Articles

Distant Starlight and Biblical Creation

“If the Universe was created thousands of years ago, why do we see distant stars and galaxies?”

This is one of the most common questions about the creationary viewpoint. Some people see this as the strongest challenge to believing in a young Earth.

The basic issue is this: When we look out into space, most of the objects that we see are at vast distances from us. In fact, many are so far away that it seems their light would need millions or even billions of years to get here.

But we see the light from these objects today. Doesn’t this prove that the cosmos is billions of years old?

No, it doesn’t. Here’s why. Read more

2016 Speaking Tour Highlights

Last spring, I announced that I was seeking speaking opportunities. I received (far) more than I could fulfill, but accepted the ones that I could.

No empty seats at my atheism talk at the 2016 Christian Heritage Homeschool Conference.

Ultimately I drove over 10,300 miles, speaking 64 times in 16 different states. My busiest months were May (with 21 events) and July (18 events). 

I’m thankful for all of those who invited me to speak. For those invitations that I was not able to accept this year, perhaps I will be able to do so in the future!

One of the highlights of my travels was a visit with Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty. Read more

Gravity Waves Discovered

I’ve received a lot of emails asking about the recent discovery of gravity waves.

So, here’s a brief summary of the discovery:

1. What are gravity waves? Gravitational waves are a prediction of Einstein’s General Relativity. They are ripples traveling through the fabric of spacetime itself.

Although they were predicted 100 years ago, this is the first time they have been directly detected. (These waves are very weak, so detecting them is a difficult technological challenge.)

2. What was the source of these gravity waves? To produce the waves that were detected, the best model is the collision of two large black holes. Read more

The Dangers of Compromising with the Big Bang Model

Many Christians are eager to ‘prove’ the truth of the Bible by using scientific evidence.

The Big Bang model is a very popular example of this. Many Christian authors have written books endorsing the Big Bang. And there’s at least one ministry that promotes the Big Bang as a “reason to believe” the Bible.

But this is a very dangerous approach. To justify the truth of the Bible with the Big Bang model is a fatally flawed approach. Read more

Pluto: A Brand-New World

After traveling more than 3 billion miles, the New Horizons spacecraft reached Pluto earlier this month. Now Pluto is all over the news, and for good reason.

All the other planets in our Solar System had already been visited by spacecraft. Pluto was the last planet that we hadn’t yet explored.

Oh, wait. A few years ago, Pluto got demoted. It isn’t a planet anymore.

Let me re-phrase that statement then.

Pluto was the last former planet that we hadn’t yet explored.1

Even though we’re only starting2 to get back images and data from New Horizons, the results are already spectacular. Read more

Bizarre Asteroid Discoveries

Where do asteroids come from?

Most secular astronomers believe that they’re leftovers from the formation of the Solar System.

Supposedly, there was a big cloud of gas. From the gas, dust formed. From the dust, rocks formed.

The rocks stuck together to become asteroids. The asteroids stuck together to become bigger asteroids (known as “planetesimals”). The planetesimals then stuck together to become planets.

As I discussed in my first astronomy DVD, there are lots of problems with this idea. Nevertheless, most secular astronomers believe it anyway.

(Why? Because all the alternative secular ideas have even worse problems.)

And so they believe that the asteroids we see in the Solar System today are left over from this primordial building process. The asteroids are supposedly planetesimals that never gathered together to make more planets.

They’re just boring chunks of rock—the leftovers of a process that was finished eons ago.

But somebody forgot to tell the asteroids that they’re supposed to be boring… Read more

Earth’s Water and Creation

Did you know that the Earth doesn’t have any water on it?

Yup. It’s bone-dry.

Or at least it should be, according to the nebular hypothesis (the standard secular model for the origin of our Solar System).

The nebular hypothesis says the Solar System formed out of a big cloud of gas. As the cloud shrank under the force of gravity, various chemicals condensed out of the cloud and became liquid and/or solid, eventually aggregating into the planets and other objects we see today.

This model makes predictions about how the condensation could have occurred. And it turns out that the Earth is too close to the Sun for water to have condensed out of the cloud here.

Therefore, even though 70 percent of our planet’s surface is covered with water… even though the oceans, on average, are over two miles deep… even though you are made up of mostly water…

…the secular model for our Solar System says the Earth shouldn’t have any.

Obviously, this is rather embarrassing for secular astronomers. How do they explain this?

Read more