophy: what is time (Introduction)

by dhw, Tuesday, January 24, 2017, 14:40 (2860 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: God existing in eternity is unchanging.
dhw: I don’t know where you get your information from. God never learns, God never experiences anything, doesn’t realize that when he creates something there is a before and after, and when he thinks something there is a before the thought and after the thought.
DAVID: No time passes.

So God doesn’t realize there is a before and after.

DAVID: If religions' suppositions are correct God knows the past the present and the future. time doesn't have to pass for him to recognize all parts of time.

Why bring in religion? If you think he knows the past, the present and the future, do you think he doesn’t know the difference between them? How do you recognize all parts of time if there is no such thing as time?

DAVID: The universe is started and time begins.
dhw: God starts the universe and doesn’t realize there was a before the universe and an after the universe. And you also happen to know that God never did or thought a darned thing before he started the universe.
DAVID: Of course He recognizes His progress in His plans, but knowing what will happen does not create a passage of time for Him.

I envy you your knowledge of what goes on in your God’s mind. He recognizes the difference between before and after, but what he recognizes does not exist. Why not?

DAVID: Simple concept.
dhw: Perhaps you should give me your own definition of time.
DAVID: You've made Him human.

I don’t see how recognition of before, now and after makes him human.

DAVID: My definition is just as we have agreed, a human recognition of a passage from moment to moment, a series of 'nows'.

Of course all definitions are “human”. The word “God” is a human term for some unknown force which you think exists. Does the fact that it is a human term mean God doesn’t exist? The series of ‘nows’ means a movement from past to present to future. Please present your evidence for your claim that your God can create a universe and yet not accept the reality of there having been a before and after the act of creation.