# Can the god you believe in time travel? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 7, 2017, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001 "2017-04-07T18:57:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/1 "2017-04-07T18:57:12Z")
Does omnipotence include the ability to travel through time and if so can your god change what already has happened? ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/2 "2017-04-07T19:01:19Z")
I stopped telling God what to do some time back… ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/3 "2017-04-07T19:02:45Z")
> [@Tranquilis](#): > > I stopped telling God what to do some time back… Which means…? ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/4 "2017-04-07T19:03:01Z")
Why would he change it, it all might be for the greater good? ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/5 "2017-04-07T19:03:51Z")
My god can do anything except make a burrito so big he can’t eat it. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/6 "2017-04-07T19:05:10Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#): > > Why would he change it, it all might be for the greater good? Not asking why. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/7 "2017-04-07T19:05:58Z")
That’s the contradiction between omnipotence and omniscience. If you can change your mind about something happening, then you didn’t know what was going to happen in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![Tranquilis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tranquilis/32/3639_2.png) [@Tranquilis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tranquilis)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/8 "2017-04-07T19:07:05Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Which means…? Means I don’t know, couldn’t predict, and won’t try. God is, by definition, unknowable, except that which God _wishes_ us to know. Time travel? _throws hands in the air_ How would I know? How would _ANYONE_ know? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/9 "2017-04-07T19:08:35Z")
No. He doesn’t need to time travel, because whatever happens is what happened. The universe isn’t some thing that needs fine tuning. It just is. God doesn’t care who wins football games, either. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/10 "2017-04-07T19:13:34Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > No. > > He doesn’t need to time travel, because whatever happens is what happened. The universe isn’t some thing that needs fine tuning. It just is. > > God doesn’t care who wins football games, either. Again, I am not asking “would she/he?” I am asking “could she/he?” ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/11 "2017-04-07T19:29:19Z")
My god is [Doctor Who](https://iansadler.wordpress.com/2011/11/09/jesus-vs-doctor-who/), so… ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/12 "2017-04-07T19:33:03Z")
If God exists outside of time, then God doesn’t need to time travel. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/13 "2017-04-07T19:38:46Z")
I don’t believe in God but if I did, I’d guess the concept of time would seem rather foreign to him. Kind of like those wormhole aliens on DS9. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/14 "2017-04-07T19:41:07Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > If God exists outside of time, then God doesn’t need to time travel. Doesn’t really answer the question. Could he rewrite history so that Herod’s Heart Wasn’t Hardened and he let Moses go before the plagues hit him wear it hurt(or any other example that you prefer)? Not _would_ he. Not _should_ he. _Could_ he? ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/15 "2017-04-07T19:41:12Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > No. > > He doesn’t need to time travel, because whatever happens is what happened. The universe isn’t some thing that needs fine tuning. It just is. Exactly. Any God worthy of the name transcends time. Everything that has happened and will happen is equally accessible. The question of time travel is meaningless. That’s like saying it’s “time travel” to flip back to a previous chapter in a novel. I also don’t think God would need to change anything. I know a lot of religious people who see God’s intervention everywhere, and I reject that idea; the universe doesn’t need to be tweaked. (I’m cheating a little on the question here, as I consider myself an agnostic and don’t have a “god I believe in.” But if I did, I’d damn sure expect that god to transcend all dimensions.) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/16 "2017-04-07T19:44:45Z")
> [@erysichthon](#): > > Exactly. Any God worthy of the name transcends time. Everything that has happened and will happen is equally accessible. The question of time travel is meaningless. That’s like saying it’s “time travel” to flip back to a previous chapter in a novel. > > (I’m cheating a little on the question here, as I consider myself an agnostic and don’t have a “god I believe in.” But if I did, I’d damn sure expect that god to transcend all dimensions.) So are you stating that time is static and even if you could look, you can’t touch? ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/17 "2017-04-07T19:45:10Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Does omnipotence include the ability to travel through time Travel? I am not sure that is the correct word, exist in all places and times simultaneously is probably a more correct way to put it. You can not actually travel someplace if you are already there. > [@](#): > > and if so can your god change what already has happened? change can to will, and the answer is no For one, it kind of screws with free will, two even a lesser being than God can see that the ramifications of trying to change time, even for the best of reasons, could result in a horrific outcome. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/18 "2017-04-07T19:52:17Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Doesn’t really answer the question. > Could he rewrite history so that Herod’s Heart Wasn’t Hardened and he let Moses go before the plagues hit him wear it hurt(or any other example that you prefer)? > Not _would_ he. > Not _should_ he. > > _Could_ he? If I screwed up baking a cake, and decided to throw it in the trash and bake another one, did I travel back in time? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/19 "2017-04-07T19:53:55Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > change can to will… No. As I have repeatedly said, that is very specifically _not_ the question I am asking. This isn’t about your god’s wants, needs, desires or intentions. This is about her/his ability _only_. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2017, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001/20 "2017-04-07T19:56:58Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > So are you stating that time is static and even if you could look, you can’t touch? If there are infinite universes, which I think is likely, then any change God could make has already happened in another universe anyway (e.g., there’s no need for God to go back in time and stop **Czarcasm** from starting this thread, because there’s already a universe in which **Czarcasm** didn’t start this thread). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-the-god-you-believe-in-time-travel/784001.md?page=2)