Scientific Faith versus CEC Faith

Faith is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Western science and Christianity are both faith-based. Christians believe that Jesus is the god-man who died for our sins, rose again and promised to return in triumph to establish justice and peace on Earth.

1. The simplest definition of science is having observational knowledge of nature. The biblical authors observed nature, which did not conflict with their faith in the unseen Creator.

2. Western science is SYSTEMATIZED knowledge built upon a foundational assumption. Generations of scientists built a SYSTEM of intertwined definitions, methods, mathematics and laws on faith in a fundamental premise.

What is the scientific fundamental premise? The Greeks debated for centuries seeking for a first principle as a foundation for a natural science. The problem they struggled with was that if matter changes as it ages (the fundamental premise of ancient people), what is true today will not be the same in some other era. The Greeks called this "what IS becoming what IS NOT.” Fifteen hundred years later the Catholic scholastics chose Aristotle's assumption that some underlying property of all things (hypokeimenon) remains unchanged. Aristotle insisted that all knowledge must be built on changelessness, even though none is observed. Generations of Western scientists constructed their fundamental definitions, empirical measuring units and experimental methods on the assumption that matter is not changing relationally. If matter changes relationally, its attributes shift together in an orderly manner. If that is the case, even the scientific definitions, measuring units, mathematics and instruments shift with the changing atoms.

Can a Christian be a scientist? Anyone can study nature with eyesight, as in the simple version of science. Eyesight is not based on faith. Today, many creation scientists combine their faith in Jesus with their faith in the basic assumption upon which the western SYSTEM was built. These scientific creationists have been unable to explain how the evident age of the universe fits with the biblical chronology of only 6,000 years.

Changing Earth Creationists have no problem with vast eons during only 6,000 orbits of the Sun. CEC simply accept the literal statements of the Bible that are in conflict with the historical faith of western science. The Bible plainly states that the creation is enslaved to change. It even states that gold is presently corrupting itself. It even predicts that in the last days mockers will obfuscate the history of the plural heavens with the notion that all things remain the same. For these biblical reasons, CEC reject the western scientific faith.

Instead, CEC interpret natural history with the principle that matter continually changes with age. With telescopes, we see the past back to the creation era. In hundreds of billions of examples, the farther the galaxy, the slower its atoms clocked. The proof that this is real is seen in the visible history of galaxies. Galaxies started out as tiny, naked globs, without starry appendages. At many ranges we observe how the star streams continued to accelerate outward as the atoms also accelerated their clock frequencies. Billions of galaxies shot out jets and quasar-like blobs as star streams spread out into huge, local, dusty, growth spirals. The Bible plainly states that God created the plural heavens first before He formed the Sun, Moon and stars and placed them in the raqiya - the spreading place. God continually calls the stars to come out. He continually spreads out the plural heavens like a tent. Indeed, in the plural heavens (shamayim) knowledge is available to all of His great glory.

The biblical principle of change allows CEC to also interpret earth history biblically. Three times the Bible states that the Earth spreads out in unbroken continuity. Indeed, even across the Pacific, the continents fit together on a minuscule globe without major seas. A global expansion seam runs through every ocean forming new earth crust in the seas. The theory of subduction is clearly denied by the undisturbed, layered sediments in the ocean trenches.

What was life like for the earliest humans? Huge dinosaurs roamed the warm Earth that today would be too heavy to stand. Ancient people grew huge thick brows as they lived for geological ages, just like Job described in chapter 14. He even mentioned how the sea (west) dried as a marker for how short life was in his days (compared to the lifetimes of his ancestors). Indeed, drill cores from the Mediterranean support Job’s account that the Mediterranean dried up. Canyons thousands of feet deep were incised into solid rock (such as at Cairo) during the era when the Mediterranean was largely empty. Today the lower Nile has filled with sediments almost to the level of the modern sea. Clearly it took geological ages to incise deep canyons into granite and then gradually fill them with sediments as the sea level rose. What causes days and years to shorted from one generation to the next, as old man Jacob stated in Genesis 47:9?

