Monday, May 2, 2011

What Time Is It?

Einstein showed us the link between time and the speed of light. Time is a relative thing and depends on the variables of density and light's speed, to name two. I have been a Creationist of the long periods of time variety. There had been too much scientific evidence for an old earth and a 13+ billion year old universe for me to think otherwise. This was a strain for me because the Bible text appears to want "day" (yom) to mean a 24 hour period of time. There are good arguments for believing both old earth and 24 hours creation periods. The "gap" theory is one and it could be right. God's viewpoint from the infinite density of the singularity compared to the viewpoint of current universe's density is another intriguing conjecture by Gerald Schroeder. But increasing evidence of inconsistency in some variables affecting time from the beginning until now is finding its way into accepted scientific publications. I don't have the best articles but here are a few recent mentions to get us thinking.

If the speed of light has been slowing over time, then time measurement is tipped on its head. Science will oppose this concept to the death. Too many sacred cows would go to hamburger helper. I had considered this speed of light question bogus but am warming up to it in light of increasing discussions and questions. Barry Setterfield, a researcher who most scientists view as between Captain Kangaroo and Hitler, has done a lot work on the subject. I ignored Mr. Setterfield because of how others viewed him. Maybe we should give him more credence. World Net Daily has a good article summarizing Mr. Setterfield's ideas. Life would not be complete without rebuttal to Mr. Setterfield's article. Are you impressed by the open minded humility? Here is a better rebuttal to the slowing of light.

WMAP measurements of background radiation supports old earth and pegs time to the Hubble red shift figures so I'm not holding my breath on this whole light slowing thing.

Other strange things seem to be tampering with time measurements. Decay rates always thought to follow a predictable curve may not be so predictable after all.

If our measuring stick is mis-calibrated, the house we built may not be the size we believed.

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