Throughout this website we have sought to provide both Biblical and Scientific answers to the many issues which have evaded reconciliation of Geology and Genesis and the doctrinal conflict between "Old Earth" and "Young Earth" Creationism. Having demonstrated that the Ruin-Reconstruction (Gap Theory) interpretation provides the superior, Biblically credible solution between what the Bible says and the Earth's geology reveals, we must now tackle a final and elusive issue in the reconciliation process: Specifically, the sun and stars of the 4th Day of the Genesis narrative:
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made 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 heaven to give light upon the earth, And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
(Genesis 1:14-19 KJV)Young Earth Creationists claim that the Sun and Stars were first "created" on the 4th Day of Genesis, only about 6,000 years ago. This is a claim that runs counter to empirical observations and the Biblical text. In fact, the word "create" is nowhere in the above passage. The word used is "made" and comes from a different Hebrew word with a different meaning. Of course, the YECs will argue that the words are interchangeable, but we really don't have room to go into that argument on this page.
The scientific fact of the matter is that most of the stars we see up in the sky are old -much older than just 6,000 years. So, in order to defend their Young Earth Creationist position against this widely accepted fact, Young Earth Creationists have proposed every counter-argument imaginable. These arguments range from changes in the speed of light, to time-dilation, to God deliberately making everything appear old just to trick all the "evil evolutionists" into believing the "lies of science" and receiving damnation for their unbelief. Of course, that latter explanation would also make God a liar and a deceiver, but they never think that one through.
In Gap Theory Old Earth Creationism we postulate that there was a previous world on the ancient Earth long, long before the world of Adam. Of course, such an ancient world had to have a Sun (and stars) shining up in the sky from ancient times. From that interpretive perspective alone the events of Genesis Day 4 can not possibly be the first time "creation" of the Sun and Stars. The Bible says there were stars and a heaven "of old" (II Peter 3:5-7) so those stars had to exist (and then perish?) before the seven days of Genesis, otherwise why the requirement for the Sun and Stars to be regenerated ("made") on the 4th Day?
When you look up into the sky at any distant star you are, in effect, looking backwards into historical time. What you see when you look at a star 1 million light years away is what that star looked like 1 million years ago. In reality, it may no longer be there. It could have exploded 500,000 years ago and you would not see that from Earth for another 500,000 years from today. Light travels at a velocity of 299,792,458 m/s and the distances between the earth and the stars is measured in light-years.
So, if looking up into space you are actually looking back into time, then why can't we see the old heavens that were here long before the seven days of Genesis? Actually, we are seeing them!! We are also seeing light from stars that were regenerated 6,000 years ago. What we are not presently seeing, however, is the light from what I will can 'The Event Horizon' from historical time-past when the old heavens perished into a state of ruin. We do not see the light from that event because that light is yet to reach us here on the Earth. Confused? Let's try and explain this another way.
Several places within this website we presented our evidence that points to the timeframe of about 12,000 radio carbon years ago as to when the old Earth and heavens perished (passed into a state of coldness and ruin). This is at a geological marker termed the end of the Pleistocene. We also postulated that when the stars in the heavens went dark and cold, some of the hydrogen of those dying stars produced great quantities of waters across the cosmos. (For a review on events of this timeframe read also Life Forms Just Before End of Ice Age and After Seven Days of Genesis and 12,000 Year Old Human Hair DNA has no Match with Modern Humans for additional info.)
Such a universal event would have produced a spectacular light show in the heavens (stars expanding into Red Giants and imploding into White Dwarfs, etc.) before the darkness and cold settled in. One day soon, we who presently live on the face of the Earth may look up into the night sky and see those very wondrous and terrible PAST event, as it appeared 12,000 years ago. To us, it will look like it is happening in real-time, but it will not.
The coming great universal light show certainly didn't happen instantaneously, but probably did happen at an accelerated rate. There would be signs of this coming event beginning shortly before it happened. We know that it apparently ended about 12,000 years ago. The heavens and Earth evidently were in darkness and ruin for a period of about 6,000 years before they were regenerated about 6,000 years later. Consequently, the light from just before the start of that ancient event is still approaching Earth. It is coming from over 12,000 light years away. And the predicted arrival of that light just so happens to coincide with the general prediction time of the coming Great Tribulation. Look what the Bible says about those coming days:
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
(Luke 21:25-26 KJV)And as the light from this ancient view of the heavens passes the earth the particles of energy from that event wave may also begin to interact with the Sun's and the Earth's magnetic fields, producing other wonders in the sky:
And I will shew wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the LORD come.
(Joel 2:30-31 KJV)Could the prophet have seen visions of massive red Auroras in the night skies of the Tribulation period? Are you aware of what can happen up in the sky when a strong surge of the solar wind hits the earth's magnetic field and ionizes the gasses aloft? You get Auroras. And depending on the gasses affected and the strength of the magnetic storm, you can get ones that are blood red.
There are historical accounts of Auroras being visible in the lower latitudes during unusually strong solar storms. Many people who had never seen such things before thought it was the end of the world.
Certainly the passing of this predicted event horizon, and the energies of the event wave, will fill the sky with terrible sights in both the star field and the Earth's upper atmosphere. Imagine if you were viewing the Earth's moon through the light of such an Aurora, would the moon not appear "blood red" as well?
And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.
(Luke 21:11 KJV)In addition, keep in mind that an event horizon strong enough to effect Earth's magnetic field will also affect the magnetic field of the sun and may precipitate other anomalous activity within the sun and the fundamental forces that govern nature. Almost anything is possible, and some of the events prophesied in the Bible are almost impossible for man to imagine.
In summary, if this basic prediction is accurate, then we have the answer to the paradox of the stars being "made" (not created) on Genesis Day 4. If the old state of the universe (what we see now) went out in a blaze of stellar activity 12,000 years or so ago, then we should be seeing the start of that fossil event sometime soon, just as the Bible says. In any event, it should be quite a light show when it gets here. If you understand this, you won't be one of those "perplexed" at the sight.
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