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To: far sider
...and how the heck did light from millions of light years away get here if the earth is less than 10,000 years old?

What does the age of a planet have to do with light coming from an older distant object? If a new planet is formed tomorrow, it too will receive the same old light.

50 posted on 08/08/2002 11:40:38 AM PDT by Consort
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To: Jimer
The Bible says the earth was created first and then the stars. God would have had to create the stars with the light already reaching the earth. That means a star 1,000,000 light years away would appear to be 1,000,000 years old. I don't have a problem with that. If God is going to create something it has to appear to be older than it is. Adam had to appear to be, say 20 to 30, when he was created even though he was less than a day old. Same with dogs and trees, etc. If God decided to create a river in front of your house, the water flowing in it would have to appear to come from upstream even though it had just come into existence.

The same goes for a star. Even if God created a star with light only at the surface, we know that the light generated by a star actually comes from beneath the surface. So a star can't be created instantaneously without the "appearance" of age.

The only problem I have is with things like novas. If we observe a nova 100,000 light years away how can it have happened within the last 10,000 years (ie, since Creation)? If the speed of light was faster in the past, that would help to explain it.

59 posted on 08/08/2002 12:01:27 PM PDT by far sider
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To: Jimer
What does the age of a planet have to do with light coming from an older distant object? If a new planet is formed tomorrow, it too will receive the same old light.

Far Sider's objection is that in a young universe the light would have to be created already on its way to earth at all points between earth and the distant source. No problem with that so far, but, it means that some observers in the universe will have sharp disagreements about the order of events in various places. I.e., cause and effect get to be ambiguous, and, I suppose, free will goes out the window.

73 posted on 08/08/2002 12:20:46 PM PDT by OBAFGKM
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