I had thought to skip this thread. I am confident that MM has his views set and is convinced that they are THE CORRECT view of scripture and believes this video supports his position. To tell the truth, I am also pretty convinced of a contrasting (old Earth) view of creation. I am further convinced that while much can be difficult, the Lord has created the universe to be studied, particularly to find out about His nature.
This talk is about as reliable as those of Flat Earthers. He makes a statement that he is unconvinced of the discoveries of science and then materially misstates basic scientific views and then demonstrates his lack of knowledge of the techniques of stellar observation.
I encountered several of the concepts back in the 1970’s when I was taking courses at the local city college. I can remember our physics prof demonstrated the measurement of the speed of light using spinning mirrors. We then went out to the field and shot a laser at the moon, timing how long between the shot and the reflected pulse (The Apollo astronauts left an array of mirrors on the moon that were designed to reflect light back to its point of origin). Actually, it surprised me that it could be done during the day, but after adjusting for ambient light the detector was able to ‘see’ the spike in energy. Back in the classroom, we compared this data with a table of actual distances adjusted for the elliptical lunar orbit as well as the altitude of our school maintained by the astronomy department, and it matched well.
Contrary to the statements and implications in the video statements, Science does NOT state that the speed of light is constant. What it does say is that the speed of light within a given medium is constant. When a specific value is given, it is usually the speed of light in a vacuum which describes most of interstellar space (other than a few wisps of gas and dust). The science of optics tells a great deal about the bending of light as it passes through different media. Such scientific artifacts as lenses and prisms are built on the bending of light. He goes on to point out that light bends in gravity, etc, which sits well within scientific knowledge. What he does not say (to his dubious credit is that light speed changes haphazardly, or in an unknown manner. The constancy of light (again within a given medium or interstellar space) means that it is a great tool in understanding how the universe works. Astronomers have since Galileo continually refined the amount and reliability of their measurements. They observe visible light, infrared light, radio waves, interferometry, and gravity waves, etc. All this is possible because God wants us to know Him (the Creator) through creation. All of this shows us the orderliness of God.
The guy on the video also seems unfamiliar with how parallax is used to observe the position of stars. He seemed to think there is an appreciable uncertainty in the location of telescopes used in parallax measurements. But when observatories are constructed (or new instruments are installed), observatories perform a series of star measurements using well known stars. This allows them to fine tune the calibration of the observatory to minimize the uncertainty. The observatory knows its location within a foot or so in each direction, including altitude. This is much better than GPS (even military wartime GPS, which is much more accurate than standard). The point is that astronomers are used to ultra precise measurement (at least when necessary). And NOTHING noted thus far when incorporated in a unified view of the universe even hints at a young universe. There are many unknowns, but not knowing does not mean taking anything as fact.
He did not even address the other ways distance and speed is measured. Things like cephid variables (which provide reliable distance measurements), Red Shift which uses spectral lines to judge the speed of recession (and, incidentaly the distance) of the star.
Now, the worse thing that a reader may do is to take what someone calling himself Siloam (I.E. me) says. If you are comfortable with your understanding of creation, and it is a young Earth view, that is fine. This isn’t salvation, and I could always be wrong, But realize that if you are going to work in the sciences, particularly in Astronomy, or Geology, or the life sciences, be ready to hear about an old earth and/or universe.
