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The Distant Starlight Problem for Young-age Creation Models by Tom Henderson
What is the problem of distant starlight for Creationist Young-Earth models?
.Starlight from distant stars and galaxies, as well as transient events in the heavens such as supernovas and gamma-ray bursts (all thought to be millions of light years away) strongly suggest a universe that is very old.
How do Creation models deal with this data?
I can envision seven options or models that we should examine. All Young-Earth Creation models assume that Biblical accounts of the Creation week, the world-wide Genesis Flood, and early genealogies are literally true. With some gaps in the genealogies permitted by the Hebrew language, you can stretch-out time since the Creation week from 6,000 to 10,000 years or so, but not much more than that.
First, we must answer the question of where does the first day of the Creation week begin?
…. Does it begin in Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heavens and the Earth“.. …..or does it begin in Genesis 1:3 “And God said let there be light“?
Evidence supporting Genesis 1:3 as the beginning of the Creation week is that each of days 2-6 of the Creation week all begin with the phrase “And God said …”
What is interesting is that either of these options can permit an indefinite amount of time BEFORE the six days of the Creation week began.
For more details see my word study on Genesis 1:1 “In the Beginning”
Option or Model 1 is Creation before the Creation week began in Genesis 1:1
Genesis 1:1 really says “In beginning” with no article (one word in Hebrew). It can be translated “In a beginning …” rather than “In the beginning”.
This could leave an unknown amount of time for the creation of heavens and the earth before Genesis 1:1. Allen Ross presents this idea in his 1988 book titled,
Creation & Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis.
[Baker, Appendix 1 “The Interpretation of Genesis 1:1-3, pp 718-723.]
See also: The Bible Knowledge Commentary – An Exposition of the Scriptures by Dallas Seminary Faculty edited by John F. Walvoord & Roy B. Zuck 1985. In the Genesis chapter by Allen P. Ross on p.28 this and other possible interpretive options are discussed.
For more details see my word study on Genesis 1:1 “In the Beginning”
Option or Model 2 is Creation before the Creation week began in Genesis 1:3
This option leaves an unknown amount of time for the creation of the heavens and the earth before Genesis 1:3. – This model is presented by Gorman Gray in his 1998 book. The Age of the Universe
Each of these first two options allows an unknown amount of time for the universe to be created and for light to travel long distances to reach us from distant galaxies. In these models the earth, moon and stars were originally created before Genesis 1:1 or 1:3 respectively, then [“made” (the Hebrew word “asah”)] made to appear on the fourth day of Creation. In each option, sunlight was prevented from reaching the surface of the earth until Genesis 1:3. Gorman Gray cites Job 38:9 “when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness…” Thus these first two models permit an old Earth and an old universe, while holding to a recent six-day Creation week.
Option or Model 3 is the Gap Theory
It is important to note that neither of the first two options include the Gap Theory. This discredited but still popular theory of the 19th century, proposed a gap between Genesis 1:1 and 1:2 into which was poured evolution with all its billions of years. The Gap theory should be considered completely unacceptable.
Let’s go to Day Four of the Creation week in Genesis 1:14-19 to see our other four options:
Genesis 1:14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night ...”
Genesis. 1:16 God made [asah] two great lights – the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.
A straightforward reading of these verses suggests two ideas :
1. The Earth was not the end result of evolving stars or a Big Bang.
2.The sun, moon and stars were created after the earth.
This is the traditional Bible interpretation of Day 4.
This is Option or Model 4 – A Mature Creation
This idea proposes God created on the fourth day the sun, moon, and stars as we see them now, along with the light in-transit from distant stars. Thus, Adam could see them two-days later, utilize them for orientation, and scientists today could see all the stellar processes in action. Note that this is a “faith assertion”, not Creation-Science that can be tested.
God could have done this, but if so, then distant events astronomers observe today never really happened …such as the 1987 Supernova which occurred 180,000 light years away.
[That is, it takes 180,000 years for the light from the supernova to reach us, traveling at 186,000 miles per second.]Humphreys says this model is untestable, because it makes no scientific predictions and discourages further investigation. It may be true, but there is NO WAY to know this scientifically.
[Ref. D. Russell Humphreys, Starlight and Time. Appendix A pp. 44-46]
Star Formation And Genesis 1 – by James Stambaugh M.L.S., M.Div. IMPACT No. 251, May 1994
– Good article, which argues against star and sun creation before Gen. 1:14 (4th day)
Model 5 – A 5th option comes from the book “Starlight and Time”
Dr. D. Russell Humphreys is a pioneer Creation researcher. In 1994 he write a book Starlight and Time – Solving the Puzzle of Distant Starlight in a Young Universe. He proposes a scientific model of an innovative six-day creation scenario:
Stars form on the fourth day while billions of years pass in the rest of the universe.
Near the earth only 24 hours pass because it is near an event horizon.
In the theory of general relativity, time stands still at an event horizon.
Dr. Humphreys does a good job of explaining this to the layman in his book; and he also discusses our final two options.
Option or Model 6 – Decay in the Speed of Light
At least two different models propose a sixth option: that the speed of light was originally much greater, allowing distant starlight to quickly reach the earth. While there is some evidence that can be cited supporting some slowing of the speed of light, most Creationists reject this idea as having an inadequate scientific basis.
[Ref. Starlight and Time. Appendix A pp. 46-49 ]
Option or Model 7 – Riemannian Space
A 1953 technical paper [by Moon and Spencer] proposed that light could reach us from the most distant galaxies in only 15 years by traveling through Riemannian Space.
This theory has scientific problems and appears to have died. For example, Akridge said “Their model universe is far too dense, and far too short-lived.”
[Refs. Starlight and Time. Appendix A p. 46; “The Universe Is Bigger Than 15.71 Light Years” by G. Russell Akridge, Ph.D., Creation Research Society Qtr Vol. 21 #1 pp. 18-22, June 1984 ]
A more complete explanation of Options 4-7 is found in the ChristianAnswers.Net Creation SuperLibrary Astronomy section: “How can light get to us from stars which are millions of light-years away in a universe which the Bible claims is only thousands of years old?”
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