1. Ancient atoms were relationally different from modern atoms.

2. The propagation delay of “gravity” impinges more on the trailing side of the Earth than on the leading hemisphere. This gradually forces both orbits and rotations to accelerate. Why can't we measure this with clocks. Because all clocks visibly accelerate in billions of galaxies. Evidently gravity's cause is the degeneration of matter. Ancient people measured a much larger angular solar parallax which continues to decrease even during the 2004 Venus transit.

3. Time does not exist. Solomon stated that God put time (olam - eons) in our minds so that we cannot find out the work God has done from beginning to end (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Scientists measure most things with their concept of linear time. Yet we can directly compare the rate of ancient atoms and orbits with modern ones - by visually accepting galactic history.

4. God will do as He promised, use His Word to bring down the great fortress of speculative reasoning raised up against the knowledge of God: western science.
Credit for the picture of NGC-1300 goes to ESA and NASA. When we compare the shape of NGC 1300 with countless primordial galaxies we observe galactic history. Early galaxies were naked without starry appendages. In the case of NGC 1300, apparently the rotating core first shot out opposing jets to form a bar. As the matter distanced itself from its tohu bohu state at the core, blue clumps of tightly packed together stars spread out, spiraled out as the galaxy grew into a giant growth spiral. Galaxies cannot intrinsically grow unless the properties of matter are emerging.

The Milky Way's Ring

Astronomers used Herschel’s sub-millimeter instruments to detect a ring at the heart of the Milky Way. The ring is twisted like a figure 8 and is spinning as a unit. The ring sits in the middle of a bar which also rotates. From the ends of the bar, spiral arms spread out to form the disk of the Milky Way. Another faint ring of stars surrounds the outermost spiral structure of our galaxy. Distant galaxies are sometimes easier to image than the dusty interior of our own galaxy. This is NGC 1097 with its central ring, bar and spiral arms emerging from the end of the bar. The right-hand image is a view of the central ring.  The central ring looks a lot like a primordial galaxy without diffuse appendages.  A miniature galaxy has distorted one spiral arm.

How did spiral galaxies form? Most astronomers claim stars gravitated from the dust of a big bang. Some stars and gas gravitated into black holes, which in turn attracted more stars. The stars spiraled in toward the black holes like marbles moving down grooved funnels. Eventually they picked up enough momentum to jump to the next grove in the funnel, which caused them to line up in the spiral arms. Astronomers claim the stars are orbiting the central hole in the opposite direction from the sweep of the  arms.

The Hebrew creation account conflicts with all scientific stories about beginnings. First Elohim finished creating the plural heavens (galaxies) and the Earth.  At that early stage, the Earth had no form. Then Elohim continued to command light to continue to be. Evidently that is when matter began to have extension in space. Indeed, anyone with sight can see that matter has an intimate relation with light. Later Elohim continued to form, rather than create, the stars. He must have used the formless substances created on the first day. He then placed the Sun, Moon and stars in the spreading place (raqiya) in the plural heavens (shamayim). One would expect from the literal text of Genesis that the Sun, Moon and stars are continually spreading apart. Indeed, generations of astronomers have continued to measure a decreasing optical solar parallax. Even the 2004 Venus transit showed a considerably larger Astronomical Unit than the canonical radar values, established using clocks as the measuring standard.

The most powerful evidence for creation is galactic history, the only history that we observe exactly as it happened. We see that the farthest galaxies were dense clumps without starry appendages. Evidently the most-distant galaxies contained a great deal of tohu bohu (formless substances). We observe the periodicity of how the stars formed because blue globs are lined up with equal spacing, like beads on a necklace, around what previously were naked cores. At many ranges and all directions we observe how the clumps accelerated out in lanes, one behind the other. The clumps spiraled out, spread out, took up more space as galaxies grew from the insides outwards. We can see at many ranges that the stars are not rotating against the sweep of spiral galaxy arms but following each other outwards along the arms. We observe creation exactly as recorded in the text of the Bible. We see with sight in countless examples that the stars came out from billions of previously created naked cores.

