May 31 – Distant Starlight and Time Dilation

The universe is filled with indications of great age, yet God’s Word tells us, “In six days the Lord made THE HEAVENS and the earth….” (Exodus 20:11 emphasis added). Star deterioration, supernovas, and colossal distances all seem to testify to an extremely old universe. So how could God have made the entire universe quite recently in only “six days”?

When the Bible states: “In six days…”, we have to know at what location these “six days” of time occurred. Since the earth’s rotation is the measure of a “day”–and the earth is the central focus of the biblical account of history–it seems rather straightforward that six literal earth days, measured at the earth’s location within space, is the measure of time in which the universe was created. Yet, time moves at different rates depending on the location where the passage of time is occurring. It has been found that a clock at sea-level runs a tiny fraction of a percent slower than a clock on top of a mountain. A brilliant Bible-believing physicist, Dr. Russell Humphreys, has proven that millions of years could have passed further out in space while only six days were passing on the earth!

As the very fabric of space was being stretched out, time in some areas would have literally stopped. Meanwhile, millions and even billions of years could have been passing only slightly further out. Near the center of the universe, time essentially stood still in comparison to areas outside of an event boundary. Thus on “day four”, when the stars were made, there would have been a massive increase in the mass of the universe, and literally billions of years could have passed outside of our solar system (as the stars of the universe were being created and aging), while only a literal day was passing here on earth. This is called time dilation. This is not deceptive on the part of God – just the mathematical consequence of making and stretching out the universe.

Isaiah 40:22

KJV: It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:

NIV: He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in.

Reference

Humphreys, D.R., 1994. Starlight and Time: Solving the Puzzle of Distant Starlight in a Young Universe. Master Books: Green Forest, AR. p.66-68.

Samec, Ronald. 2014. “Explaining nearby objects that are old in time dilation cosmologies”. Journal of Creation 28(3)9.

Humphreys, D.R. 2014. “New view of gravity explains cosmic microwave background radiation”. Journal of Creation. 28(3)106-114.

Learn More

New time dilation helps creation cosmology

There are also other distant starlight theories, see:

Time Dilation Cosmological Models: Exegetical and Theological Considerations