Is time travel possible?

[Shawnster]

On 5/16/2025 at 2:06 AM, Cool.As.Ice said:

Nothing is impossible with a God who can destroy an immortal creature.

This is debatable and has been discussed on here before. I disagree with your statement, but you have the right to it. 

 

 

[New World Explorer]

Of course time travel is possible.. you can fly out from Australia Monday 29th June evening and arrive in Zurich Monday evening same day 29th June. 😂😂😂 (Although tired, which is expected when endeavouring time travel between continents 😂😅😅) 

[New World Explorer]

3 hours ago, Shawnster said:

This is debatable and has been discussed on here before. I disagree with your statement, but you have the right to it. 

 

 

I actually disagree with both statements, as we do not have enough facts even to debate the subject. We simply do not have enough information about immortality that is meant in the scriptures and any opinion on the subject is just speculation and personal viewpoint. Maybe in the future in Paradise we can grasp and understand the idea presented in the Bible as immortality, but not now. So the idea that Jehovah can destroy immortal person or debate the subject needs to wait for the right time in the future. 

[LeolaRootStew]

If an immortal being just means someone who doesn't need Jehovah's spirit to continue living, then I think Jehovah can destroy them, physically speaking. How could Jehovah be too weak to destroy any of His creations?

 

The trouble comes in with the morality of it because if they have immortality it's because He granted it to them, which means He believed they would always be faithful and thus unworthy of being killed. 

 

So, can Jehovah kill an immortal? Yes and no.

[ucastrobr]

In Isaiah 46:9-10 "That I am God, and there is no other. I am God, and there is no one like me. From the beginning I foretell the outcome, And from long ago the things that have not yet been done."

Jesus said, Mathew 24:36 “Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father.”

This bible text show us neither angels knows the future about the things that have not yet been done, only just Jehovah.

But if we could travel through time, we could jump ahead to the moment of Jesus coming to brings God’s judgment and then come back to the present. Then we too could know the day and hour.

Of course, God is beyond time and could move a person forward or backward through time in a self-consistent way without any paradoxes. He has full knowledge of the past, present, and future. But our human ability to time travel is quite limited.

[Dages]

1 hour ago, LeolaRootStew said:

So, can Jehovah kill an immortal? Yes and no.

God can give immortality, and take immortality, so yes.

[Dages]

4 minutes ago, ucastrobr said:

He has full knowledge of the past, present, and future. But our human ability to time travel is quite limited.

He has full memory of the past, perfect knowledge of the present, and can imagine all the possibilities of the future
But moving a person into the past would mean God would change his own memory, that's going to be weird again.

Edited May 23 by Dages

[ucastrobr]

Questions From Readers

 

● An answer in the November 15, 1955, Watchtower said Jehovah could, if he wished, destroy even an immortal creature. The booklet What Do the Scriptures Say About “Survival After Death”? says that if the demons had originally been created immortal they could not be destroyed from the universe. Which is correct?—J. L., United States.

 

The statement in the booklet about survival after death refers to immortality according to its basic meaning of deathlessness, indestructibleness. The other statement about God’s ability to destroy even an immortal creature rested upon the view that he is absolutely almighty without any limitation upon his own power by even himself. So this latter statement presented what seems in accord with this view. However, it enters into the realm of speculation, because it is in fact based on a speculative question.

 

Hence we are letting the statement in the booklet stand, in accord with the meaning of absolute immortality as conveyed in the Holy Scriptures. A fuller discussion on this may be expected in time in the columns of The Watchtower.

Source: https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1956244

 

Reasoning in the same way, there will be no danger of any of the heavenly class who have gained immortality later choosing to sin, and thus awkwardly having in the universe immortal rebels. But here again, even if such a thing did happen, we need not think that Jehovah would be powerless. Jehovah could destroy even an immortal creature. Immortality means to have the power of life within oneself. In other words, such a creature is not dependent on any outside source or environment to replenish energy or for the continuance of the life processes. Human creatures must eat, and spirit creatures apparently draw upon an outside source for continued existence, but immortal ones would not have to do this. They cannot die from a lack in their environment, but have life complete in themselves. Nevertheless, the all-powerful Jehovah could terminate their existence if he decided to do so.

