How do creationists explain stars

One such creationist who has modified Gosse's theories on appearance of age is John C. In he and fellow creationist Henry M. Morris published the book The Genesis Flood. In this book they claimed that since God created the earth in six literal days, it was necessary for Him to create it with "an appearance of being 'old' when it was still new" Whitcomb and Morris They then emphasized the theological importance of this "grown creation.

In it, he argues that belief in creation with an appearance of age is a necessary part of Christian theology for various reasons, including the miracles of Jesus. With the miracle of feeding the multitudes it should take time to grow the grain for the bread and for the fish to mature and be caught.

When Jesus turned water into wine, there is an assumed time needed for the grapes to mature, be harvested, and reach fermentation. When Jesus cured blindness or healed Lazarus, the people being healed were given the appearance that they had lived lives free of their ailments, when in fact they had not. Whitcomb cites these stories in the New Testament as examples in addition to the creation story in Genesis of an apparent but counterfactual history in the Bible.

Whitcomb takes issue with Gosse, however, because he believes that God did not create an appearance of age where it was not absolutely necessary, such as with Adam's navel Whitcomb Creationist Kurt P. Wise echoes Whitcomb's sentiments about Christ's miracles being further evidence of appearance of age in his book Faith, Form and Time. Wise furthermore argues that "if God's purpose in creating something is fulfilled by creating it with an appearance of age.

Despite the fact that the appearance of age is strictly a philosophical and theological argument, the RATE team which has generally been focused on attempting to use scientific methodologies to back up the young earth model has also weighed in on the issue. For example, in reference to certain rocks containing Polonium halos that appear to have a long geological history, the RATE team concludeed that according to Genesis it is theologically possible for these rocks to have been created with an appearance of age Snelling The appearance of age is certainly not without its controversy or opponents.

Perhaps the most common objection to the appearance of age is the argument that it makes God a deceiver. Ross believes that God does not deceive mankind and that creating with an appearance of age would violate God's fundamental nature Ross In other words, Ross asks proponents of appearance of age why God would do something that would lead humans to believe something that is false. Both Wise and Whitcomb address the issue of deception.

Each of these canopy layers was composed of different substances and separated by gases and steam, with the heavier materials in the lower layers. At the end of each creation day-age, the lowermost layer collapsed. The collapse of the first six canopy layers produced the six geological strata which Johnson asserts were deposited worldwide.

He saw "irrefutable and factual proof" in the six neat layers of the Grand Canyon, each several hundred feet thick , pp. The seventh and lightest canopy was composed of water, the cause of Noah's Flood when it collapsed. Many strict creationists today include a water canopy model either liquid, vapor, or ice in their creation science to account for Noah's Flood and the fabulous antediluvian conditions extreme longevity, worldwide Edenic "greenhouse" climate , but these Flood geology versions are but single canopies which fell one time only.

The latter tract quotes a few fairly recent scientific authorities, and the casual reader cannot know that most of the scientific absurdities are taken from Johnson's book.

Schwarze argued that the canopy was lofted up following an atomic explosion Satan had been foolishly dabbling in atomic research in pre-Adamic times. This blast was the event described by Genesis ; the future destruction in 2 Peter will also be an atomic explosion , pp.

As a result of this pre-Adamic explosion, water was sent up first beyond the stratosphere, where it turned to ice and formed an oblate spherical canopy miles thick. Dirt and dust settled back to the surface to form the geological strata, but the ice-lens remained, causing the pre-Flood greenhouse effect and serving as the source of water for the Flood. This ice canopy was shattered, causing its collapse, by the creation and ejection of the moon from the Pacific basin, which also caused the Mid-Atlantic rift and the destruction of Atlantis , pp.

Fermentation was impossible under canopy conditions; Noah got drunk after the Flood because he was unaware that his grape juice had changed Johnson also used this example. Schwarze, like strict creationist canopy advocates today, assured his readers that this marvelous canopy will be restored at the millennium.

