Fallen humanity has a tendency to conceptualize every form of existence—even the timeless existence of Adam and Eve prior to the Fall—through the narrow lens of our own present existence, which is finite and temporal.
Because we experience our present existence locked within linear time, it is easy to assume without question that time governs every conceivable aspect of existence. Said another way, when we imagine “timeless existence,” we tend to conceive of it as time marching indefinitely into the future, with timeless beings forever locked inside of time, moving forward along with the flow of time, hour by hour, day by day.
But what if this is a misconception of the nature of timeless existence? What if timeless existence instead means an existence that is above time, outside of time, supra-temporal? What is the practical reality of an existence that supersedes time? What if the entire span of temporal history, from the inception of spacetime to the end of spacetime, were omnipresent to us—that is, all points of history being constantly present before us—as is the case with God? (Luke 8:17 and 12:2-3, 1 Corinthians 4:5, Mark 4:22, Matthew 10:26, Proverbs 26:26, Ephesians 3:9, Revelation 20:11-12, and many other biblical passages all either explicitly state or strongly suggest that everything that every person has ever done will become known to everyone when all of humanity is assembled together before God on the Day of Judgment. It is inconceivable how every individual could become aware of such a stagging volume of information in the absence of occupying some form of supra-temporal existence.)
These are not easy concepts for us to grasp, given that each of us has thus far only experienced a finite form of existence trapped within the one-directional flow of time. But careful reflection on the wording of Genesis, as well as many of the statements of Christ, strongly suggests that there is a form of existence that is experienced entirely outside of time.
In fact, the various biblical prophesies that describe the renewal and remaking of Creation seem to indicate that time itself will cease to exist. These prophesies appear to describe a transition to an eternal state that is experienced entirely outside of the construct of time. If Adam and Eve experienced a similar type of non-temporal existence prior to the Fall, the implications for understanding the nature and scope of the Fall are profound.
These issues are explored in greater detail in the opening chapter of Part II of The Advent of Time. By the last chapter of the book, the reasons why evil and suffering are entirely compatible with the existence of an all-loving and all-powerful God are made clear.