Source: https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1955848

 

[Andrey]

1. When I mentioned the life process, using the metaphor of a “film reel” that can be unwound, I was referring to Jehovah's memory and his ability to bring us back to life. Jehovah has a special memory and gift of life that he uses as he wishes in relation to his creations. It is not difficult for Jehovah to return everything he creates back to the way it was before it was destroyed. It could be anything. But Jehovah is capable of more than just returning what was removed. He can also reproduce the entire history, like a biographical sketch of something or someone. 

 

For example, the scene of the transfiguration of Jesus, on the mountain and the two prophets standing nearby. I don’t think that these were just images of people, hinting at the prophets Moses and Elijah. We do this when we draw or show them in films, because we have never seen them. But Jehovah saw them, in reality, and this vision can be compared to a photograph of real people. It was not their resurrection to life. To put it simply, it was a photographic reproduction of people who lived in the past. “God, who cannot lie.”—Titus 1:2

 

Another situation is with Jesus, who at water baptism saw his life story before he came to earth. Jehovah could reproduce the whole life of Jesus, “every second” of his life, the whole life of Jesus. It is as if you unwind a film, viewing every frame of your life, to the smallest detail. For Jehovah, this is not difficult.

 

2. The concept of immortality does not include the concept of power. No creation, having received immortality and incorruptibility, will ever be equal to Jehovah. This will violate peace and order in everything. “For God is a God not of disorder but of peace.”—1 Corinthians 14:33

 

Never will a creation, having received immortality and incorruptibility, be able to command Jehovah, and even more so prevail over Him. This is an axiom. “And no one can snatch anything out of my hand. When I act, who can prevent it?”—Isaiah 43:13

 

3. Jehovah wants us to live forever and therefore travel in the Universe. This is all done for us humans. Jehovah, Jesus and the angels do not need the Universe as such. They lived billions of years without it. But, humans, in order to move in space, need to overcome any obstacles in order to achieve their goals. This also applies to travel in time.

 

But, I think that time travel does not mean changing something. Sometimes, we think, due to the influence of book writers and movie scriptwriters, that if you get into the past, it means that you must or can change something. As if, turn history in a different direction and upset the balance or everything that is happening in the present. Will Jehovah allow this to be done? Could Satan have changed Jesus' life? But he really did travel in time when he came from the spiritual world to earthly life.

Edited May 23 by Andrey

[ucastrobr]

3 hours ago, Andrey said:

Another situation is with Jesus, who at water baptism saw his life story before he came to earth. Jehovah could reproduce the whole life of Jesus, “every second” of his life, the whole life of Jesus. It is as if you unwind a film, viewing every frame of your life, to the smallest detail. For Jehovah, this is not difficult.

 

That is how I view it. We now use USB drives to recover deleted files such as videos, songs, and documents. Even if we lose files on our computers, we can retrieve (ressurected) them using USB drives.

Jehovah doesn't need to remember every detail of each second of our lives. He simply needs to remember the last day we were alive and the state of our brains and our neural network at that time. He takes a copy—or backup—of the entire neural network of our brain. In the New World, He recreates the whole neural network in a new body and brain.

In the ancient city of Babel, Jehovah altered the neural network of all people, causing them to speak different languages.

Similar to this, Jehovah transferred all of Jesus's memories, accumulated over billions of years or more, into Him. We don’t believe Jehovah extracted Jesus’s memories one by one, as that could have taken 500 years. Instead, Jehovah made a swift change, transforming Jesus's entire neural network in seconds.

