If you happen to be an old earth creationist you believe that starlight is billions of years old. If, on the other hand, you are a young earth creationist you believe God created the entire universe mature – and therefore starlight is only thousands of years old. There are many Christians on both sides of this debate.
Young earth creationists believe just as Adam and Eve were created as mature adults they contend that God created the light we see from distant stars to appear instantly with its information-loaded light photons in transit between the physical star and the earth.
This idea of a creation with apparent age is something I have believed for a long time in my Christian walk. Some say that if God did it this way he would be deceiving us by creating this appearance of age. My issue with this idea of God deceiving us is that at the beginning of creation we are dealing with the miraculous in every way. In my opinion it is dangerous to use natural science to explain details of the supernatural Creation. God could have created the universe any way he wanted to and I believe it was all supernatural and miraculous and not subject to using our modern scientific laws and techniques. I believe a mature creation takes a straightforward, transparent, literal approach to the Genesis creation account.
Was Jesus deceiving those guests at the wedding feast of Cana when he turned water into wine? No, he was just performing a miracle to demonstrate his deity; which he did on numerous occasions. Science has to be careful when attempting to tell us about origins especially when supernatural events are taking place. In the last analysis, God is sovereign and, as I said before, he could have created any way he wanted to. Using our present understanding of how things work, such as the time it takes for starlight to travel from a star to earth, can’t be automatically extrapolated back to the past when supernatural activities were abundant at the time of creation. All miracles by their very nature can be viewed as either deceptive or as divine since they clearly contradict what modern science tells us. Science has it place but when it comes to supernatural origins we need to be careful to not use this field of study in an area where its laws may not apply.
If you believe in an old earth and billions of years for starlight to travel to our planet I would love for you to post a reply. Since this is not a salvation issue I would love to hear opposing viewpoints.
I really appreciate the way you addressed this topic. If we assume He of is being deceptive by working beyond natural processes then how do we approach the miracles like Jesus miraculously feeding the 5000 or more people with one boy’s basket of loaves and fishes. Did they wait for the fish to grow and and produce more fish and/or bake more bread on the spot? The water to wine miracle was an appropriate example because there’s no mention of grapes being added to the water and I don’t think the pots they used were meant to be wine jars but for washing. Fermentation would’ve needed room to expand and grapes too. Great post.
Curt, thanks for your clear explanation of apparent age. There are other arguments for a young earth creation a you no doubt know. One author I’ve found very helpful is Dr. John Sanford who has published a book called “Genetic Entropy”. His arguments are based on genetics and I find them compelling.
Note that I think of this, it may be you that recommended his book when we met at Biola.
In any case thanks for your blog and this post in particular.