Starlight, Starbright, How old are you?

100 billion stars in the Milky Way. 100 billion galaxies in the visible universe with millions to trillions of stars in each one and Psalm 147 tells us, “He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name”!

The question, however, is, “When did God create the stars?” The Bible clearly states “Day 4.” Some try to reinterpret “Day” to mean “epoch” or “era,” but Genesis 1 doesn’t allow this interpretation. The Hebrew is pretty straight forward - the days are literal, 24 hour days (and just in case there was any doubt, Exodus 20:11 supports it). So, if we just read the text, we come away with six, 24 hour days and an earth that is only several thousand years old.

How then can starlight take millions of years to reach earth? (the answer is going to take awhile, but it’s worth it)

Some well-meaning Christians have tried to posit an “in-transit” theory of starlight. What then are we to conclude about supernovas? If the light was in-transit and if the earth is only several thousand years old, then the supernovas astronomers have witnessed didn’t really happen because there hasn’t been enough time for the light from the explosion to reach earth. If this is so then God created the appearance of a supernova. In other words, God is deceiving us – doesn’t sound like the God of the Bible.

So now what?

Let’s start with the Biblical text. In several places the Bible indicates that God “stretched out” the heavens (Isaiah 45:12 is one). By the way, astronomers observe that the heavens are still stretching - called “red shifts.”

Anyway, if we rewind a bit we can arrive at a time when the universe was smaller (before God stretched it if you will).

Evolutionists rewind to a single infinitesimally small point (which they call a “quantum state of being”). Most people imagine this dot exploding into space, but that’s not what evolutionists teach. They teach that all matter, energy, and space-time was inside the “quantum state of being” and it (for some unknown reason) rapidly expanded into our cosmos (some 13.7 billion years ago).

And get this, they teach that it (the dot) was infinite with no center and no edge. So, that centerless, edgeless “quantum state of being” rapidly expanded into the centerless, edgeless, infinite cosmos we know and love today.

This is an essential cog in the evolutionist’s theory. Stephen Hawking explains, “So long as the universe had a beginning, we could suppose it had a creator. But if the universe is really self-contained, having no boundary or edge, it would have neither beginning nor end, it would simply be. What place, then, for a creator?” (137-138, A Brief History of Time)

Here’s what I find interesting: evolutionists admit that from all observations and calculations earth seems to be located in an ideal place for star gazing. In fact, it appears to be near the center of the universe, but having earth near the center of a universe with at least 100 billion galaxies is statistically impossible (lest it was placed there by a Designer).

So, they assume a centerless, edgeless universe. Hawking and Ellis admit, “we are not able to make cosmological models without some admixture of ideology… we are now so democratic that we would not claim our position in space is specially distinguished in any way. We shall… call this assumption the Copernican principle” (The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time)

Ok, if you plug an edgeless, centerless universe into astronomical equations you get an old earth and old starlight coming from a big bang some 13.7 billion years ago. But please note, the conclusion is affected by the staring assumptions. If you change your starting assumption, you change your conclusion.

The Bible says God “stretched out” the heavens. If we rewind to creation week, we can assume the universe was smaller. If the universe is bounded (i.e. has an edge and a center) and if earth is near the center of the universe (which the Bible suggests when it tells us the sun, moon, and stars were created for us as “signs to mark seasons, days, and years….” (Gen 1:14), then our conclusions will be far different from the big bang cosmology.

Here’s how: gravitational time dilation. I’ll make this as simple as possible and avoid black holes, white holes, event horizons, and E=MC^2.

Here’s the short of it: gravity affects time. The greater the gravitational force the slower time moves relative to time under lesser gravitational force (if you want examples, I’ll give you some).

So, if earth was near the center of a smaller universe, then the gravitational force would be greater toward the center than the edges. If so, clocks on earth would move slower relative to clocks on the edges of the universe.

Now this is going to stretch your brains, but if the force was great enough (which the equations suggest they were), then millions (and even billions) of years could transpire in the outer reaches of the universe while only days transpired on earth.

Here’s the short of it, there was plenty of time for distant starlight to reach earth and the time referenced in Scripture is given in earth time.

So, if you take a bounded universe with an edge and center and posit that earth is near the center (not that earth is stationary and the universe revolves around it) and that the universe has been stretched out and plug all this into the astronomical equations, you end up with a young earth with relative old light.

In short, the Bible’s account stands. I skipped a lot of steps to get here. If you need me to fill them in, ask.

If you want to know more, buy Starlight and Time: Solving the Puzzle of Distant Starlight in a Young Universe by D. Russell Humphreys.