Imagine if a human lived for 5,000 years. If that person married a new woman every 50 years, they would have a total of 100 wives. Likely, he wouldn't remember much about their early wives, much like how we remember only a few things from our childhood. 

Living for many, many lifetimes would never fill up its brain. Not because the brain is infinite, not because memory is stored on some ethereal plane, but because the brain strives for efficiency, and part of that efficiency is cleanup and forgetting.

As precious as we think memories are, they are all subject to forgetting. The brain has active forgetting mechanisms in place to keep you functional. Given enough time, any memory that isn’t sufficiently recalled will fade away.

If I were to live forever, I would keep some kind of record to restore and rebuild what will inevitably be lost.

Someone might respond, in paradise, we will be perfect humans with perfect brains. However, Jehovah created us to feel pain to protect our bodies. For instance, if you were to place your hand on a hot stove and didn't feel any pain, you could end up with a serious injury. After all, Eve was a perfect woman, and Jehovah told her, 'I will increase the pain of your pregnancy; in birth pangs, you will bring forth children' (Genesis 3:16). Like physical pain, memory will also work that way. Even with a perfect brain, we won't remember everything or possess a photographic memory. While we will have a perfect brain that operates better than our current one, this does not mean we will gain new powers such as telekinesis, telepathy, or photographic memory."

Here is an interesting article about the human brain—the most complex structure we know of.

The Human Brain Can Create Structures in Up to 11 Dimensions : ScienceAlert

 

About a woman remember everything today. 

Consider Jill Price a cautionary tale.

Price remembers every day of her life from age 14 with encyclopedia clarity and can tick off the details by date.

“Today is May 9,” she said recently, “and I can tell you that 27 years ago I went on my first date, and it was a Saturday. And on May 9 the next year, I was in a dance marathon, and I could barely walk that night. I see it — yep — I see the whole day. And I can feel it. I get the warm-fuzzies.”

It sounds delightful until you hear the flip side.

Price’s brain also swirls with every childhood trauma, every hurtful argument, every embarrassment, and every loss — all as fresh and emotional as the day they happened.

She is, in a real sense, haunted by her past, and she has the emotional scars, including youthful bouts of depression, to prove it.

“I’ve been through hell in my life,” she said.

source: Wow, a perfect memory. But for Jill Price, it is a special kind of hell - BrainHQ

 

 

[Michał]

And I thought this thread is about time travel…🧐

 

While traveling to the past is impossible, billions of people are “traveling” into the future. They died thousands of of years ago and instantaneously (from their perspective) they will appear in the future.  😃

[LeolaRootStew]

18 hours ago, Dages said:

God can give immortality, and take immortality, so yes.

 

That's interesting. But why would He remove immortality if He wasn't going to kill them?

 

17 hours ago, ucastrobr said:

Reasoning in the same way, there will be no danger of any of the heavenly class who have gained immortality later choosing to sin, and thus awkwardly having in the universe immortal rebels. But here again, even if such a thing did happen, we need not think that Jehovah would be powerless. Jehovah could destroy even an immortal creature. Immortality means to have the power of life within oneself. In other words, such a creature is not dependent on any outside source or environment to replenish energy or for the continuance of the life processes. Human creatures must eat, and spirit creatures apparently draw upon an outside source for continued existence, but immortal ones would not have to do this. They cannot die from a lack in their environment, but have life complete in themselves. Nevertheless, the all-powerful Jehovah could terminate their existence if he decided to do so.

 

This adjusts my understanding of what immortality really means. It doesn't mean someone who can't die, it means someone who is not dependent on Jehovah or the environment to continue living. This also highlights that the difference between immortals and those who simply live forever is not about the length of our lives, but the source of our sustenance. With that understanding it's easy to see that it's not at all a contradiction for Jehovah to kill an unfaithful immortal - they are not immune to death by judgement.

 

 

[Shawnster]

10 hours ago, Michał said:

While traveling to the past is impossible, billions of people are “traveling” into the future. They died thousands of of years ago and instantaneously (from their perspective) they will appear in the future.  😃

 

While the rest of us travel into the future at a much slower pace. 

