 the Biblical word "star" (Heb: kokab; Gr: aster) is a broader term than our English usage of "star" as an energy source, and includes just about anything in space, but the point is that the stars—and the nearest is 4 1/2 light-years distant—were seen on the first day of their existence. This means that even if the distances are correct, the stars would merely have given the appearance of having been here longer. Therefore, the stars and the light beams connecting them visually to the Earth were both created at the same time.
This concept raises several questions. First, does this not mean that God—like some magician—is intentionally deceiving us by making things appear to be older than they actually are? The question really goes back to the matter of intent: did God intend to fool us, or did He intend primarily to make things fully functional but we are fooled only because we view them with certain uniformitarian assumptions? Therefore, while it is true that the earth and the universe were created with the appearance of age, I think we do better to speak of the creation of a fully functional universe that, as a secondary feature, merely gives the appearance of age.
There are two red herrings that are usually drawn across the trail at this point of the discussion: "Were the trees created with rings?" and, "Did Adam have a navel?" First, the question about the tree rings depends partially on the purpose for which God originally intended the tree rings. We have observed this phenomenon and have noticed a correlation between the number of rings and the age of the tree, but chronology may be a secondary function of the rings, as indicated by certain trees that grow several rings in one year, or none at all, depending on weather conditions. Another possibility here is that God could have accelerated natural processes, so that He did in seconds what would normally have taken years to accomplish. Whether the trees had rings or not, the fact should not be overlooked that they were indeed mature and bearing fruit before the day was over (Gen. 1:11-12).
Now, did Adam have a navel? Probably not, simply because the navel is a remnant of the normal birth process, and not of maturity or functionality. Therefore, for God to have created him with one would indeed be deception, because it would convey misleading information.
The Biblical concept of a fully-functional creation of materials that give the appearance of age can be extended as well to the New Testament. The creation of wine in John 2:1-10 is one example. The fact that the water was not created ex nihilo, but was already in existence is beside the point. Wine is chemically greater than water, and so it does involve a certain amount of ex nihilo creation, and furthermore it gave the appearance of having been aged (John 2:8-10). So it is with the creation of the bread and the fish in John 6:1-13. Normally, bread and fish are the end result of a long growth process before they are finally prepared for consumption. The bread and the fish were created with the appearance of maturity, not because Jesus was doing parlor magic and trying to deceive His audience, but because He wanted the materials to be functional and immediately usable.
There are three "secular" or non-Biblical possibilities to the problem of harmonizing a young universe with the allegedly-great distances of the outer galaxies: (1) the distances may not be that great after all; (2) light may take a "shortcut" as it travels through deep space; (3) the speed of light may have been considerably faster in the past. These three are not mutually exclusive, and may in fact be used in conjunction with each other. The fourth solution, which may be used independently or in conjunction with the above three, is that God created the light beams as well as the stars so that they could be—as indeed they were—seen on the fourth day of the creation week.
l. Many astronomical assumptions are like a house of cards. For example, Hubble's constant, a mainstay in uniformitarian distance calculations, has recently been determined to be con