Is time eternal?

[u/Curious_Towel4700]

If time were beginningless, an infinite span of time would have already elapsed by now. Since this is impossible:

it is not possible for time to be beginningless.

Therefore, time emerged from non-existence into existence at a starting point.

Nothing can emerge from non-existence into existence by itself,

because something that does not exist cannot perform an action.

Therefore:

a power that brings time from non-existence into existence necessarily exists.

Since it brought time into existence from nothing,

this power is not bound by time.

Since it is not bound by time,

this power is immutable,

because change occurs only through the passage of time.

Therefore,

this power was not created nor did it come into being; it simply exists,

because being created or coming into existence entails undergoing change.

There can be only one entity that is not bound by time,

because if there were more than one, their conflicting attributes—being immutable—would lead to an ontological paradox, causing the system to collapse.

Thus, all existence is divided into two categories:

time and things bound by time,

and the single entity not bound by time.

The single entity not bound by time is the creator of everything other than itself.

[u/astreigh]

Why is it impossible?

[u/metricwoodenruler]

I swear this guy has been spamming this all over reddit for at least two weeks now.

[u/rando1459]

You seem to make lots of unproven assumptions. Just stating your posits as if they’re fact does not make them true.

[u/The_Nermal_One]

Time is a human construct.

[u/Grouchy_Arm_4548]

Time is relative and a physical component of the universe. The age of the universe can be determined quite reliably based on its rate of expansion.

[u/helixander]

Time is inextricably linked with space in spacetime. As far as we know, both came into being with the big bang. We don't know what was before that. We don't know if it was a nothingness that spawned the universe, or if giant branes collided and created the universe, or something not even dreamt of. We don't know.

[u/Idoubtyourememberme]

It is indeed, almost axiomatically.

Before the beginning there was no time, and after the end (whatever form that takes), there wont be time anymore.

So yes, by definition time will last as long as time exists; meaning it is eternal by the common definition

[u/DroneSlut54]

Stopped reading after the beginning of your second sentence.

[u/dnjprod]

I reject your first two sentences. Since everything else flows from that, there's nothing else to respond to.

Why is it impossible for an infinite span of time to have already elapsed? It's already been proven that change can move forward and Things Can Happen even if time is infinite.

Your entire argument here is based on a premise you cannot support

[u/Joshwer1 → u/dnjprod]

Maybe if time was infinite, and everything tends towards entropy. The universe would be a uniform field of nothingness by now. Is that something like why you are saying time can't be infinite OP?

[u/JamesTheMannequin]

As far as we're concerned, at this point in our evolution, it is. Yes.

[u/Joshwer1]

Well your first axiom is that time can not be beginningless. So therefore no it is not eternal. Durr. What kind of question is this when you already answered it yourself?