I wanted to post this in the BDF, but it's not directly about the Bible....
I've been reading Bones of Contention by Marvin Lubenow (1992). It is an in-depth analysis of human/hominid fossils an how they are typically interpreted according to evolutionist theories. Lubenow also included some chapters on other subjects related to Creation, including one on the Big Bang.
In a nutshell, he states that methods of time-measurement with regard to the universe are inherently tied to a specific cosmological model, because the model itself determines how the raw data are interpreted. In other words, the results of determining the age of the universe (and its components) is, in a very important sense, predetermined by the model one uses. He quotes Sir Bernard Lovell's response to a question on quasars on p. 201:
"If you ask me how far away those objects are [and hence how old], then the answer is the extraordinary one that you cannot calculate the distance unless you know what cosmological model applies to the universe. The distance is so much on the Big Bang model so much on the Steady-State Theory, and it has another value if the constants in the cosmological equations are different and the universe is in a cyclical condition." (italics in Lubenow)
In other reading I have discovered that both the steady-state and cyclical models have since been rejected through scientific study. That leaves the Big Bang, which retains the circular reasoning for the age of the cosmos. Lubenow puts it this way further down the same page, "In reality, the time scale of fifteen billion years is a result of the Big Bang model" (italics in original).
As a believer in the truth of Genesis, I wasn't holding to the Big Bang model anyway, but this is good material for discussing the issues with old-earth creationists and others who try to mix creation with long ages. Lubenow's summary on p. 204 made me laugh, " (it is) not just a mixing of apples and oranges. It is a mixing of apples and walruses."
I've been reading Bones of Contention by Marvin Lubenow (1992). It is an in-depth analysis of human/hominid fossils an how they are typically interpreted according to evolutionist theories. Lubenow also included some chapters on other subjects related to Creation, including one on the Big Bang.
In a nutshell, he states that methods of time-measurement with regard to the universe are inherently tied to a specific cosmological model, because the model itself determines how the raw data are interpreted. In other words, the results of determining the age of the universe (and its components) is, in a very important sense, predetermined by the model one uses. He quotes Sir Bernard Lovell's response to a question on quasars on p. 201:
"If you ask me how far away those objects are [and hence how old], then the answer is the extraordinary one that you cannot calculate the distance unless you know what cosmological model applies to the universe. The distance is so much on the Big Bang model so much on the Steady-State Theory, and it has another value if the constants in the cosmological equations are different and the universe is in a cyclical condition." (italics in Lubenow)
In other reading I have discovered that both the steady-state and cyclical models have since been rejected through scientific study. That leaves the Big Bang, which retains the circular reasoning for the age of the cosmos. Lubenow puts it this way further down the same page, "In reality, the time scale of fifteen billion years is a result of the Big Bang model" (italics in original).
As a believer in the truth of Genesis, I wasn't holding to the Big Bang model anyway, but this is good material for discussing the issues with old-earth creationists and others who try to mix creation with long ages. Lubenow's summary on p. 204 made me laugh, " (it is) not just a mixing of apples and oranges. It is a mixing of apples and walruses."
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