Creation Research Database

Critique: Faulkner's Miraculous Translation of Light Model Would Leave Evidence

Hartnett, John G. (2014) Critique: Faulkner's Miraculous Translation of Light Model Would Leave Evidence. Answers Research Journal, 7: 28. pp. 459-461. ISSN 1937-9056

Abstract

In this critique, John G. Hartnett evaluates D. R. Faulkner's proposed solution to the creationist starlight travel-time problem, which posits that God miraculously accelerated light across space on Day Four of Creation. Hartnett argues that Faulkner's proposal lacks substance and fails as an adequate solution. First, Hartnett points out that the concept is not novel, noting he previously considered and dismissed an identical ad hoc miracle model in 2007. Second, he asserts that the model presents a severe physical dilemma: if standard physical laws applied during the accelerated light transport, scientists should observe massive blueshifts or redshifts in distant astronomical objects, which are absent in observational data. Alternatively, if God suspended all physical laws to prevent such observable artifacts, the hypothesis becomes completely untestable and unrefutable. Hartnett contrasts this approach with his expectation that creationist models should rely on testable physics, maintaining that while miraculous acts occurred during Creation Week, observable distant phenomena must be explainable through known, coherent physical laws.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: Q Science (General) > QB Astronomy > QB495 Descriptive astronomy > QB495.2 Stars. Stellar Evolution. Distant Starlight
Q Science (General) > QC Physics > QC350 Optics. Light
Depositing User: Admin
Date Deposited: 04 Sep 2026 23:46
Last Modified: 04 Sep 2026 23:46
URI: https://crsq.creationresearch.org/id/eprint/1831

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