Why We Believe in Creation Not in Evolution ; now in its eighth edition by Fred John Meldau, editor of Christian Victory magazine, is a compendium of examples of design in nature, marvelous animal and plant adaptations, and scientific quotes.

Near the end of the book, Meldau mentions that there have been "two or more overwhelming Deluges in the history of our earth. Humankind was created six thousand to eight thousand years ago. A great many people have been exposed to the gap theory through the efforts of Herbert W.

Over eight million free copies of his magazine, The Plain Truth , have been distributed each month circulation has dipped somewhat since his death in ; books and pamphlets are also given away free; and his show, "The World Tomorrow," is broadcast widely on radio and television. In , at the age of thirty-four, Armstrong's successful advertising business collapsed, and he plunged into an intensive search for truth, provoked by his wife's assertion that Sunday was not the true day of worship and by doubts about evolution.

In contrast to strict fundamentalists who stress the "perspicuity" of the Bible in addition to its inerrancy, Armstrong viewed the Bible as a great mystery or puzzle not intended to be decoded until now, when God revealed to him its secrets.

Armstrong's book, Mystery of the Ages , published just before his death, was later serialized in The Plain Truth. In it, Armstrong reveals the Bible's hidden messages. Not one to credit apostate predecessors, Armstrong declares that his gap theory interpretation is a "surprising truth. Stoutly anti-evolutionist since his initial Bible studies, Armstrong advocated the gap theory for decades; for instance, his booklet Did God Create a Devil?

He allows for an Earth that is millions or billions even "trillions" of years old with the recreation "approximately 6, years ago. Mystery of the Ages contains many sections describing the gap theory. Most issues of The Plain Truth contain at least references to it. Frequent Plain Truth anti-evolution articles profess to be against both evolution and "creationism" that is, "fundamentalist groups.

This declared opposition to both evolution and "creationism" results from Armstrong's gap theory position; "creationists" are called to task for believing in Flood geology and a young Earth. It is also a reflection of Armstrong's claim to sole possession of the truth. The anti-evolution arguments in these articles and in booklets with titles such as "A Theory for the Birds," "A Whale of a Tale," and "A Fishy Story About an Unproved Theory" mostly written or coauthored by Armstrong's son, Garner Ted before their final schism are exactly the same as those of the "creationists.

Tilney, a schoolmaster and pastor in England, wrote over a hundred pamphlets for the Evolution Protest Movement now called the Creation Science Movement , one of the major British creationist organizations. A linguist by training, his EPM pamphlets covered a wide range of topics and included most of the standard anti-evolution arguments.

Tilney was a gap theory supporter, although his EPM pamphlets dealt only with attacks on evolution. In , he published a book, Without Form and Void , presumably concerning the gap theory Munday, , p. Merson Davies was "the only geologist about whom I have ever heard or read," says Henry Morris, "who gave any credence to the gap theory" , pp. Davies was a paleontologist specializing in foraminifera , a member of several scientific royal societies, a lieutenant-colonel, and an active member of the Evolution Protest Movement.

In The Bible and Modern Science , he argued both for the gap theory and for geological effects of the Flood. Haldane in published debates on evolution. DeHaan, a medical doctor, became very well known through his radio Bible class broadcasts. His son, Richard, now does the broadcasts. DeHaan's book, Genesis and Evolution is whole-heartedly creationist. It promotes the gap theory and insists on a literal six-day re-creation. DeHaan summarizes the standard gap theory arguments and announces that various geological strata provide clear evidence of "a great cataclysmic convolution of the earth in the dateless past.

Fossils and the Word of God by Walter Galusha is one of the more amusing creationist books. Galusha proposes a modified gap theory, adding a creation. The first creation was followed by a catastrophe. The first people, fossil cavemen and cavewomen, inhabited the second creation; then, there was a second catastrophe.

Adam and Eve were created in the third creation, six thousand years ago, and Noah's Flood destroyed that world in BCE. Noah could talk to the animals, and they helped him build the ark.