[Pabo]

I see time travel everyday, albeit it short distances.

 

[grain of mustard]

John 5:25 Jesus has life in himself. Although Jehovah created Jesus, it took time for Jehovah to give life to part of Jehovah. Jesus no longer depends on Jehovah to be alive. I know it is hard to accept this, that we do not understand everything that is involved, but this is what is written. 

[Ronald Davis]

okay i hope everyone understands me answer to this question.  Time travel to me would have to be impossible because of these reasons.  (1)  There would have to be a beginning point in time to start it.  (2)  If it was true then how do we know we are living in the end and that we are not already in the new system because no one would know where we are located within the stream of time.  (3)  If it was true and let say the new system has already gotten here then why would Jehovah keep us in this old system where we have so many problems that would be unloving.  (4)  if it was true then Jehovah and Jesus lied to us because Jesus said only his father knew the end of time for this system but if somehow in the stream of time it has already happened even back when Jesus was alive then he would of lied to his apostles.  (5)  now i know we believe that since Jesus became king in 1914 he might know the end of this system.  (6)  also when Jesus was on earth how could the Devil tempt him with all the kingdoms of the earth because if time travel was true then he would say to Satan he was to late because he would know that in future time he was already king.  (7)  the best reason i can come up with why time travel can't be true is this no one can say what the beginning of time except when Jehovah started created his son however if there is a beginning then there would have to be an ending so if someone can prove that part then yes i would believe in time travel.  (8)  one more thing if time travel were true do you really believe that all the other you's in the past or future would really love Jehovah if time travel was true because that would mean after Armgeddon then we would always know that back in time we were still suffering.  Jehovah is the great timekeeper and there is no scriptural proof that time travel could be true plus if it was wouldn't Satan challenge Jehovah all over again each and everyday forever because if time travel was true Jehovah would have to let him do it.  so he would never be the universal soverign and the devil would never be dead.  Jehovah would also be the most unloving God then because sometime in the new system we would learn that time travel was true which meant the devil never died and we are still suffering over and over again.  Plus if it was true why would Jehovah keep that as a secret from us because he would know if we found out he would be a liar.

[Ronald Davis]

yes he has immortality now after going to heaven which means he does not need Jehovah to help him stay alive just like the anointed.  but immortality has nothing to do with time travel. 

Edited June 16 by Ludwika

[grain of mustard]

1 hour ago, Ronald Davis said:

sim, ele tem imoralidade agora depois de ir para o céu, o que significa que ele não precisa de Jeová para ajudá-lo a permanecer vivo, assim como os ungidos. mas imoralidade não tem nada a ver com viagem no tempo. 

Do you mean immorality or immortality? 

[Ludwika]

18 minutes ago, grain of mustard said:

Do you mean immorality or immortality? 

Immortality.

[grain of mustard]

3 hours ago, Ronald Davis said:

