The thesis that God is beyond time has sometimes been introduced to account for God’s omniscience or foreknowledge. For Latter-day Saints, as for the Bible, God’s omniscience is “in time.” God anticipates the future. It is “present” before him, but it is still future. When the future occurs, it will occur for the first time to him as to his creatures. The traditional concept of “out-of-time” omniscience does not derive either from the Old or the New Testament but is borrowed from Greek philosophy. -Brigham Young University’s Encyclopedia of Mormonism-

Kent E. Robson, from Utah State Univeristy, authored this short article within the Encyclopedia of Mormonism. Elder Holland, then President of BYU, “took the query [of creating the encyclopedia] to his Board of Trustees. They instructed him to proceed. Working closely with Church authorities [he] chose an editor in chief and a board of editors.” They decided to have scholars write each article and stated that “those who have written and edited have only tried to explain their understanding of Church history, doctrines, and procedures; their statements and opinions remain their own. In no sense does the Encyclopedia have the force and authority of scripture.” (EOM preface)

The caveats to the Encyclopedia of Mormonism (EOM) are the same included in every book published by LDS authors - including books by general authorities. I see the joint oversight by church authorities and scholars giving the EOM a bit more heft than books written by one author. Especially older books on Mormon doctrine by general authorities.

Statements from EOM on time

Here are additional clear statements within the post which provide insight on the Latter-day view of God and time.

• ‘In LDS Christology, Jesus was in time before he entered mortality, is in time now, and will be forever.’
• ‘Time is a segment of eternity. One may distinguish eternities, long epochs of time, within eternity.’
• ‘Time unfolds in one direction. It extends rather than repeats precisely. Worlds and world systems may come and go, as civilizations may rise and fall, but history does not exactly repeat itself. Individual creative freedom modifies the outcomes.’
• ‘Eternity, as continuing time, is tensed: past, present, and future. God himself, eternal in identity, self-existent, and therefore without beginning or end, is nevertheless related to time.’
• ‘In a cosmic sense, the reckoning of time is according to the rotations of the spheres. It is presumed that God, angels, men, and prophets reckon time differently.’
• ‘In Latter-day Saint understanding, time and eternity usually refer to the same reality. Eternity is time with an adjective: It is endless time.’

Open Theists conflict with Evangelicals on time

The Open Theist movement has a very similar view on time and God. Recently, Roger E. Olson asked, “Can God Change the Past?” Roger touches a central argument that I hear from Latter-day Saints when we start to think about God’s relationship to time. Many LDS don’t want to put any limit on God’s power out of reverence. Some worry that once we start to explain what God cannot do, we are cutting at His superhero powers (even if imagined). However, we must differentiate the powers that the Greek philosophers imagined versus the powers that scripture exclaims.

He shares of a theology conference he attended where a “British evangelical Calvinist philosopher Paul Helm argued that open theism cannot be true partly because it limits God” by denying God’s omniscience. During the Q&A of Paul’s presentation, Roger got the opportunity to ask if God can change the past. Roger explained that Paul, “possibly not sensing the trap, adamantly declared that no, God cannot change the past.” Roger then asked “how was he not denying God’s omnipotence?” Roger then makes his point with the following quote from the post.

Of course, he then went into a discussion of the logic of the term ‘past’ - as denoting what cannot be changed. The funny thing about the exchange is that open theists argue that ’the future is by definition what has not yet happened - in the same way, that ’the past’ is by definition what cannot be changed. Helm ultimately could not address the issue I raised. If ‘God cannot change the past’ does not limit God’s omnipotence, then why does ‘god does not know the future exhaustively and infallibly’ necessarily limit God’s omniscience?

The Power of God

A few weeks ago, a ward member in Acworth, Georgia, used a phrasing that resonated with me. He said that God “Put an anchor in my future.” I like this concept to help us reconcile the plans of God versus the exhaustive omniscience of God. God can use His will to act in our lives. That will of God does not require exhaustive foreknowledge but faith and power. I believe that He loves me and that He has plans for me. We all have anchors in our future that will allow us to enter into His love.

I agree with the EOM - God is within time. I agree with Roger - God not knowing the future exhaustively is not an attack on His omniscience. If anything, both are attacks on the false idols of Greek thought on Christianity. God and us enjoy the future, when it occurs, for the first time together.

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