Tension, not extension in creation cosmology
Published: 12 August 2014 (GMT+10)
For a considerable period of time modern biblical creationists as well as non-biblical creationists, like the progressive creationists (with an old earth/big-bang-embracing worldview) have used many biblical texts to argue that Scripture supports cosmological expansion of the universe. In 2011 I reviewed those texts.1 What I found was that to suggest that they describe cosmological expansion of space, with galaxies being spread out in space using the often-quoted rubber-sheet analogy, is not justifiable and is really eisegesis.
The straightforward meaning is that of God constructing the heavens above and the earth below as a description of His preparation of a habitat for man. The metaphors used are of putting up a tent or canopy, which does not stretch like a rubber sheet.
Even though the texts do not rule out the notion of cosmological expansion, because they are silent on the matter, they do not explicitly describe it. Therefore I believe if we
- properly exegete what the Scriptures say, and
- are as faithful to the text as we know how in developing our cosmologies (really cosmogonies; cosmogony is the description of the origin of the universe), God will lead us into the truth.
We may not in our lifetimes discover exactly how He created the universe, but it is also the case that if we are not faithful to His Word we may never find that truth we seek.
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man’s heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11)
Recently I received an email from Russ Humphreys in regards to this matter as it had been discussed on the Creation Research Society site. The email is reproduced here with Dr Humphreys’ permission.
[Posted 24 April 2014]:
Hi Richard and CRS:
Richard, thanks for giving me an opportunity to explain some things that have been on my mind for three years. When John Hartnett first raised the point you raise below (John, Richard gave a link to your [Journal of Creation] article Does the Bible really describe expansion of the universe?) to me in early 2011, I realized he was absolutely right. Scriptures like Isaiah 40:22(b), “Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in”, aren’t comparing the heavens (the space in which the stars exist) to something as elastic as a rubber sheet, which can extend its length and width considerably when we apply tension to it. Rather, God compares the heavens to a fabric, like a curtain or tent material. When we apply tension to ordinary fabrics, such as those available in Bible times, they only increase their dimensions by a few percent. That is not nearly large enough to give the sevenfold or more increase in size that we would need to explain the redshifts we observe. That sent me back to the drawing board on my second cosmology.
I realized pretty soon that a simple increase of tension in the fabric of space, even without much extension of its size, could give us large red shifts. If you go to Figure 4 on page 85 in the article on my second cosmology,2 you’ll see an illustration of a trampoline with a heavy iron ring on it. [See Fig. 1 here.]
The weight of the ring represents the mass of the “waters above the heavens”, and the depth of the dent it makes in the trampoline represents the gravitational potential in the fabric of space within the waters above. It is the tension in the trampoline fabric that supports the ring. If we suddenly increase the tension in the fabric, the ring will start moving upward. It will continue upward until the ring reaches a new point of equilibrium. In the case of the fabric of the heavens, a large sudden increase in the tension could make the fabric move upward for billions of years, since the masses involved are huge. Or, if the tension increased gradually, the movement would continue as long as the increase continues.
This decrease of depth of the dent corresponds to a decrease in the depth of the gravitational potential of the fabric of space throughout the visible cosmos. That would mean the gravitational potential of space would not be the same at the beginning and end of a photon’s flight. It would be greater or smaller at the end of the photon’s trip to us, depending on the rate of increase of the potential. That affects the ratio of the two Phi’s (representing potentials) in eq. (21) (page 89) for the redshift. (With a non-stretchable fabric of space, the two R’s in the equation would have a ratio of about one, thereby dropping out of it.) So it would be the change of potential with distance traveled that would determine the amount of redshift. This turns out to give us a reasonable redshift-distance relation. Other things related to my cosmology work out nicely also.
In summary: we don’t need extension of the fabric of space, merely tension. In the words of the bad guy in Alfred Bester’s 1950’s sci-fi book, The Demolished Man, “Tension, apprehension, and dissention have begun.” I’m working on an update on my 2nd cosmology with these ideas, and I hope to submit it to the Journal of Creation soon.
Best regards in Christ,
Russ Humphreys
Russ Humphreys’ second cosmology is a substantial departure from his first cosmology3,4 though there are some very similar aspects to it. In my opinion the second is another major step forward in the science. He posits the universe as roughly galactocentric with a centre and an edge. The outer edge is delineated by the‘waters above’. (See Fig. 2). In that initial version of the model the universe underwent cosmological expansion as illustrated by the outward pointing arrows in the figure. The point he makes in the email above is that that is not necessary, and sufficient time dilation to solve the biblical creationist starlight time travel-time problem is possible with this model without cosmological expansion, but derived from change in the tension of the fabric of space itself.
This line of argument needs to be fully explored and therefore at present it can only be a research problem that must be subject to a full examination and peer-review. Dr Humphreys wanted me to be clear that readers understood that. Nevertheless, for those who are following these sorts of developments in creationist cosmological models, please pray for this project.
Related Articles
Further Reading
References and notes
- Hartnett, J.G., Does the Bible really describe expansion of the universe?, Journal of Creation 25(2):125–127, August 2011; creation.com/expansion?; recently reposted on biblescienceforum.com. Return to text.
- Humphreys, D.R., New time dilation helps creation cosmology, Journal of Creation 22(3):84–92, December 2008; creation.com/dilation; pdf available at creation.com/images/pdfs/tj/j22_3/j22_3_84-92.pdf. Return to text.
- Humphreys, D.R., Starlight and Time, Master Books, 1994. Return to text.
- His first cosmology used the Klein metric whereas for the second cosmology he found a general solution of what might be called the Schwarzschild metric. Return to text.
Reader’s comments
I compared Gentry's, Humphreys' and Carmeli's finite galactocentric cosmologies, as they were in 2005. See A creationist cosmology in a galactocentric universe. But I know both myself and Russ Humphreys have done much work since then.
