Cosmic chronology
From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science
Chronology is the study of time, or a record of events in the order of their occurrence (timeline). As a scientific endeavor, cosmic chronology is an attempt to determine the temporal sequence of events that occurred during the formation of the cosmos. Cosmic chronologists determine the dates of events (such as the Big Bang, the formation of stars, galaxies and planets), then arranges them in the order in which they occurred.
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Creationism vs. Naturalism
Creation scientists study astronomical processes and attempt to explain stellar phenomena from the presupposition that celestial bodies were created by God. Most creationists also draw from religious texts for unsight (such as the Bible), which dates the universe as equal to that of the Earth or just over 6000 years old. There is indeed much evidence to support the contention that our solar system, galaxies and even that the entirety of the universe is very young.
In contrast, secular scientists date the universe as being approximately 13.7 billion years using standard cosmologies [1]. The universe is believed to have begun with a cosmic inflation known as the Big Bang, which is then followed by the formation of stars and then galaxies and planets. Based on this chronology the Earth is believed to have formed after our Sun and is dated to be near 4.6 billion years old.
However, because the creation of our universe was a supernatural act, we might never understand factors such as the delivery of light from distances, which seem to indicate a very old universe. Physicists say that light from far off galaxies must have traveled through space for billions of years to reach us, and events such as supernovas occurred before life ever existed on Earth.
Although these astrophysical measurements might be accurate we must understand that God created the universe in a manner that simply defies naturalistic explanation. The Bible says that the universe was stretched out. This might be consistent with observations, such as red shift, that indicate expansion.
By the word of God the heavens existed long ago II_Peter 3:5 (NASB)
Furthermore, Isaiah 42:5 says that the Lord "stretched out...the heavens."
Indeed the speed of light might not be constant as originally thought. More to the point, gravity can affect the passage of time. Dr. Russell Humphreys' White Hole Cosmology shows that, given the right starting conditions, time on Earth could have run significantly more slowly than in the rest of the universe, or even stood completely still while continuing to pass elsewhere. This would allow star light from deep space to reach Earth, even though Earth was still young.
The Earth itself likewise has an appearance of age in defiance of a naturalistic explanation--although this appearance of age can be deceiving. (See Non-correlating and inconsistent dates (Talk.Origins).) Certainly life itself required creation, because life does not arise from non-life. And on the very day that life was formed, the first organisms had the appearance of adult age; otherwise they would not have been able to reproduce. Although we might wish to explain how the first organisms could come to be out of nothing, in some cases the supernatural works of God might simply remain beyond our understanding.
Young vs. Day-Age Creationism
The theoretic timeline forth by secular scientists is in stark contrast with the Biblical description of the creation, which states that the Earth was created on the first day of creation but the sun, moon, and stars were not created until the fourth day. Much like the sequence of events of biological evolution, the differences between these two chronologies can not be reconciled by creationists who claim that each day of the creation was a vast age.
The Bible says that the lights in the heavens were created on the 4th day of creation. This is especially significant because it establishes a stark inconsistency with old earth creationism views which claim that the days of creation were simply vast periods of time. A close look at the days of creation reveals that plants were created on Day 3. While plants can certainly survive a day without light, it would not be possible for any extended period of time to elapse.
The Fourth Day of CreationAnd God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to separate the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, and let them be lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth." And it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night; he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light upon the earth, to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day. Genesis 1:14-19 (KJV)
Dating Methods
Speed of Light
- Main Article: Speed of light
The speed of light in vacuum is held to be constant at 299,792,458 m/s. Designated by the symbol "c", it is a fundamental quantity of the universe. According to Special Relativity it is the universe's speed limit and it is part of the relation between mass and energy ( E = mc2 ). It has been proposed that the speed of light has decayed since the Creation. While this theory opened the door to scientific solutions to the distant star light problem; it is not generally accepted by creation scientists.
Paralax
- Main Article: Paralax
Creation Cosmologies
- Main Article: Creation cosmology
Since the age of the universe is far beyond what a typical creation scientist would countenance. In response several young universe creation cosmologies have been proposed.
C-decay
- Main Article: C-decay
A continuously changing speed of light, which would explain both the age of the universe (and earth) due to radiometric dating, and also indicates that the Doppler shift, the common method of dating far objects, is not caused by kinematic or relativistic red shift. This cosmology has the merit of explaining quantized red shift, which present cosmologies fail to do.
White Hole Cosmology
- Main Article: White hole cosmology
A white hole near the earth at the beginning of the universe has been proposed to explain the existence of distant starlight in a young universe. This would cause, due to relativistic considerations, a change in apparent time. While this setup is acceptable to those assuming a creationist paradigm, it can be attacked on anthropocentric grounds by secular science. Russell Humphreys, the author of this cosmology, has been criticized by those upset by his model. A repository of criticism and his response can be found here.
Cosmic Center Model
Robert Gentry has also suggested a anthropocentric cosmology, based on a static universe with a shell of matter creating cavity energy in our region. His theory is sophisticated and appeals to gravitational and relativistic red shift caused by vacuum gravity repulsion. That theory is explicated in detail in several papers available at the Orion Foundation. Andrew Repp, a creationist, has posted a challenge to his cosmology in the Creation Society Research Quarterly. Gentry responds to this and other criticism in Big Bang Collapse and other reports found on his Published Reports Page. Brian Pitts has also criticized Gentry's model.
Related References
- Exploding stars point to a young universe: Where are all the supernova remnants? by Jonathan Sarfati. Creation 19(3):46–48 June 1997
- A Second Look at Supernova Remnants
- So Long, Eternal Universe; Hello Beginning, Hello End!” by Bert Thompson, Ph.D. Apologetics Press.
- Geo and Cosmic Chronology by R. H. Brown. Origins 8(1):20-45 (1981).
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