Opinion:Victorious Biblical Astronomy Part 4

The billions of years in geology and astronomy are often used to argue against the Bible. There is a biblical explanation, but it requires that we abandon an assumption that Peter calls the arché, the first principle, of the last days. II Peter 3:3-5 Any attempt to understand the long-ago is profoundly affected by the assumption that matter does not normally change. In previous articles of this series, I presented evidence from the Bible, epistemic history and the distant galaxies against our first principle.

'''The question I examine here is: “Were ancient days and years longer than modern days and years?” Old man Israel literally said that his days and years were shorter and worse than the days and years of his fathers. This is not the same as saying my fathers lived longer than I. He specifically compared his days and years with the days and years of his fathers.''' Jacob believed what was common knowledge in that age, that the earliest generations lived in the ‘owlam, the long time. Genesis 47:9 Do days and years, orbits and rotations change together?

Paul used two together-verbs to illustrate the deterioration of the whole universe. Romans 8:22 In Greek, this verse says the whole creation groans-together and pains-together. Is matter itself a deteriorating relationship?

Although we cannot see the rotation of long-ago stars, we can substantiate that orbits change. The Hubble Space Telescope took three deep photographs. A deep image is a dark portion of sky which is tracked by the cameras for super-long exposures. In the Ultra Deep Field (UDF), the Hubble telescope accumulated very dim light for a million seconds. The accumulated light revealed 10,000 dim galaxies in nine square minutes of the long ago sky. Because of the vast size of the universe and the finite speed of light, we see these galaxies as they looked long ago. The most distant of these galaxies shine mostly in infrared, like charcoal embers.

More than a hundred chain galaxies are visible in the UDF. The individual galaxies in the chain do not have central bulges or arms. They resemble little beads with equal spacing like links in a chain. The middle galaxy is often redder than the galaxies on either side. On the fourth creation-day, God placed the stars in the firmament, the raqiya, the pounded out, spreading out place. Genesis 1:17 Almost a hundred tadpole-like galaxies are visible in the UDF, some of which can be seen in this section. The tadpole-tails are made of separate clumps of blue stars. The discontinuous tails apparently are the early stages of spiral galaxies as the arms were shot out from the core. When infrared cameras peer through the dusty arms of local spirals, we see equally spaced blue clumps that have spread out. There obviously is a connection between the discontinuous primordial arms and the diffuse arms of later / closer galaxies. Some of the larger galaxies in this picture are called clump-clusters. Linked clusters of blue stars randomly thread around within the nebula. The interested reader can browse the UDF by zooming in to see the details

'''Every characteristic of primordial matter seems to be different (in an arranged way) from local matter. Paul twice used the word hupotasso - suggesting that the universal deterioration is an orderly arrangement.''' Romans 8:19-22

The deep fields show what the Old Testament repeatedly states, that the stars, the heavens, are continually spreading. Someone could ask, what is the causal mechanism for this expansion? God Himself says He causes the stars to spread out. Isaiah 45:12 Isaiah said God continuously calls the stars out and none are missing. Isaiah 40:25-26

The authoritative source for knowledge for a Christian should be the Bible. Proverbs 2:6 Since the Bible says God is spreading out the heavens; since it says the stars are of old and also gives genealogies adding up to only about 4,000 Old Testament years - then we should believe them all.

The reader may think, “That is illogical.” Wait! A literal reading of the Bible is supported by the strongest possible evidence, visible things. Comparisons between distant and local galaxies show that galaxies continually spread out. We can also observe in every local spiral galaxy how the orbits have continually changed. Spiral galaxies have logarithmic arms that progressively spread out. '''In nature, spiral shapes are associated with things that bend as they accelerate their motion or growth. A tropical storm has a spiral shape because the winds accelerate inwards. A sheep-horn continually bends as it accelerates its annual growth and the result is also a logarithmic spiral.'''

Our forefathers believed that the earliest years were the long slow cycles of the heavens.

Dear reader, consider carefully this matter of the first principle. Peter said it is the first thing to know about last-day thinking. He even predicted that because they think with this idea they reject the evidence that the stars are of old. Isn’t it visibly evident that star paths continuously change? Isn’t it visibly evident that the stars are of old? One of the characteristics of a first principle is that it affects the entire way of thinking that was founded upon it. It is not easy to free onself from an assumption so simple and basic. If our first principle is false, then vast eons could fit into 6,000 rotations of the earth around the sun.

In the next article, I will show that what we see in the distant heavens happened also in the vicinity of earth. The ancient astronomers measured in our local sky - an expanding solar system.