Galusha advocates a crystal ice canopy. Since there were no carnivores in Eden, he suggests that boa constrictors may have swallowed watermelons. The antediluvians had electricity but not internal combustion engines.

God divided humankind into four colors, says Galusha , p. But the devil," warns Galusha, "will try to get them to unite and in this way defeat God's purpose. Charles C. Ryrie is a professor at Dallas Theological Seminary and obtained his doctorate from the University of Edinburgh. He rejects Ussher's chronology but insists that humankind is a recent creation. However, he also permits a day-age interpretation and for good measure throws in the effects of the worldwide Flood and creation with appearance of age pp.

A pamphlet by the International Christian Crusade of Toronto, entitled A Biblical Cosmology , argues against both evolution and the young-Earth creationist interpretation, presenting in its stead the gap theory.

Ussher's chronology is defended as valid for events since the re-creation. John R. Howitt, a Canadian psychiatrist and hospital superintendent, was the unlisted author of this and earlier ICC pamphlets, including the enormously influential booklet, Evolution: "Science Falsely So-called," which converted Duane Gish to creationism.

The gap theory is not mentioned in these other ICC publications. The Jehovah's Witnesses are a proselytizing millennialist sect numbering about half a million. They are officially anti-evolutionist. Written in a plain, earnest style, this book is packed with anti-evolution quotes many out of context from popular and scientific sources and is attractively illustrated.

The Witnesses assert that humans were created about six thousand years ago but allow for a day-age interpretation of the six days of creation. They also specifically allow for a gap theory interpretation as well, stating that billions of years may have elapsed before the six creation days , p. They also believe that a worldwide Flood and the water canopy had significant effects on geology and dating. By Evolution or By Creation? This book is richly illustrated with photographs and color pictures and includes many of the more recent anti-evolution quotes for example, Hitching and Bethell.

As before, both the day-age view and the gap theory are endorsed , p. Reuben Katter, after a career in business and religious college administration, wrote a couple of books "reconciling the theological and scientific viewpoints of the creation of the universe" which were published by Theotes-Logos Research, apparently Katter's one-man group.

In The History of Creation and Origin of the Species: A Scientific Theological Viewpoint ; revised and updated in and in Creationism: The Scientific Evidence of Creator Plan and Purpose for Mankind in His Universe , Katter reveals God's colossal plan for the future and explains how the entire history of the world and of life was part of this divine conception. These intricate and bizarre Bible science treatises are derived from fundamentalist creation science but are clearly stamped with Katter's idiosyncratic hermit-scientist approach.

According to Katter, Earth was created about twenty or so billion years ago. Katter accepts the standard geological timetable but interprets these ages as God's carefully prepared stages. Earth was then under Lucifer's management; he turned to evil, however, and became Satan. Beginning about 20, BCE , Earth was subjected to a period of four ice ages, ending about 8, BCE with the worldwide catastrophe which God precipitated by shifting Earth's axis.

God re-created the world six to eight thousand years ago as described in Genesis. Katter includes detailed information about the dispensational scheme of history exhibited and prophesied in the Great Pyramid and other evidence from prophecy and Bible numerology.

Katter rounds off his treatise by explaining the twelve vast energy systems and dimensional levels of the cosmos, proposing a new atomic force along the way. Another gap theory defense is the introductory essay by S. Posey in John O. Posey, who deplores the "parading" of atheistic evolution on television, asserts that the false evolutionary assumptions resulted from the mistranslation of Genesis the word was should be became in the King James Bible.

Posey, a Southern Baptist, proclaims the standard gap theory sequence. Price cites R. Thieme's Creation, Chaos, and Restoration as also presenting the standard gap theory view. Vernon McGee, a radio evangelist since , has presented the gap theory in his "Thru the Bible Radio" program, which is broadcast in all fifty states and across six continents.

The messages collected in Genesis—Volume 1 contain his gap theory defense, which follows the standard scenario of Satan's pre-Adamic reign.

This book, which preserves the chatty style of his broadcasts, ridicules science and repeats many anti-evolution quotes and arguments.

