<<God is not part of creation--space, time and everything in it--for the same
reason that Shakespeare was not in the play "Romeo and Juliet."
Moorad
-----Original Message-----
From: Starkja@aol.com <Starkja@aol.com>
To: asa@calvin.edu <asa@calvin.edu>; lambert@ldolphin.org
<lambert@ldolphin.org>
Date: Tuesday, December 14, 1999 5:25 PM
Subject: Time scales
>Has anyone considered time scales, such as ordinal, interval, and ratio,
when
>examining science versus Creationists arguments?
>
>It appears that a biblical day was only an ordinal measurement. Were the
>biblical authors concerned about the duration of that time, which would be
>necessary to create an interval scale? My guess is no. Thus, the
>association of a biblical day to a day based on dynamical time would be a
>purely modern choice. A biblical age for the earth would be totally
>dependant on that assumed association.
>
>When we estimate the universe's age using an atomic scale, the scale that
is
>used is really an interval scale. Thus, it would have no true zero point.
To
>my understanding there is no absolute time scale. We can only assume that
>the projected zero point has any meaning. We are free to choose no zero
time
>for an absolute time scale. Why do we talk about a creation for time, when
>the regression equation it taken to infinite density? The resulting Planck
>time in not zero and the scale is really only an interval scale. Needless
to
>say this would go counter to the religious assumption that God is beyond
>time. I think it was Augustine who started it. Why do we make such an
>assumption today? It does not help build a coherent world view. Would not
>an assumption of an infinite time in the past and future lend itself to a
>more coherent world view? "In the beginning" in the Bible refers to matter
>not time.
>
>Jim Stark
>>
Moorad,
I think you missed my point. What in the Bible places time within the
creation? I see no biblical evidence. The biblical use of time appears to be
purely ordinal in scaling. There is no suggestion of any beginning for time.
A beginning for time was an assumption by one of our Church fathers. So I
can only presume that you also assume that time is within the creation. We
are all free to make what assumptions are seen as necessary to build a
coherent world view for ourselves.