Christian cosmology: The Mature Creation View
The Mature Creation view is a variant of the 24-Hour view.
Based on various Christian literature and comments from readers of Cosmology Curiosity, the Mature Creation view features the following --
(a) the universe was created in six 24-hour days, per Genesis 1;
(b) when the cosmos was created, it was inevitable that there was an appearance of age (or appearance of maturity, or apparent age);
(c) for instance right after the creation: Adam & Eve appeared to be mature adults; redwood trees looked hundreds of years old; rocks, water-lain deposits, & geologic formations looked thousands to millions of years old; and stars and galaxies appeared to be billions of years old; and
(d) it should not come as a surprise thus that certain rocks would indicate millions of years of age per rubidium-strontium testing, in the same manner that a sequoia tree would yield growth rings indicative of hundreds of years of age, and Adam would show physiological features of that of a mature human.
Dr. John Byl in God and Cosmos (2001) observes:
"Mature creation, radical as it may seem, does have a number of distinct points in its favour. Since it refers to the past, no present or future observations or experiments can refute it. Nor is it contrary to reason, there being nothing illogical about such on origin of the universe. Thus it is beyond observational and logical disproof." [p. 196]
More on Mature Creation on the next posts.
Related post: Christian cosmology: The 24-Hour View
Technorati Tags: Bible & science, Christian cosmology, cosmology, creationist cosmology, Genesis, religion & science
Byl's last comment above says it better than my comment to the immediately previous posting.
I would add to Byl: mature creationism also has in its favor that it authorizes scientific investigation of old stuff. It just modifies the way one should reason from that stuff. Rather than concluding 'very old, hence not God', or 'very old, hence some sort of gradual change', one ought conclude 'very old, hence this is the kind of creation necessary for people'.
Posted by: Roy | January 10, 2007 at 09:03 PM
What do Christian cosmologies have to say about dark energy?
Dr.Nick
Posted by: Dr. Nick Tavani | February 22, 2007 at 01:17 PM
Hi Dr. Nick,
Looks like Christians vary in opinion, from the dismissive, to ones where dark energy was actually incorporated in their search for a scripture-based (scientific) cosmology model.
Just the same, we've seen both young earth and old earth creationists allude to the 'stretching of the heavens' as mentioned in the Bible, as basis for the observed expansion of the cosmos. Pls see earlier post: http://woodside.blogs.com/cosmologycuriosity/2006/07/the_bible_on_th.html
And said expansion is supposed to be 'fueled' by dark energy.
It's actually a peculiar situation as presently formulated: 72% of the cosmos [dark energy] is trying to repel the clumps of visible matter [5% of the cosmos, i.e., the galactic super/clusters, including you and me], which clusters are being held together by unseen matter [the 23% dark matter].
For other references, here are articles on dark energy by Christian websites --
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From Reasons to Believe, an old earth creation (OEC) camp --
Getting Brighter on Dark Energy
Monday, October 2nd, 2006
http://www.reasons.org/blogs/average_joe/?cat=2&paged=2
Q: What is dark energy?
A: It’s when your kids defy you after sunset, make noise, and refuse to go to bed.
Not really, but trying to understand dark energy seems as much fun as trying to corral sugar-high, rowdy kids at 10 p.m. So why is dark energy such a big deal?
Scientists tell us that dark energy (also called space energy density) comprises about 72 percent of the universe, but you can’t see the stuff. This mysterious component repels space away from itself, thereby moving the objects in space away from each other. It’s kind of like pushing together a spring with two small objects taped to the ends. When you let go of the spring, the objects move away from each other (only they keep moving, and at an accelerating rate). Researchers caution that there’s much yet to learn about dark energy. Like gravity, though, you better respect what you can’t see or you might get hurt. The “hurt” is a long-term process, because you get stretched into oblivion. In other words, dark energy is the self-stretching property of the universe’s space fabric.
RTB astronomers tell me this phenomenon is like a balloon being stretched out as you blow it up. If you were to put a few ink spots on the balloon prior to blowing it up, those dots would represent the “ordinary” matter of the universe. That includes frazzled parents, unruly kids, and the toys you just tripped over—anything made up of protons and neutrons (4.5 percent of the universe). Those dots continue to expand as the balloon inflates and, since we’re on the dots, we expand too.
At least two things about dark energy make it worthy of a layperson’s attention: (1) astronomers have discovered that this mysterious matter accelerates the universe’s expansion rate (think of galaxies moving farther away from each other), and (2) humans live at a time when the expansion rate allows us to observe the universe. This is a bad news/good news scenario, depending on your worldview.
From a naturalistic perspective humans get to live in, study, and appreciate the universe for a while, but ultimately the universe and all life will cease to exist. No consciousness, no memories, no hope.
From a Christian perspective, scientific confirmation of dark energy validates the Bible—“I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens” (Isaiah 44:24). Humans live at a time when we can observe the Creator’s handiwork and offer him praise, all the while anticipating—with great hope—the creation to come as promised in the Scriptures.
I have to admit, though, that for me the dark energy I get excited about most comes in the form of a chocolate bar after finally forcing the kids to bed so I can log on to check e-mail.
Resources:
Creation as Science, by Hugh Ross, 47-48, 70-71.
Hugh Ross, Fine-Tuning for Life in the Universe (Updated August 2006)
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From Answers in Genesis, a young earth creation (YEC) camp --
Hubble sees dark energy’s youth
http://www.answersingenesis.org/news-to-note/1118.asp
The idea of “dark energy” is an interesting sign of problems with the big bang. A survey of 23 supernovae has revealed that “the stars are further away than would be expected if the Universe were expanding without the added force of dark energy to push things apart.” In other words, the predictions of the big bang regarding where the supernovae should be are wrong. The solution? Introduce the “fudge factor” of unobserved dark energy.
Cosmologist Sean Carroll puts it best: “We still don’t understand some very basic things … [e]very clue on dark energy is important.” Indeed, it seems as though anytime a hole is found in the big bang model, these scientists have faith in some just-so model of resolution.
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Posted by: MK | February 22, 2007 at 11:24 PM
this article is wrong the Bible doesn't say that God created the earth in six 24 hour periods, it say six ages meaning we do not know how long one age is
Posted by: kumeru | September 08, 2008 at 11:14 AM
Two approaches make sense to me, and both have Biblical precedent. Neither require advanced math, or black/white holes. (1) Since God created time, controls time and sustains time, He can make time pass as quickly or as slowly as he wishes. See 2Kings 20:9-10 where the shadow on the sundial went backward, or Joshua 10:12-13 when the day was extended in the fight against the Amorites. My favorite is when Jesus withered the fig tree. How could he do that? By locally (around the tree) accelerating the speed of time. So why couldn't God accelerate his universe to whatever degree was needed so it would be "mature" before he rested on the seventh day? (2) And as for the problem of a fictional past associated with the universe being created "in transit", how is the water to wine incident, or the creation of fish and bread, any different. What makes for good wine (and according to scripture, the wine was remarkably good)? Vines in the right soils, glowing with the right nutrients, grapes being picked at the right time, juiced, bottled, aged, etc. All of this registers on our taste buds. Was it taste bud "fiction" since the wine never went through any of the normal steps? How is this, in microcosm, different from the macro creation question. I can't yet see that it is.
Posted by: David Karns | December 23, 2008 at 06:19 PM