What could cause galaxies to grow in violation of every law of science? The Bible plainly states that the creation is enslaved to change, Greek phthora. It states that God calls the stars to come out in unbroken continuity. He continues to spread out the plural heavens like a tent. We confirm biblical cosmic history in billions of galaxies. We see how galaxies grew, often into huge, local, growth spirals. We observe how the inertial properties and atomic frequencies keep changing as the star streams accelerate outward, taking up more space - as galaxies grew from the insides outward.

To counteract the visible history of the universe, scientists have invented a mathematical cosmos that is 99% invisible. They claim a tiny bit of vacuum exploded and created everything out of nothing. They believe that invisible matter far outweighs the natural kind. They have faith that the vacuum of space-time changes the frequencies of passing light, stretches itself out thus moving galaxies with vacuum forces. Allegedly invisible matter in galaxy clusters bends the light so that what is visible in the cluster is a mirage.

Why do scientists weave so many myths about the history of the cosmos when in all parts of the spectrum it is visible? Their structured science was built on a single idea, the very idea the Bible predicted for the false teachers of the last days - that all things remain the same. They define a host of invisible things and measuring units with their concept of time, which depends on their assumption that atoms are immutable, unchanging as they age.

If you found some pottery shards and the pieces fit together into a clay pot, then certainly it once was a pot. Earth continents fit together but only on a minuscule planet without major seas. The Bible states three times that the Earth spreads out in unbroken continuity. Indeed, we find a global expansion seam in every ocean continually forming basaltic, young earth crust. Subduction is impossible since the layered sediments in the “subduction trenches” are undisturbed.

How great will be the fall of western science before the power of God’s word, for His great glory. How will it happen? The glory of God is visible in the raqiya the spreading place, the shamayim - the plural heavens.


NASA gets credit for the images of NGC 1097 - which the author assembled into a film strip.

Did God Create Space-time?

I posted an article, “How long were creation Days” on the OriginsTalk list back in December 2009. James Bogden responded. I printed out the message intending to answer but a busy schedule got the better of my intentions. I recently found the print and this is my belated response, posted here for the convenience of those who do not participate in the Northwest Creation Institute’s list but might be interested in the subject of time.

Mr. Bogden made the following statement. “Ecclesiastes 3 seems to acknowledge time quite clearly, remarking on God’s perfect timing and the everything will be accounted for in time. Time is coupled to space. According to the Bible, Space-time are made from nothing: Hebrews 11:3.” James went on to elaborate on the existence of space-time, evidently building on the Augustinian notion that God created time in the beginning. Augustine speculated that God was eternal, that is outside of time, and sees all of time at once.

The Bible NEVER states that God created time nor does it state that God is eternal, that is outside of time. Genesis 1:1 does not specifically mention time. First God finished creating the entirety of the heavens and earth. An untranslated word (the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet) shows that He created the sum total of the heavens and Earth first. At that stage the Earth was not extended in space, having no form. It did not begin to have extension until God continued to command light to continue to be. Evidently God’s commands continue, since the continents only fits together on a tiny globe, without major seas and matter clearly is a relation with light.

Lets examine Hebrew 11:3 to see if James is right, that God created space-time out of nothing. "By faith we understand that the aionas (the plural eons) were prepared (katartizoo) by the word of God." The phrase “word of God” is NOT logos, but God’s command - rheemati Theou. The verb translated prepared is perfect, passive infinitive: to once for all fit out, equip, put in order the plural eons. He did not actively create the eons. The plural eons passively came about as a result of the command of God.

Solomon stated that God put olam (Septuagint translation - eons) in our minds (Hebrew heart). It is because of this concept of time that Solomon says we cannot understand all that God has made from beginning to the end - yet things were beautiful in their event time (eth). Neither time nor space-time have an actual existence. No one has detected either one. The ability to organize our lives with time ideas is essential to all societies and God put that in our minds. He created a changing universe. He placed the Sun, Moon and stars in the spreading place (raqiya) in the plural heavens (shamayim) and this passively resulted in the plural eons. We observe with telescopes the evidence for the plural eons in the distant heavens. The only history that is visible as it happened is galactic history. Clearly plural eons have passively occurred since we can see back to the creation era in hundreds of billions of galaxies at many ranges (eons).

