Question for our scientists and science buffs

[hyphenate]

As most of us know, we have witnessed tremendous events far beyond our reach in other galaxies and in other places in the wide expanses of outer space. In fact, we have pictures of many of these far away places, either in visual or radio waves.

Many of these places are so many light years away that when we are looking at an image of them, we have to remember that the "picture" we are seeing of them are showing actually what took place millennia ago, because the way speed of light and light years are measured it is difficult to grasp the concept of something we're seeing "now" as really being that far in the past.

My question is this: if the speed of light and the fact that these things are hundreds of thousands of light years away are not just theories but actual, concrete premises, why is it so difficult for creationists to accept that the earth is also hundreds of million years old? If time can be measured in such a fashion looking into the past such as calculating distance in light years, why can't creationists simply accept the fact that if the universe were only as old as these people think it is, that we could see no further into space than the accounted-for ten thousand years? Of course, I don't expect any rational response from the right wing, but I thought this alone is compelling enough evidence to show those morons at least one tendril of proof.

[GAspnes]

1. "tired light"

They only *seem* to be billions of miles away...the light has slowed down during its travel and they're only 6,000 years away.

[sendero]

2. You forgot..

.... your smilie. Or your </sarcasm>

[GAspnes]

7. I was serious

/serious off

[BiggJawn]

3. Never heard that one before...

Usually it's some variation on a theme of the flawed Science of Man, vs. the Perfection of GAWD....

[baldguy]

4. God lies to us.

Those things He put there to make fools of the secularists and lead astray those that .are less than faithful

[Merope215]

5. fundie science

One time, I read a LTTE in my local (GA) paper from a guy who was appalled that evolution, and _geology_, was being taught in the public schools, because anyone who's read the Bible knows that the earth is surrounded by a copper dome, and on the other side of the dome is water (I'm not sure about the details, and I don't want to look it up). So if you think the astronomy think is whack...it gets worse!

[Swede]

6. They play drunken twister trying to explain dinosaurs too.

Or seashell fossils in the HImalayas. Or carbon dating. Or......well we all get the picture.

[Dark]

8. They'll say that God made the light travel faster than uh. . .light.

:shrug:

[Hans Delbrook]

9. Because there are none so blind as those who will not see

Every creationist I've ever argued w/ (unfortunately a lot) will admit when I ask them - "If you were presented w/ incontrovertible facts in support of evolution - would you then believe in it?" Their answer - besides being that it can't happen because they already know it isn't true - was NO. The bible trumps science. And they can't understand why most rational scientists don't want them teaching ANYTHING in a science class.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

10. Tonight on Hardball, Judge Roy Moore said evolution can't be proved

He said there's no scientific proof of evolution, therefore creationism must be given equal time with evolution in our public schools. This is coming from a Judge who presumably went to college and sat in judgement on complex matters of fact and law.

[TlalocW]

11. A response that I got from a religious nutjob was

We can't really be sure if any of our science is right so we could be completely off on how light travels. So since he's not a science buff, he prefers to trust the Bible (or at least his interpretation of it).

I asked if when he takes a math test if he will use 3 for Pi since from the information in I Kings 7:23, that's what the Bible basically says it is.

In college, some friends and I wanted to stage an Operation Rescue-type demonstration (we were all from Kansas so we had a lot of experience with them) in front of the math department demanding that they make PI = 3 just to make it easier on us. We were going to lie down in front of the doorways and yell at people entering the building, "THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE DOING!"

I was a math major by the way.

TlalocW

[GAspnes]

12. funny

You should have done it. Not that it would have done any good.

[Ready4Change]

13. "God works in mysterious ways."

The nuclear bomb of religious excuses.

Regarding light from distant objects, perhaps God, who is all powerfull, created that light in such a way that it would appear to us to have been travelling longer than it has. Or perhaps God allowed Lucifer to create such a lie.

This was done to test our faith. Would we believe the gospel, or would we allow ourselves to be led astray by the wickedness of knowlege?

(PS, I don't buy any of that. It's just the type of reasoning I've heard when these matters are discussed.)

[Fleshdancer]

14. I don't know. I'm still arguing the credibility of carbon dating with my

fundy mother in law. *sigh*

[JI7]

15. some say it's God trying to "test" their faith

and it's all based on belief so it almost becomes impossible to debate.