"If god is somehow outside of time, then god is not part of the material universe and I cannot imagine how such a god could influence us. For such a god to connect to us, at least two gods are necessary, the god outside of time and another god inside of time. Now perhaps the two gods can communicate and one could tell the other what the future is. But I suspaect that physical laws would prevent that. Besides the god outside of time would be a completely static god, inconsistent with most religions, especially the eastern ones."
That's what I believe. The Logos - the God in time - is the active agent doing the will of the Eternal God, the God who exists outside of time and has all knowledge.
The Eternal God can only influence and create through the Logos (or Logic), which is just the Logic of the Eternal God - or laws of God that are active in the world. The laws of physics are part of the Logos. The mathematical laws that restrict the laws of physics, are Logos. Even 'higher laws' that dictate the direction and flow of the universe are Logos. These 'laws' are collectively personified as 'Wisdom' which if you read the 'Ode of Solomon' is the Son of God that can even take on human form and interact with society as the Wisdom of God in human flesh. In Christianity, this individual is recognized as Jesus of Nazareth.
"So I guess I find the omnificient, omnipotent god rather unappealing. I prefer a god or gods that are in the thick of it with us. I prefer a relationship with god that is a two-way street- one where god needs us as much as we need god. You can substitute helps for needs. Mary in a statement at Fatima, I believe, said that if enough of us say the Rosary often enough and long enough, then she will convert Russia from atheism. For me that is evidence that god needs our help."
God doesn't need our help, he needs our money (sorry, just a joke from George Carlin humor...). Anyway, what God needs is our involvement. That is, God didn't create a universe where humans do nothing. Our efforts, hearts, prayers, etc, are all part of the elements that decide which direction God's hand (the Logos) will be applied.
In the end all be all, the Logos is just an approximation of the Eternal God. That is, the ultimate decisions that happen in the universe, are ultimately decided by the Eternal God much in the same way that temporal physical laws are decided by the eternal mathematical laws. Our hearts and prayers ultimately may interact with this Eternal God much in the same way that the constants of physics interact with mathematical laws. The mathematical laws may not necessarily decide the physical constant values, but the mathematical laws might restrict the constants from being outside a certain range of values and the mathematical laws might determine the physical laws based on the values of the constants. Similarly, the Eternal God receives our hearts and prayers, and based on those 'physical constants', the Eternal God sets the guidelines for the laws of the universe (i.e., Logos) to intervene in the world based on us, the 'physical constants'. |