Ok, espero que todos entendam minha resposta a esta pergunta. A viagem no tempo para mim teria que ser impossível por estas razões. (1) Teria que haver um ponto de partida no tempo para iniciá-la. (2) Se fosse verdade, então como sabemos que estamos vivendo no fim e que ainda não estamos no novo sistema, porque ninguém saberia onde estamos localizados dentro do fluxo do tempo. (3) Se fosse verdade e digamos que o novo sistema já chegou aqui, então por que Jeová nos manteria neste velho sistema onde temos tantos problemas que seriam desamorosos. (4) Se fosse verdade, então Jeová e Jesus mentiram para nós porque Jesus disse que apenas seu pai sabia o fim dos tempos para este sistema, mas se de alguma forma no fluxo do tempo isso já aconteceu mesmo quando Jesus estava vivo, então ele teria mentido para seus apóstolos. (5) Agora eu sei que acreditamos que, desde que Jesus se tornou rei em 1914, ele pode saber o fim deste sistema. (6) também quando Jesus estava na terra como poderia o Diabo tentá-lo com todos os reinos da terra porque se a viagem no tempo fosse verdade então ele diria a Satanás que ele estava atrasado porque ele saberia que no futuro ele já seria rei. (7) a melhor razão que posso dar porque a viagem no tempo não pode ser verdade é que ninguém pode dizer qual foi o começo do tempo exceto quando Jeová começou a criar seu filho entretanto se há um começo então teria que haver um fim então se alguém pode provar essa parte então sim eu acreditaria na viagem no tempo. (8) mais uma coisa se a viagem no tempo fosse verdade você realmente acredita que todos os outros vocês no passado ou futuro realmente amariam a Jeová se a viagem no tempo fosse verdade porque isso significaria que depois do Armagedom então sempre saberíamos que lá no tempo ainda estaríamos sofrendo. Jeová é o grande cronometrista e não há nenhuma prova bíblica de que a viagem no tempo possa ser verdade além disso se fosse não Satanás desafiaria Jeová novamente a cada dia para sempre porque se a viagem no tempo fosse verdade Jeová teria que deixá-lo fazer isso. Então, ele nunca seria o soberano universal e o diabo nunca morreria. Jeová também seria o Deus mais desamoroso, porque em algum momento no novo sistema aprenderíamos que a viagem no tempo era real, o que significa que o diabo nunca morreu e ainda estamos sofrendo repetidamente. Além disso, se fosse verdade, por que Jeová manteria isso em segredo de nós? Ele saberia que, se descobríssemos, ele seria um mentiroso.

Jehovah cannot travel through time because Jehovah simply does not depend on time to gather information or be satisfied with anything. 

[Golfguy74]

No

[Witness1970]

On 5/16/2025 at 2:06 AM, Cool.As.Ice said:

Nothing is impossible with a God who can destroy an immortal creature.

What immortal creature has God ever destroyed?  The only one having immortality was Jehovah before he gave immortality to Jesus and the anointed.

Edited June 16 by Witness1970

[Witness1970]

Time travel is impossible because time does not exist the way we consider it.  The past exists only as memory.  The future has not yet happened.  We cannot visit what does not exist.

 

if time travel were possible would the time machine move us through space?  The earth is constantly orbiting the sun, and the sun and entire solar system is orbiting the center of the galaxy at an average speed of 828,000 kilometers per hour (source: nasa.gov), or about 514,400 miles per hour.  If we travelled back in time without moving through space, we would end up in empty space with no air.

[LeolaRootStew]

38 minutes ago, Witness1970 said:

What immortal creature has God ever destroyed?  The only one having immortality was Jehovah before he gave immortality to Jesus and the anointed.

 

God has not killed an immortal creature, but it is certainly possible. Being immortal means your ability to sustain your life is not dependent on Jehovah or your environment (food, water etc), it does not mean you are indestructible to Jehovah's power.

 

Illustration: If mortals are a plug-in lamp and immortals are a solar powered lamp with no plug, both lamps can equally be destroyed by smashing them against a rock. What makes a lamp "immortal" is not a new-found barrier against destruction, but a new power source. 

[Witness1970]

7 hours ago, LeolaRootStew said:

 

God has not killed an immortal creature, but it is certainly possible. Being immortal means your ability to sustain your life is not dependent on Jehovah or your environment (food, water etc), it does not mean you are indestructible to Jehovah's power.

 

Illustration: If mortals are a plug-in lamp and immortals are a solar powered lamp with no plug, both lamps can equally be destroyed by smashing them against a rock. What makes a lamp "immortal" is not a new-found barrier against destruction, but a new power source. 

So, the question would be, is Jehovah going to eventually destroy Jesus or one of the anointed?  I think the answer is no.  Jehovah would not destroy one of the anointed.  So, it really is a moot point!