To titillate their readers, science fiction writers often use the idea of time travel to the past or future. Examples abound, as popular past TV shows such as The Twilight Zone and movies such as Back to the Future have demonstrated.
Is there any reality in what these writers envision? They imagine time occurring in more than one dimension. But our universe is currently locked into only one dimension of time. Here and now, every effect has a previous cause. In travel to the future, events (effects) would not have to be preceded by a cause in the past. And travel to the past would necessitate a time reversal with causes following their effects instead of preceding them.
The timeline of our universe constantly moves forward. Scientists speak about a forward-moving Arrow of Time. But they also say that nothing in the laws of physics actually forbids a reversal of the direction of time. In our universe, however, this does not occur because God created our cosmos in the beginning to operate in one time dimension. The Arrow of Time moves in only one direction.
Science researchers acknowledge that more than one time dimension could exist. The Triune God, who created our universe transcendently from outside our cosmos, is not limited to one time dimension as we are. We may say, therefore, that human experience in this created cosmos has been purposefully limited by the Creator. For the redeemed in Christ, this limitation will be lifted at the onset of the New Creation described in Revelation 21.
The forward-moving Arrow of Time describes several necessary conditions imposed on our universe which make our physical life possible. It is a topic for a future post.
