Quotes About Time

As Jesus, the Word, is of divine origin as well as a thoroughly human figure of first-century Palestine, so is the Bible of ultimately divine origin yet also thoroughly a product of its time.

Who we are and when and where we exist affect how we imagine God.

The Bible isn't a book that reflects one point of view. It is a collection of books that records a conversation—even a debate—over time.

The Creator is being reimagined all the time and can be reimagined through the lens of any culture, of any time and place. No one culture, and certainly not the (largely white male affluent) Western culture I inhabit, can claim superior status for reimagining God once and for all. The Creator doesn't need any of us to sit atop the mountain and speak down to everyone else.

We perceive God, think about God, and talk about God in ways that make sense to us by virtue of when and where we live.

Doubt is sacred. Doubt is God's instrument, will arrive in God's time, and will come from unexpected places—places out of your control. And when it does, resist the fight-or-flight impulse. Pass through it—patiently, honestly, and courageously for however long it takes. True transformation takes time.

These ancient writers had an adequate understanding of God for them in their time, but not for all time—and if we take that to heart, we will actually be in a better position to respect these ancient voices and see what they have to say rather than whitewashing the details and making up "explanations" to ease our stress.

Wisdom leads us to dialogues with the past. It doesn't lead us back to the past.

Think of the resurrection as God unexpectedly going off script and bringing into the present time a bit of the future.

This is how they connected with God—in their time, in their way.

Forty is a go-to number symbolizing a complete or "right" period of time, and "480" is twelve times forty—twelve likely symbolizing the twelve tribes of Israel. The number is symbolic. It draws on ancient conventions of the symbolic value of round numbers to mark off a sacred moment.

A myth is a story about the gods at the dawn of time that helps explain why things are the way they are here and now. Ancient people in general were quite keen on seeing the world around them in light of a bigger reality, namely the cosmic realm. Myths connect these two worlds.

How do biblical writers talk about the past?

We are all culturally embedded creatures—we can never untangle ourselves from our here and now. We perceive God, think about God, and talk about God in ways that make sense to us by virtue of when and where we live.

Meetings are a symptom of bad organization. The fewer meetings the better.

Leave enough time unscheduled; anyone in a decision-making position should, as a rule, schedule no more than half his time.

Consciousness is just a window into time.

It was always a puzzle, given that he spent his days achieving nothing, that he had no time for anything.

That's a huge gamble." "We're long past the time for careful certainty.

Out of twinkling stardust all came, into dark matter all will fall. Death mocks us as we laugh defiance at entropy, yet ignorance birthed mortals sail forth upon time's cruel sea.

Time travel is pure bullshit, impossible; nobody can defeat causality or entropy.

She had to strike the first retaliatory blow in a war nobody else knew they'd been losing all this time. And that meant she had to kill her guardian angel.

The possibility was rejected because what we have learned of you so far indicates that your race will come through this time successfully. Edenists especially have the social maturity to face that which follows.

Time is always constant to the observer