Many argue that the earth must be billions of years old because the light we see from distant stars has been traveling a very long time, for millions and billions of years, or else we could not see them. This all being true, the earth cannot be young, or only six thousand years old, as many Christians affirm. Wrote one on the issue:
"One of the most serious scientific problems for young earth creationism is that of distant starlight and the time it would take that starlight to reach the earth. The crux of the problem is that light travels at a set speed and nearly all the objects in the universe are farther from the earth than the young earth proposed 6,000 year age for the universe. If the young earth model for the universe is correct, we should not be able to see any other galaxies in the universe or even the majority of stars in our own Milky Way galaxy. Obviously, we can see those objects, so young earth creationists are forced to do something radical with light travel times. Numerous individuals have proposed that the speed of light has changed, light was created in transit, light travels infinitely fast when coming toward the earth, among others. Young earth creationists ignore the most obvious solution to the problem—light from objects billions of light years away has been traveling for billions of years." (See here)
I am a young earth creationist. I believe the earth is about 6,000 years old. One of the arguments against this is the light travel problem described above. Over the years I have thought about this problem. There are some good articles on the Internet by young earth believers and some good videos on the subject also.
But, why must the light "rays" of a distant star reach my eye before I can see it? If an object is coming towards me, is it proper to say that I cannot see it coming till it hits me? Maybe I am being too simplistic in my thinking here, so I ask for any opinions. If I see a light instantly turned on in the dark from a distant lighthouse, can I not see it shining before its rays reach me?
What think ye?
Of course my comment here will not satisfy the scientific crowd, but theologically speaking, didnt Christ come "in the fullness of time" and yet He was "slain before the foundation of the world"? "Fullness of time" means He appeared to US after His entrance into this world, but His being slain before the world was created had already been in the mind of God. So basically what I am saying is that something may EXIST in the mind of God, WITHOUT it existing in time. Thus when God takes that "already existent" thing from His mind, it appears with maturity having already been in "existence". So when He "spoke" things into existence from our perspective, He was merely pulling from His mind what was already there. The vegetation/trees that Adam saw was already mature and producing fruit. Adam himself was "already" 30 years old, yet he had just been created! Just a thought
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