How Astronomy Supports Evolution…Yawn. Is anyone else tired of Evolution vs. Creation debates? I know I am. I would rather contemplate the cosmic distance of the sun using the parallax of my own eyes than watch tonight’s’ Bill Nye the self proclaimed “science guy” vs. Ken Hamm debate. So, why am I writing about it? Well, I stumbled upon an article online the other day while I was catching up with the news. Here is an excerpt:
A recent Pew survey has found that one third of Americans believe that humans and other living things have existed in their present form since the dawn of time. That’s one third of the adult population who reject evolution, which is the bedrock theory of biology. Indirectly, they also reject the foundations of geology, physics and astronomy. Much of the commentary about this survey has focused on the religious and political correlations, but let’s look at the science behind the ideas. [Guest Post: How Astronomy Supports Evolution; medium.com]
For all of his intelligence, there are some fundamental aspects of the debate that Brian Koberlein doesn’t seem to understand. That’s not a shot at Brian (I have no idea who he is), but it’s a shot at everyone who makes time to continue entering the fray of this debate on scientific terms. First of all, that portion of the 1/3 of Americans he is writing to that actually do stumble across his article (as I did) will probably not read very much of it. And, it’s not because they aren’t smart. Most of them would agree with most of it, and some would find it interesting. The ones who are particularly interested in science (and there are quite a few of them) already have an understanding of the speed of light, parallax, and trigonometry. They would probably find it boring and shake their heads at statements like this:
If evolution is correct (and it is) then it must have occurred over billions of years, not a mere 10,000 or so. So how do we know — really, really know — that the Universe is billions of years old? It all comes down to a bit of astronomy. [Guest Post: How Astronomy Supports Evolution; medium.com]
Boring? How are you so sure that this article doesn’t hold the lynch pin “facts” to bring some Jesus freak face to face with their primordial slime? It’s simple really. Their resistance to the conclusion that our universe and our grey matter is a product of evolution has nothing to do with understanding the science and math equations related to astrophysics, or any other area of science. It has everything to do with a God who is very real to them. (I know, because that God is also very real to me.) And if, for instance, we believe that God created the universe with the appearance of age…complete with tall trees and belly buttons, then all of your arguments that include time in the equation will surely fall on deaf ears with us. We understand why you think the universe is billions of years old. We just don’t care. I say this because the God who created the universe is Lord over His creation. For example, it would be silly for me to believe that God is able to create a star 1000 light years from earth, but that He is somehow unable to stretch the light from that star to earth, immediately. Did He create a star 100 times the size of our sun and then lament the fact that He would now have to sit and wait for its light to get to earth? Come on. If I believe that an all powerful, all knowing, all beautiful God created the universe out of nothing, then I am convinced that He can do whatever He wants. The Engineer of our universe had no constraints. None.
If you haven’t guessed by now, I am a young earth creationist. I don’t claim to know how young the earth is, but I don’t care about that either. I don’t give it an ounce of thought. And, guess what, my young earth position has absolutely no bearing on my ability to understand how fast light travels from stars to earth. It also has no relationship to my ability to understand how the created world behaves. Now THAT is science. And, it’s the same science that Evolutionists are studying. We only differ on the more philosophical questions related to the origins of the universe. Where did I come from? Why am I here? Is it OK to punch someone if they steal my sandwich? After that, our science is all pretty much the same.
-FEB