# Never, Forever vs An Eternity: All The Same Concept?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-forever-vs-an-eternity-all-the-same-concept/534753>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [April 2, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-forever-vs-an-eternity-all-the-same-concept/534753 "2010-04-02T18:24:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-forever-vs-an-eternity-all-the-same-concept/534753/1 "2010-04-02T18:24:44Z")

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Just wondering if there is a finite ending - obviously “never” means something will not happen, and forever implies the situation will never change.  
The word “eternity” is the one that is iffy to me.

I have read where people try to define eternity with some really, really abstract definition that seems to imply there is at least a miniscule chance that it could end.

For example, somewhere I read that “eternity is the time it would take for a butterfly to destroy a solid lead sphere, the size of the earth, flapping only its wings against it.”  
Granted, might take a couple of gazillion years, but I would guess that even that butterfly would get the job done, given enough time.

Are all of the words interchangeable - meaning ain’t ever gonna happen - or does “eternity” have some abstract finality that implies an end could come?

I am not particularly looking for dictionary definitions; what is your humble opinion on eternity vs never/forever?

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/never-forever-vs-an-eternity-all-the-same-concept/534753/2 "2010-04-02T18:34:26Z")

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“Eternity” isn’t about the duration: Something could be eternal but only extend across a few seconds. What eternal means is timelessness: To an eternal thing, there is no “before” or “after”. God is typically described as eternal: He sees all of time at once, as a single thing. On a less metaphysical note, photons are also eternal, in that no time passes for a photon between its emission and absorption.