How could eons occur in only 6,000 years? All ancient people acknowledged that the first generations lived in the great time. They believed, like Jacob, that the days and years of the children are shorter and worse that the days and years of the fathers (Genesis 47:9). Job explained what it was like living for geological ages in chapter 14. He mentioned that the sea (west) dried up as a marker for the length of a lifetime. Drill cores from the Mediterranean clearly show that it repeatedly dried up and refilled through Gibraltar. Job also mentioned how their faces changed, doubled, before God took them away. Indeed, we find the old one’s skulls with huge thick brows. The skull is the only part of our skeleton that keeps slowly growing with age. Since the Neanderthal child skulls look much like moderns, it is evident that they were not genetically different; they just lived for geological eons. Yet the ancient genealogies only record a few thousand years. This is not a problem for Changing  Earth Creationists, since we acknowledge that everything continually changes as the Bible so clearly states. We confirm that matter and orbits continue to change in the visible history of galaxies. We observe billions of star streams accelerating along with the accelerating atomic clocks. What we see confirms the very things God says He continues to do - call the stars to continually come out and continues to spread out the plural heavens (galaxies) like a tent.

The graphic is from NASA showing Gravity Probe B allegedly being perturbed by the warped vacuum of space-time. Where did scientists get their concepts of warped vacuums, time and space? They assumed that the properties of matter are fixed, not emerging and used this to invent an empirical system based on the concept of atomic perpetual motion. We observe ancient light, optically. The most distant atomic clocks ticked at tiny fractions of the rate of modern clocks. The most powerful evidence for the changing plural eons is how the star streams continued to accelerate out, take up more space, as countless spiral galaxies spread out into growth spirals.
Look at the plural heavens, the galaxies, and you will see the evidence for His great wisdom, power and glory (Psalm 19).  

Against Galactic Doppler

When you hear a siren coming toward you, you pull over and stop, as the law requires. When the ambulance passes (no longer approaching - but moving away) the sound suddenly shifts to a lower frequency, due to relative motion. If the ambulance travels along a street perpendicular to where you are parked, but a kilometer away, the siren changes monotonically because the relative speed (at an angle) is gradually changing. Doppler is a pseudo effect because we can find a reference frame in which it disappears (the driver of the ambulance).

Local electromagnetic waves show moderate Doppler effects. However, the light from primordial galaxies is radically shifted, compared to the Sun’s spectra. Edwin Hubble theorized that this is due to Doppler shifts. Supposedly, the recession speed of distant galaxies increases with distance. Eventually astronomers discovered “Doppler shifts” that would require speeds faster than light. This makes no sense scientifically, even when the speeds are adjusted to slightly less than the velocity of light. Scientifically, there is not enough “energy” in the universe to accelerate galaxies to near light speed. Astronomers now claim that the long wavelengths are due to a cosmological shift. Allegedly, each galaxy is stationary, relative to its local space but the intergalactic vacuum is spreading. This expansion began with a big bang which caused the vacuum of space-time to expand, thus stretching the light. No one has ever detected any space-time, inflating vacuums or light changing frequency as it passes through a void.

Why do scientists invent ad hoc stories about natural history? Scientific reasoning is based on an elementary assumption that scientists never call it into question. Peter, a disciple of Jesus, prophesied that in the last days mockers will come saying “all things remain the same.” The apostle Paul taught the opposite: the creation is enslaved to change. The mockers will willfully disregard (lanthano) the evidence from the plural heavens (ouranoi) with this idea. Indeed, modern scientists claim the universe is 99% invisible, filled with invisible matter and vacuum processes, because they have faith that the properties of matter are fixed, not emerging.

