{"id":28828,"date":"2011-09-04T20:28:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-05T01:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=28828"},"modified":"2020-12-21T21:00:56","modified_gmt":"2020-12-22T03:00:56","slug":"how-can-god-be-eternal-if-eternity-is-like-a-circle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-god-be-eternal-if-eternity-is-like-a-circle\/","title":{"rendered":"How can God be eternal if eternity is like a circle?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

Question:<\/h2>\n

Eternity is like a circle (no beginning or end). This is an issue that I have pointed out time and again and still have not received an answer to me that is logical or even answers the question I’m about to ask: God gave us brains to use, so the issue of logic is a legitimate response. To get back to the beginning of time, you go onto the circle and then begin going backward until you come to the end. The problem is that you never will come to the end. You will for eternity keep going around the line of the circle. Explain to me how God, being Eternal, can exist when there is no beginning point in the circle for Him to start the creation. I’m still headed backward in the circle and will forever. In addition, God knows everything, past, and future. God hates sin. God then knew that His creation would create sin because He knows the future. Why would He allow the creation of sin, something that He hates? If He wanted company after the end of the world, He could have created a sinless nation.<\/p>\n\t

Answer:<\/h2>\n

You ask for a logical answer, but you present an illogical question. An illustration is a way of explaining a complex idea in terms of something familiar. You say that eternity is like a circle. That is a claim, it isn’t proof. Since you make the claim, it is up to you to support your claim with evidence, but you didn’t do so. Yet your question is dependent on an unproven assertion.<\/p>\n

Actually, since you yourself claim to come to a contradiction and don’t see how God can be eternal if eternity is a circle, then logic demands that your assertion is false.<\/p>\n

Another flaw is that you assert that you never received an answer that you accept. I’m not surprised. If you make yourself the standard, then anything that you want to reject will never be acceptable to you.<\/p>\n

In regards to the claim that God knows everything, your assertion does not match quite what the Bible teaches because it assumes there is nothing that is unknowable. See: “If God is sovereign, why does He express sorrow when men are bad?<\/a>“<\/p>\n

In regards to sin, you assume there is no value to people choosing to do what is right. You assume that it is only the end result of righteousness that God wants and discount that God finds value in the choice. See Free-Will and the Power of God<\/a>. So in an indirect way you are right. If\u00a0all<\/em>\u00a0God wanted was company, He could have made a sinless people. God didn’t make it impossible to sin. Therefore, company is\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0all that God wants.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Question: Eternity is like a circle (no beginning or end). This is an issue that I have pointed out time and again and still have not received an answer to me that is logical or even answers the question I’m about to ask: God gave us brains to use, so the issue of logic is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[184,693,472,90],"class_list":["post-28828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-atheism","tag-eternal","tag-eternity","tag-god"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":28593,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-there-be-a-beginning-if-god-always-existed\/","url_meta":{"origin":28828,"position":0},"title":"How can there be a beginning if God always existed?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If someone asked \"where did God come from or how did he get to be\" then the person asked (if a Christian) would probably say \"He has always been there He still is and will always be.\" Right, so if He has always been there and is eternal then\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":94231,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/who-created-god-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":28828,"position":1},"title":"Who Created God? (Hall)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 26, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall In \"The God Delusion\", Richard Dawkins asks the question, \"Who created God?\" This is a favorite \"gotcha\" question of atheists. This is ironic because atheists often believe in abiogenesis, the scientific theory that life originated from non-living matter through natural chemical processes. I say ironic because theists\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92181,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-if-atheists-are-right-about-the-beginning-of-the-universe\/","url_meta":{"origin":28828,"position":2},"title":"What If Atheists Are Right About the Beginning of the Universe?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall As to the beginning of our universe, I am aware of at least two atheistic positions. This becomes for atheists an either-or proposition: Either you believe that matter came from non-matter - that is, something came from nothing. Or, that matter has no beginning and is eternal,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30194,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-eternal-refer-to-quality-and-not-quantity\/","url_meta":{"origin":28828,"position":3},"title":"Can “eternal” refer to quality and not quantity?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 11, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A conditionalist says \"eternal\" doesn't always mean duration, that it can refer to quality. He uses the eternal fire of Jude 7 to support his position since the fire isn't still burning now. 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