There is only one reality and that is what exists above and beyond the dividing timeline--Heaven, God's eternal light. And each year when we celebrate the Birth of Christ, leading to the Passion and Resurrection, we acknowledge His timelessness
The Christ Timeline
Time is subjective.
No physics, relativity, quantum mechanics, or string theory will be found here because, honestly, they aren't part of this vernacular.
All the chalkboards of the world filled with equations characterizing energy and mass reflect society's penchant for defining and classifying what it sees and experiences to fit its limited perspective. That's right, humanity limits the universe even while trying to imagine a bigger box that scientists believe they are "thinking outside." No matter how you look at it, it's still a box. A box that contains light and time. Except God, who created light and time, can't be contained.
Confused? Don't worry, it'll get worse... or not.
There are two aspects of time begging to be discussed, especially regarding the advent of Christmas which it encompasses.
First is the concept of a timeline. Viewed from a historical perspective, we draw a horizontal line that is presumed to have a beginning and an end. All along the way, scientists (who apply theory) and historians (who apply written documentation of events) insert arrows to indicate epochs and incidents that have influenced social change. Some timelines relatively short, the length of a lifetime, and others are miles long pretentiously attempting to depict the expansion of the universe and the existence of humanity.
Timelines are helpful to visualize what the world has experienced in the natural sense. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, cyclones, droughts, wars, truces, political upheaval, religious dissention, culture-shaking discoveries--actions of both evil and good. Just as they are limited in what they represent, timelines limit our imaginations.
Along one of these timelines is a mark in history that lasted just 33 years at a point 2000 years ago. Current culture likes to minimize the impact of this brief period but it affected mankind's earthly experience, even changed history so much that the main calendar used to this day was predicated on this short era's beginning. And what is a calendar except a timeline?
It matters not that during the last century secular influences added a letter to the acronym B.C. in an attempt to lessen the importance of Jesus' earthly walk, changing 'Before Christ' to 'Before the Common Era.' Wiping clean the slate by switching 'Anno Domini' to 'Common Era' only changed the names placed on a universal timeline, it did not change the fact that both B.C. and B.C.E. commenced at the same point in history--Jesus of Nazareth's birth.
Some have asked
why Jesus Christ was born at that point in time. Human logic might ask why not come today when global communication is available like never before, that the message of salvation could reach every corner of the earth, just as Jesus' commanded His disciples to undertake the Great Commission?
A simple answer might be that although trudging hundreds and even thousands of miles to share the Gospel was arduous and dangerous, it came with wonders and miracles that couldn't be duplicated or counterfeited in the natural world at that time. Today, prestidigitation has evolved to "photoshopping" pictures, manipulating soundbites and videos to the extent that what appears on the screen or in a photograph may be altered. The global network of communication has inherent lies woven in among the truth so that people don't know what to believe is real and what is reworked by the hand of man.
Taking this and other variables into account, the timing of Jesus' Ministry is perfect.
Note that I didn't write "was" perfect because this is the other side of the timeline coin, the concept of what a timeline truly is.
From the perspective of the eternal, a timeline isn't a line drawn horizontally from a beginning to an end. It is a line of demarcation between time and timelessness; what is gauged by a clock, calendar, lunar month or solar year and what is gaugeless, unmeasured, or everlasting, biblically speaking.
There is a reason why God said His thoughts are not our thoughts... "For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9
Eternity doesn't adhere to a timeline. It's vertical, lying above the boundary that separates it from the temporal occurrences that we see, hear, touch, taste and smell and can be assigned a place in history.
God
is, not was. Thus the appearance of Jesus Christ
is perfect because it is part of His eternal His-story that extends without end, encompassing all dimensions. He exists outside of our ability to physically experience what our senses tell us. The only way to receive the eternal, accept what lies outside our concept of time is to open our minds to believe in God, His creation of the temporal from what is eternal.
Just as perpetual timelessness is true existence, unless we can open our minds by
faith to "see" what is not seen, acknowledging that it is
written in His Word, we are trapped by scientists' explanation of the inexplicable, trying to see with physical eyes what is not visible. Why? Because we can't trust what we see. At any time, what we think is reality may be manipulated by our perceptions.
There is only one reality and that is what exists above and beyond the dividing timeline--Heaven, God's eternal light. And each year when we celebrate the Birth of Christ, leading to the Passion and Resurrection, we acknowledge His timelessness.
A. Dru Kristenev -- Bio and
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Former newspaper publisher, A. Dru Kristenev, grew up in the publishing industry working every angle of a paper, from ad composition and sales, to personnel management, copy writing, and overseeing all editorial content. During her tenure as a news professional, Kristenev traveled internationally as a representative of the paper and, on separate occasions, non-profit organizations. Since 2007, Kristenev has authored five fact-filled political suspense novels, the Baron Series, and two non-fiction books, all available on Amazon. Carrying an M.S. degree and having taught at premier northwest universities, she is the trustee of Scribes’ College of Journalism, which mission is to train a new generation of journalists in biblical standards of reporting. More information about the college and how to support it can be obtained by contacting Kristenev at cw.o@earthlink.net.
ChangingWind (changingwind.org) is a solutions-centered Christian ministry.
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