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Exodus 20

8. "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

10. but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.

11. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

2 Peter 3

10. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

Answers in Cosmology

A Review of Dr. Russ Humphreys' A Young-Earth Relativistic Cosmology by David J. Tyler (Dr. Humphreys' book: Starlight and Time)

Creationists who believe in short timescales of Earth history have had a few problems with cosmology. Criticisms of the standard Big Bang model have often been made, often drawing on voices of dissent coming from the academic community. However, the positive statements of a creationist cosmology have yet to emerge. These statements must address three crucial phenomena.

1. Light from distant galaxies. The distances are immense, with some of the estimated times of light travel measured in billions of years.

2. Galactic red shifts. The light from distant galaxies is shifted towards the red end of the spectrum - for which an explanation is needed.

3. Cosmic microwave background. Low level microwaves permeate space and are observed to be remarkably uniform in all directions.

The Big Bang cosmology has been successful, of course, because it does have an explanation for these cosmological data. It maintains

1. that the universe is billions of years old;

2. that the universe is expanding and

3. that the microwave background represents radiation that was generated during the initial stages of the Big Bang.

Russell Humphreys presented two papers at the conference: one discussing 'A biblical basis for creationist cosmology' and the other detailing `Progress toward a young-earth relativistic cosmology'.

In the first paper, he argued that the Bible does provide a foundation for cosmological thinking. It was suggested that the 'expanse' (or 'firmament' KJV) is the place where the sun, moon and stars are: interstellar space. The waters above the expanse were understood to be a water boundary to the created universe. The birds fly, not 'in the expanse', but 'in the face of the expanse' - referring to the atmosphere of the Earth. (This perspective led to a reconsideration of the Canopy theory - which was rejected as neither biblically-based nor scientifically necessary.) Several biblical texts refer to God stretching out the heavens: these were understood to mean that 'God stretched out space itself at some time in the past'. This is an important point of the reinterpretation, as it is linked with a relativistic expansion of the universe during creation week.

Humphreys considered the word 'deep' (tehom) in the Bible (Genesis chapter 1 verse 2) and suggested that it should be understood as ordinary liquid water. The cosmological model that was developed from this framework considers all the galaxies in the universe to have been formed from the waters of this 'deep'. Based on an estimated mass of the universe of 3 times 10 to the power 51 kilograms, Humphreys calculates that the 'deep' would be a sphere of water with a radius of at least 1 light year. Since the expanse is formed in 'the midst of the waters' (Genesis chapter 1 verse 6), it follows that the Earth must be at or near the centre of the universe.

Humphreys suggests that the Bible teaches a cosmological geocentricity.

The paper covers much more ground than can be reviewed here, but the 6 general conclusions are listed below. They all have relevance to the proposed relativistic cosmology.

1. Matter in the universe is bounded.

2. The universe has expanded.

3. The Earth is near the centre of the universe.

4. The universe is young as measured by clocks on Earth.

5. The original matter God created was ordinary liquid water.

6. God transformed the water into various elements by compaction.

The question of how a biblically-based cosmology could be constructed was addressed in the second paper. Humphreys drew attention to the necessity of presuppositions when formulating cosmological models.

Stephen Hawking and George Ellis have written: '...we are not able to make cosmological models without some mixture of ideology'. Their work makes use of the Copernican Principle: the universe has no edges and no centre - it looks everywhere broadly the same. This principle, it is important to note, is not a conclusion of science, but an assumption thought to be valid.

The implications of the Copernican Principle for modern cosmology are profound. Humphreys argues that when these ideas are expressed mathematically and applied to the equations of general relativity, they result in Big-Bang cosmologies. Humphreys looks again at general relativity theory, but using different presuppositions. These are: the universe is of finite size and has a boundary; the Earth is near the centre; the cosmos has been expanded by God in the past; the cosmos is young. The picture that emerges is dramatically different from the Big Bang. The following scenario combines Humphreys' biblical framework and the results of his research into general relativity theory.

When the 'deep' was created, it was a black hole. Under gravity, it collapsed and the temperature, pressure and density increased to the stage where thermonuclear reactions occurred and nucleosynthesis took place.

Intense light was everywhere inside the black hole. The collapse is considered to have lasted one day - and then, in a creative act of God, the black hole was converted into a white hole. The result was a rapid, inflationary expansion of space. This is when the waters above the expanse, the expanse and the waters below the expanse were differentiated. With expansion came cooling - and at about 3000 Kelvin, atoms would have been formed and the expanse would become transparent. Thermal radiation in the expanding expanse would be very uniform and the temperature would continue to drop. At the end of expansion, the temperature reached 2.76 kelvin (which we observe today).

At some time during the expansion, the shrinking event horizon would approach the centre of the white hole - the Earth. Whilst this is suggested to have occurred on the morning of the 4th Day (Earth time), the time dilation effects of relativity theory permit 'billions of years worth of physical processes [to take] place in the distant cosmos'. Stars and galaxies formed, and time elapsed so that light was able to travel to every corner of the universe. Hence, Adam and Eve, on the 6th Day (Earth time) were able to look into the expanse and see the splendour of the heavens.

The model thus claims to explain all three of the cosmological phenomena mentioned earlier: light from distant galaxies, galactic red shifts and the cosmic microwave background. It suggests that time elapsed at different rates on Earth and in the expanse (6 Days Earth time and billions of years cosmological time, possible because the Earth is at the centre of the universe).

The status of Humphreys' work is that of hypothesis. 'I consider this paper only the outlines of a theory'. He acknowledges that much work has to be done to take it beyond 'qualitative answers' to cosmological phenomena. The quantitative effects of time dilation require detailed research. He also points to the potential for providing explanations for many of the anomalies encountered by conventional theories - including a possible observational disproof of the Copernican Principle.

The claim that this is a biblically-based cosmology must also be addressed. Does the biblical history really provide this framework for cosmology? Christians should be cautious about the reception and use of these ideas until scholarly debate has taken place.

Even if Humphreys is wrong in his biblical interpretation, he has contributed significantly to cosmological studies. We have known that presuppositions are important for the Big-Bang theory - but Humphreys has worked this through in some detail. Furthermore, he has demonstrated that with different presuppositions, different conclusions are possible. A door has opened - Christian students of cosmology will find this research a great stimulus to their own thinking.

Genesis 1

{The Creation - 1a AM, 710 JP, 4004 BC}

1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

2. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3. Then God said, "Let there be light''; and there was light.

4. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness.

5. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

6. Then God said, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.''

7. Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so.

8. And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

9. Then God said, "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear''; and it was so.

10. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

11. Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth''; and it was so.

12. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

13. So the evening and the morning were the third day.

14. Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years;

15. "and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth''; and it was so.

16. Then 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.

17. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth,

18. 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.

19. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20. Then God said, "Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.''

21. So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

22. And God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.''

23. So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24. Then God said, "Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind''; and it was so.

25. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26. Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.''

27. So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

28. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.''

29. And God said, "See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.

30. "Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food''; and it was so.

31. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

Genesis 2

1. Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished.

2. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

3. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

4. This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,

As a layman scientifically, not sure if hyperinflation refers to faster than the speed of light. If it does, then the original light that inflated was broken and does appear older than it is. And at what point does gravity created that first day take over and slow the speed of expansion? And at what point is the expansion reversed. 2 Peter 3:10 may refer to a fulfillment.

Did a huge meteor strike the earth and facilitate the flood and a 365.25 orbit? Perfect 10 – 360 orbit. I guess we could say our whole solar system was impacted that day, some 4300 years ago.