ABSTRACT
Normally scholars distinguish between two views of the relationship between God and time, the everlasting model (sometimes called ‘sempiternal’) and the absolute timelessness or atemporal model. As we know, the debate has been framed historically between these two views, with problems being pointed out for each position by its opponent. For some time now I have been promoting an alternative model: God is timeless relative to the created spacetime cosmos, but also in someways temporal. With respect for the great doctors of the church in the past, I have found neither
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the everlasting nor the atemporal models nally satisfactory. I have promoted a third alternativewhich one hopes preserves key insights fromboth of the traditional views. e basic picture of relative timelessness is this:
(1) God’s time is innite and immeasurable. Because they are involved in created frames of reference and depend upon stable laws of nature, measured time words like ‘day’ or ‘week’ do not properly apply to eternity. All points of our created time are simultaneous with some points of God’s eternity, but our spacetime universe does notmeasure God’s innite temporality.