There is a simple way to explain ancient galactic light without expanding vacuums and invisible matter. Ancient atoms were relationally different from modern ones. If atoms are changing relationally, their properties would change together, in parallel. A scientist could claim, “Our atomic clocks do not vary by even a second in 60,000 years.” Wait! Every atomic clock in billions of ancient galaxies shines at a different clock rate than local atoms. Why then do scientists measure changelessness? Most scientific definitions (such as time); measuring units (such as seconds); methods (such as mathematical formulas) were contrived with the scientific faith that atoms are immutable and dither with perpetual motion. If atoms are changing relationally, scientists could not measure the changes with their operationally defined measuring units and assumption laden mathematics.

We can test between these two incompatible versions of reality, between western science and the words of the Bible. With telescopes, in all parts of the spectrum, we can see back to near the beginning. M51 (NGC 5194) is a magnificent grand design spiral. It must be relatively close since it covers an area of ~ 70 square minutes in our sky. Its light is shifted to 99.8% of the frequencies of local atoms. If this is a Doppler shift, M51 should be moving away at 463 kilometers per second. In the background I have placed a magnified picture of galaxy 3031 from the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. This ancient galaxy covers an area of ~ 3 square arc seconds (1400 times smaller than M51) and its spectra shines at 42% of the frequencies of modern atoms.

M51 has two arms rotated in excess of one revolution. Its arms are seemingly continuous in dust, yet in infrared we see blue clumps with equal spacing along the arms. It has a sibling galaxy at the end of one arm (NGC 5195). HUDF 3031 also has two arms, with a sibling at the end of one arm. The primordial arms have rotated around only about half a turn. The arms are made of distinct bluish clumps that are not buried in dust, yet they have equal spacing, like links on a chain. Evidently HUDF 3031 is what M51 looked like eons ago.

1. Isaiah 45:12b "I stretched out the heavens with My hands And I ordained all their host.” The stretching of the plural heavens and ordaining their host are completed actions in Hebrew. He placed the galaxies at creation, so we should see relatively fixed galaxies and galaxy clusters.

2. Isaiah 44:24b “I, the LORD, am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself and spreading out the earth all alone.” The stretching of the plural heavens (galaxies) and the spreading out of the Earth are both actions that continue in unbroken continuity. Indeed, the continents only fit together on a tiny globe, without major seas. The seas are clearly younger than the continents as new crust continues to form along a global expansion seam.

3. Isaiah 40:26 “Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not one of them is missing.” He continues to spread out the plural heavens (galaxies - not spacetime vacuums) like a tent. Moses wrote that God placed the Sun, Moon and stars in the spreading place, the raqiya. Biblically, we should expect to see stars streaming out of what were originally naked galactic cores.

Astronomers detect wavelength variations at the edges of spiral galaxies. When they interpret this as Doppler, they end up surrounding every galaxy with a halo of invisible matter. Astronomers claim four times as much invisible matter exists as the natural kind. The Doppler calculated rotational “velocities” show the stars moving in the opposite direction (TRAILING) the sweep of the arms. I have placed arrows around M51 to show which direction it is supposedly rotating, according to Doppler.  Visible galactic history, at many ranges, shows that the arms are LEADING (without the wind up problem) as the stars accelerated out from what were originally compact cores. We can follow back through the eons in countless galaxies how blue star globs came out, accelerated out. We see a correlation at many ranges between the accelerating atomic clocks and the accelerating orbits.
 
The Bible commands you to look at the heavens where knowledge is available of His glory. Look at the plural heavens (galaxies) the spreading place (raqiya) with sight instead of a dogma about unchanging matter. We see a biblical version of physics confirmed in the spreading galaxies. We see that the universe has vast age, yet few orbits because the star streams continually accelerate through cosmic history. A few thousand years ago our ancestors mentioned close planet passages. They believed the earliest generations lived for eons as their faces changed. Indeed, we find their skulls with huge thick brows as though they lived for geological ages. They even measured with angles a continually decreasing solar parallax. Test the first principle of western science by examining the light from ancient galaxies.

Credit: The photo of M51 is from NASA's Spitzer infrared telescope. The inset of HUDF 3031 is from NASA's Hubble ultra deep field.