Has anyone ever wondered about the concept of eternity/infinity?

Question

I mean it scares me a lot cause once you have lived for a billion years you have to live another billion. Would not it be very frightening to have to do this forever? Would one not get bored or at least very fearful?

Answer 1

Yes, I have. We humans can scarcely comprehend a century, much less a million years. The idea of infinite duration is simply incomprehensible to a temporally bound mind. Some Christians dismiss the idea that Earth is billions of years old as preposterous, yet blithely look forward to living in heaven forever.

"Forever" is one of those fairy tale ideas, like "happily ever after". It means we assume there will be no more problems and we aren't going to think about this story any more. IF there is an afterlife, we do not, CANNOT, know anything about it. Everything said about it is allegorical speculation. Most likely, it will NOT be more of the same, so our concepts of reality would not even apply to it.

Eternity, the burden of endless experience, can be a little intimidating. How could existence not become intolerably tedious after a few thousand years, let along trillions? Since time seems to be bound up with events occuring, whether a heartbeat or a galactic collision, we anticipate endless rounds of anticipation, duration, and aftermath involving increaingly meaningless phenomena. Pretty terrifying, even with God around.

But perhaps eternity is OUTSIDE of Time. Perhaps we no longer see cause and effect, only continuum. Perhaps our viewpoint becomes God's, beholding everywhere and everywhen at once. What would that be like? We can only pretend to know, being bound to Time as we are. Some call it an "eternal NOW", without a perception of time passing, gazing upon an intricate universe, from start to finish, in all its intricacy, not feeling hunger, or fatigue, or even instinctual respiration, or the passage of days, simply being present in the present to what is. No unknowns, no dread, just beholding and awe, like the first moment you see something marvelous, but lasting "eternally".

Just another theory, and not an adequate one. I haven't touched on relationships. Supposedly we would know God and everyone else far better and more intimately than possible now. Love would be a large part of that awe, since we would understand each other at last and fear would vanish with the ignorance. It would truly be an entirely different way of existing, not subject to boredom or fatigue. But until one experiences it, it's all guesswork. We can only assume that the God who made us knows our human perceptual limitations and has already overcome the problem.

Answer 2

“Neurons in the brain make thousands of connections with each other. But the innumerable extra connections that the larger human cortex provides multiplies virtually to infinity the brain’s capacity for receiving and analyzing data. And it is this sheer, massive power for handling data that places man in a class which is incomparably superior to any other living thing.”

The capacity of each one of these neurons is staggering. Biochemist Isaac Asimov declared:

“A healthy, mature human being of normal intelligence may have upwards of 20 million RNA molecules [thought to serve as a ‘filing system’ for memory] in each neuron. . . . An RNA molecule made up of merely 25 links could have any one of a million billion different combinations, . . . In fact, every RNA molecule contains many hundreds of units—not merely 25.”—New York Times Magazine, October 9, 1966.

Just what potential does this construction of the neuron give the human brain? Asimov adds:

“There is no question, then, that RNA presents a filing system perfectly capable of handling any load of learning and memory which the human being is likely to put upon it—and a billion times more than that quantity, too.”

Think of that! The brain is capable of handling not only any load a person can put on it in a lifetime of seventy to eighty years, but a thousand million times more! So it could serve a thousand million lifetimes, which really means that, with God’s help, it could serve forever.

Is it reasonable that God would create man with such a fantastic brain if it was never to be used fully? Why create a brain of which man could use only a fraction for a mere seventy to eighty years? It is far more reasonable, and it is what the Bible shows, that Jehovah God designed man to live forever on earth and gave him a brain that would wonderfully suit that purpose.

However, a brain that was designed to function forever needs a body that can also function forever. Does the human body have the potential for eternal life?

Yes. We were created to live eternally, it was just interrupted because of Adam's rebellion, but it is still God's purpose for us. To live eternally on a paradise earth.

Answer 3

Eternity is a long time, and this life is meant to prepare us for an eternity of responsibility and self-regulation. If we can obey God's laws now when we are not constrained to follow him, we will prove to Him that he can trust us to continue to obey him in the eternities.

This life also gives us the opportunity that we need to develop the faith that we will need to be able to face eternity without fear. Eternity is HUGE, but as we exercise faith in each and every revelation that God gives to us through the Holy Spirit, we begin to practice the ability to see the possibilities of what can come to pass, long before it happens. The ability to forsee the long-term consequences of actions is what makes people wise. The ability to forsee a beautiful image on the canvass while it is still blank is what makes an artist a master craftsman. Through this life we develop an attribute of faith in God that will last throughout eternity... and take away our fears of the future. We can then forsee that it will all be good...

Answer 4

I have actually contemplated this concept and I have realised that it is a "human" concept that there must be a begining and end to everything. I can not get my mind around even the idea of "forever" or infinite.
I believe in god and heaven and I think that time will not have the same "meaning" there and it will not feel the same. I believe we will just "be" and that it will be glorious.

Answer 5

Surprise! Once you get to eternity, you just may find out that time as we know it no longer exists. You can be sure there will be two separate resurrections, one to Life and the other to eternal death and damnation. This should be your biggest concern - where you will spend eternity. God requires only that you believe (that is trust, have faith) in the death of His Son, Jesus as payment for your sins on the cross, and His resurrection back to life to be saved and spend "eternity" in Heaven with Him. Think how easy that is! Get your Bible and start reading! Good luck!

Answer 6

I can't begin to fathom infinity. Sometimes the stretch of time between 4:00 and 5:00 seems infinitely long.

Answer 7

I'm excited to eventually be, in a state of perpetual energy with no form. That has to be the pinnacle of such a concept. Perhaps part of a larger source, as the sun radiates all light on Earth.

Answer 8

Eternity is a very scary concept to us Humans... But try to imagine eternity as something you cannot understand until you experience it... Eternity, time in general for that matter, is a man-made concept. We like to view time as linear... Beginning and end... But the concept of eternity is something that is against all our knowledge and ideas of time and space. To God, time is different. It definitely is not linear in His eyes... How do I know? Because it is linear in our eyes... that's how I know.

Answer 9

The brain has a finite number of neuron states. Therefore eventually the states would repeat. You would end up repeating events you lived through previously.

Answer 10

The universe is a big place. There is a lot to do, see, learn. Interesting that you propose the fear of not dying though.