McGee, who recommends the Scofield Reference Bible , also praises the creation scientists of the Institute for Creation Research and endorses the Paluxy Cretaceous mantracks, the worldwide Flood, and a literal six-day re-creation. He mentions the pre-Flood canopy but feels that there was still no excuse for Noah's drunkenness. Duane Thurman adopts a calm and very reasonable-sounding tone in How to Think About Evolution and Other Bible-Science Controversies , stressing the need for critical evaluation of arguments and fallacies and discussing at length scientific method and proper interpretation of evidence.

He chides both creationist and evolutionist extremists for relying upon unfair arguments and faulty logic.

Sometimes such observations are direct, like measuring the chemical composition of a rock. Other times these observations are indirect, like determining the presence of an exoplanet through the wobble of its host star. An explanation of some aspect of nature that has been well supported by such observations is a theory. Well-substantiated theories are the foundations of human understanding of nature.

The pursuit of such understanding is science. Religion, or more appropriately religions, are cultural phenomena comprised of social institutions, traditions of practice, literatures, sacred texts and stories, and sacred places that identify and convey an understanding of ultimate meaning. Religions are very diverse. While it is common for religions to identify the ultimate with a deity like the western monotheisms — Judaism, Christianity, Islam or deities, not all do.

There are non-theistic religions, like Buddhism. Although science does not provide proofs, it does provide explanations. Science depends on deliberate, explicit and formal testing in the natural world of explanations for the way the world is, for the processes that led to its present state, and for its possible future.

When scientists see that a proposed explanation has been well confirmed by repeated observations, it serves the scientific community as a reliable theory. Well-supported theories guide future efforts to solve other questions about the natural world. Religions may draw upon scientific explanations of the world, in part, as a reliable way of knowing what the world is like, about which they seek to discern its ultimate meaning.

Religious understanding draws from both subjective insight and traditional authority. However, this is an erroneous judgment. Virtually all of the historic religions include traditions of rational reflection. Science and religion both have historical traditions that exhibit development over time. Each has places for individual insight and communal discernment. Analytic and synthetic reasoning can be found exhibited in both.

Science and religion have been and continue to be formative elements shaping an increasingly global human society. Both science and religion have served to jeopardize and contribute to the common human good. Typical assumptions about this relationship fall into one of three forms: conflict, separation or interaction.

A conflict approach assumes that science and religion are competitors for cultural authority. Either science sets the standard for truth to which religion must adhere or be dismissed, or religion sets the standard to which science must conform. For example, some atheists adopt this approach and argue that science reduces religion to a merely natural phenomenon. Conversely, some religious adherents, while claiming to accept science, will identify specific points at which mainstream scientific findings must be distorted or abandoned for the sake of religious convictions.

Such an adversarial approach tends to rule out any constructive engagement between science and religion. Individuals who prefer a separation approach hold that science and religion use different languages, ask different questions and have different objects of interest e.

By highlighting the differences between science and religion, conflict is avoided. While this approach allows a person to explore what science has learned about human origins without fear of conflict with religious beliefs, it also encourages that the science be left, so to speak, at the museum threshold so that it has no impact on other non-scientific explorations of what it means to be human.

A consequence of separation is that the science of human origins can be viewed as irrelevant to what might be the deepest of human concerns. It should be noted that it is true that science is practiced without reference to religion. After all, the list of serious scientists who are also religious is impressive.

It was headed by American physician-geneticist Francis Collins who is thoroughly committed to evolution and also to his Christian faith. So begins mainstream scientific opinion, perhaps recently confirmed or perhaps not? And in a world post- Origin of Species , most everyone is also an evolutionist of some sort; not even the fundamentalist fringe of the Christian camp denies that some sort of biological change occurs over generations. So in speaking of creation and evolution, unless key concepts are defined it is not surprising the conversation generates more dark matter than light.

Christians and many others believe that, in an ultimate sense, there is a creator responsible for all that exists in the world of matter, energy and the laws of physics. So whatever they think about evolution, God is the first cause.