Time Travel Theories

“I’ve been thinking about time travel.”

My youngest son told me this one day during a not-so-exciting day at work. He also said we should watch all the movies we own that have time travel in them to see the different ways it’s handled. Of course, I’m all in.

Scientific American says time travel is not ruled out by our current laws of nature.

“According to current physical theory, is it possible for a human being to travel through time?

Perhaps surprisingly, this turns out to be a subtle question. It is not obviously ruled out by our current laws of nature. Recent investigations into this question have provided some evidence that the answer is no, but it has not yet been proven impossible.”

Since it’s not proven impossible, why not understand what may be possible, right? So, I sent my son a graphic outlining the three main theories of time travel.

  1. Fixed timeline as seen in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Askaban.
  2. Dynamic timeline as seen in Back to the Future.
  3. Multiverse as seen in Star Trek (2009).

I apologize if you have not seen these movies, and my examples do nothing to help you understand these theories. Fortunately, not relevant for my main point. What is relevant is the Biblical discussion that took place as a result of our discussion.

Time Travel in the Bible

There are no Biblical accounts of actual time travel as these theories describe. However, the Bible does accounts of time being manipulated by God.

These stories provide a terrific basis for discussing what God can do. They illustrate well the wide expanse of his power. After all, he can manipulate time.

Take some time to read through these accounts. Then find someone who has watched some time travel movies, and have a fun discussion about what’s possible with God.