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== Five Biblical scenarios ==

== Five Biblical scenarios ==

[[John Hartnett]]<ref name=Hartnett>Hartnett, John G. ''Starlight, Time and the New Physics''. [[Sydney]], NSW, [[Australia]]: Creation Book Publishers, 2007.</ref> describes five scenarios that are consistent with {{Bible ref|book=Genesis|chap=1}}. Only ''one'' of these is consistent with observation. Here they are, though not in the order in which Hartnett listed them:

[[John Hartnett]]<ref name=Hartnett>Hartnett, John G. ''Starlight, Time and the New Physics''. [[Sydney]], NSW, [[Australia]]: Creation Book Publishers, 2007.</ref> describes five scenarios that are consistent with {{Bible ref|book=Genesis|chap=1}}. Only ''one'' of these is consistent with observation. Here they are, though not in the order in which Hartnett listed them:

# That the language of the [[Bible]] is phenomenological only, and that the [[universe]] is old but the [[earth]] is very young, and [[God]] built the [[solar system]] at the right time for the light from the furthest-distant [[galaxy|galaxies]], [[quasar]]s, and other objects to arrive. Phenomenology has never been a good way to interpret Scripture&mdashor to interpret any observation of the natural world, either. So you can consider this scenario out-of-favor.

# That the language of the [[Bible]] is phenomenological only, and that the [[universe]] is old but the [[earth]] is very young, and [[God]] built the [[solar system]] at the right time for the light from the furthest-distant [[galaxy|galaxies]], [[quasar]]s, and other objects to arrive. [[Phenomenology]] has never been a good way to interpret Scripture&mdashor to interpret any observation of the natural world, either. So you can consider this scenario out-of-favor.

# That the meaning of Day Four of [[creation]] is that God strung the [[photon]]s in a line from any given luminous object to the earth so that we could see them beginning in Day Four of creation. In other words, God created a mature-looking universe. The problem with that is that the light we see bespeaks catastrophic or even cataclysmic stellar, galactic, and supragalactic events. I for one do not believe that God created this marvelous universe as nothing more than a big fireworks display. And [[John Hartnett]] (from whom these scenarios come) doesn't believe it, either.

# That the meaning of Day Four of [[creation]] is that God strung the [[photon]]s in a line from any given luminous object to the earth so that we could see them beginning in Day Four of creation. In other words, God created a mature-looking universe. The problem with that is that the light we see bespeaks catastrophic or even cataclysmic stellar, galactic, and supragalactic events. I for one do not believe that God created this marvelous universe as nothing more than a big fireworks display. And [[John Hartnett]] (from whom these scenarios come) doesn't believe it, either.

# That the [[speed of light]] was much greater in the past than it is today. This is the [[c-decay]] theory of Barry Setterfield and others. Let me quote John Hartnett directly and step up to the plate right now to disavow that theory: if the light slowed down, the stars would wink out&mdash;and the Bible nowhere tells a tale like that, and a Reference that goes back more than six thousand years surely wouldn't miss an event like that. For that matter, no other historical reference talks about stars winking out. Why, the [[sun]] and [[moon]] might wink out, and disappear from view for eight minutes in the sun's case, and a second-and-a-half or more in the moon's.

# That the [[speed of light]] was much greater in the past than it is today. This is the [[c-decay]] theory of Barry Setterfield and others. Let me quote John Hartnett directly and step up to the plate right now to disavow that theory: if the light slowed down, the stars would wink out&mdash;and the Bible nowhere tells a tale like that, and a Reference that goes back more than six thousand years surely wouldn't miss an event like that. For that matter, no other historical reference talks about stars winking out. Why, the [[sun]] and [[moon]] might wink out, and disappear from view for eight minutes in the sun's case, and a second-and-a-half or more in the moon's.