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Whether This Is a Good Definition of Eternity, “The Simultaneously – Whole and Perfect Possession of Interminable Life”?
In this statement, words are changed to more accurately describe eternity in the sense we as beings in potentiality (created creatures) can more accurately attribute our understanding of time to what is eternal. For time is a succession of movement, from start to finish, and therefore before and after. However, with eternity, there is no movement of such, but a subsisting whole continually lacking in nothing. For what is eternal and interminable has no beginning and no end. For what is whole is complete and lacking in no parts. For what is possessed is held firmly in place and unmovable. As for eternity, it can also be something that is in being and also alive. For the simultaneously-whole, it is replaced by the thought of time which is imperfect, and given a better and accurate description lacking in nothing in a more perfect and subsisting way. Much of society in the Moderni age views time as the creator, the law, the only beginning and end, or unspoken rule which is subject to nothing – especially the Living God who created it to which they do not acknowledge. Also, in the warped sense, they may view truth as relative and time as absolute in the sense that the truth can change according to the predicament at hand or can align to one’s morality for pragmatic purposes according to specific situations while time in itself is absolute and made perfect. The impossibility of these ideas is the theology of the atheist and the pagan - who follow the material principle, which is subject to corruption, as the first principle. Whether God is Eternal? God alone is eternal just as He alone is immutable in a completely supreme way because He alone is in His own essence in as much as He would also be His own eternity, where unlike time - there is no beginning or end. Whether to Be Eternal Belongs to God Alone? God is indeed eternal because of His immutability. However, other bodies and creatures participate in His eternity by way of receiving a kind of immutability from Him in accordance with His will. For example, it could be seen that a planet or something in nature on earth has a likeness to eternity in that it never goes away and remains beyond many successive generations to people and the observable universe. Also, in the same way, creatures such as angels and humans participate in his eternity by election to stand in His presence through Sainthood or obedience to what they were made for, as in the good angels who glorify God. In this way, they participate in the likeness of His immutability and eternity which transcends time and all measured successive movements from start to finish. Whether Eternity Differs from Time? It appears that eternity and time are not the same thing. What is movable, corruptible, and changeable is subject to time. What is permanent, unchanging, and everlasting is the measure of eternity. In conclusion, eternity is simultaneously whole (void of movement) while time is the measure of movement and the created thing or being that is corruptible and changeable. It is not proper to apply eternity to time because eternity measures what is permanent while time measures what is temporary. The Difference of Aeviternity and Time? Aeviternity is the mean between time and eternity and is most proper for the dominion of the angelic beings and the substance of heavenly bodies. For time has a start and an end which is corruptible and subject to change, while eternity has no beginning or end and is immutable and unchangeable, so exists aeviternity where it is said that there is a beginning but no end and that change can be annexed to it such as angelic beings were made unmovable in their nature but are changeable in their decisions (such as the fallen angels deciding to turn on God and be cast down as a consequence of their actions). Since corporeal beings such as humans are subject to time, which is corruptible, and are subject to successive movements, a start and an end; when the soul leaves the body – it shall enter Aeviternity, just as the angelic substance are subjected to, where there is beginning, but no end. Whether There is Only One Aeviternity? It appears that there is to be only one aeviternity. Although there may be multiple heavens, they all fall under one aeviternity. This is because all things that are in being both in the flesh and the spirit are measured by one – especially regarding time. So, with that said, if time is measured by one, then aeviternity shall be measured by one all the more. It is not that the first thing measured in aeviternity is the cause of all things that spring forth from it, but that it is the first thing measured in the simplest way. In other words, there appears to be only one time, one aeviternity, and one eternity – not many of each.
I am blessed to be a Third Order Lay Dominican. However, the ideas expressed in this post are my own and do not represent the endorsement of or position of the Order of Preachers as a whole.
Commentary regarding Saint Thomas Aquinas’ Summa Theologiae derived from: ST part (I), Q. 1-26 from newadvent.org with permission. Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. and are used by permission of the copyright owner. All Rights Reserved. No part of the New American Bible may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
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mr. scott lowry, op
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