1. The waters above were divided from the waters below were divided, and the water available was that which was on Earth. There is not enough water to generate a depression in the space/time continuum.
2. The fountains of the great deep were broken up during the flood and the windows of heaven were opened. Water at the edge of the universe cannot contribute to this.
I think the "stretching out" we read of is a pretty simple description to understand and apply and does not require any application of Einstein's ideas. Initially, the stars and the Earth were close together, then the curtain was opened and the stars were separated from Earth by great distances.
The difficulty, and probably a key to understanding further, lies in whether the stretching out happened after day 4 or if the stars were actually made on day 1. I lean toward the latter.
Your point 2: Humphreys never suggested that water came to flood the earth from outside the universe. The windows of heaven then are not related to the 'waters above' in his interpretation.
I'm just wondering if and how that part of the time dilation model would be altered in his new cosmology.
Am I correct in thinking that neither you nor Dr. Humphreys (today) posit that the "water above" is necessarily anything beyond our detection? I seem to remember that I have once seen you suggest that it can be equated with the so-called "Kuiper Belt" - am I remembering correctly? This seems to be the most plausible solution according to our current knowledge.
Also - if you and Dr. Humphreys' correspondent are correct here (and in your earlier piece) that there is no need to posit the expansion of space - and you make a compelling case - is it still tenable to propose the time-dilation which a creationist cosmogony requires as a result of a gravity well in the Solar System on day four? (Which is, if I understand Dr. Humphreys correctly, the essence of his second proposed cosmology) This has been my preferred solution to date but I, obviously, don't want to continue to advocate it if God's Word doesn't support it. Can you clarify for me?
Your second question relates to what Humphreys is now working on, a time-dilation mechanism that works in a static universe. Yes, he has a mechanism in his second cosmology that can potentially provide that, but you will need to wait until he publishes his idea. That was the point of the article here, to give you some idea of the direction that this research might be heading.
Please understand that all cosmology is like 'thinking out loud.' We cannot interact with the universe, and so at best our models are weak, in that they cannot be proven. At best we can rule out the bad ones that do not conform to observational data.
Neither Humphreys nor I would offer a cosmology as the certain true history of the universe. So it maybe best to take the approach that different ideas, models, provide some answers, and provide importantly an answer to the starlight-travel-time problem, but do not hold to any too strongly. Advocate the Genesis history only as trustworthy, and our 'scratchings on paper' as a feeble attempt to explain the universe we see.
Regarding the other matter I raised: I agree with your basic reasoning on Scripture, but I think that given the large degree of unknowns that still exist in this field, it would be wise to avoid becoming too doctrinaire at this point on any highly specific interpretation (which might be wrong) of poetic language in Scripture, which could have the effect of closing lines of research that might be fruitful. Wouldn't you agree?
On the scriptures, I was trying to show that we should not be too dogmatic, as I believe the previously held position of it meaning 'cosmological expansion' was. So let me put it this way, I don't rule out the latter, but I simply argue that you cannot conclude from the Hebrew scripture texts that cosmological expansion by factors of 10 or 1000 or 10^30 was ever meant by the writers (and hence the Creator).
I know people want a clear cut answer to these types of issues, but maybe that is why we have Ecclesiastes 3:11. So as stated above, we should be faithful to scripture and press on to look for models that fit the universe we observe.
Humpheys first cosmology posited a white hole that was local to the solar system with the enclosing mass that created the white hole being "separated" and used to fabricate everything else in the cosmos.
It will be fascinating to see what you guys come up with.
I do think it is possible, however, to take the Bible's poetic language of the 'stretching out of the heavens' too literally, if you will. Do you think it is really wise to break it down to the extent of distinguishing between 'tension' and 'extension"?
Is there not a possibility of getting trapped in an overly restrictive interpretation of the Bible's poetic language in this matter, and possibly being led into a scientific dead end as a result?
Also, I wonder if you could comment on how this affects the problem of the speed of stars at the outer limits of spiral galaxies, which seems to defy intuition, which I believe you dealt with in terms of the expansion of space in a DVD you made not too long ago? Or possibly it was a DVD by someone else, but I think it was you. I was really intrigued by that explanation and I'd like to know your thoughts on that as regards this change from 'extension' of space to 'tension'.
Thanks, and thank you for your articles on all of this. Thanks to Dr. Humphreys for his work also.
In terms of motion of stars in spiral galaxies, it depends on the cosmology you apply. I applied Carmeli's to that problem, which was not Humphreys' model anyway. But a static universe may not have a direct bearing on galaxy rotation curves. It depends on what comes with it. But we need to explain those observations, as they are quite anomalous. It would be nice to not invoke dark matter, which just seems too bizarre.
On redshift: It could be a Doppler effect, but it could be also from other causes. See for example, The heavens declare a different story!
But Humphreys read the scripture as saying the 'waters above' were above the expanse, which put them outside all the stars, outside the universe. That is explained in his book "Starlight and Time".
With this letter from Humphreys and considering the nature of your prior work as described in "Starlight, Time and the New Physics", can I infer that a local mass induced temporal effect as an explanation for the young Earth and old Cosmos is now a passe idea?
http://www.sci-news.com/astronomy/science-universe-not-expanding-01940.html
By the way, on the same webpage, there was an article on another interesting topic, saying that researchers found that Homo floresiensis is just a modern human with Down syndrome.
God bless.
As you point out with Ecclesiastes 3:11, God has ensured we will not understand all God has done, and we can be assured there will be pleasant surprises along the way. The Bible does give us some fundamental expectations, which will be realised with science. It also gives us a framework, eg that God made all things by His Word (Hebrews 11:3). This has come up, over and over, in scientific discovery (ie DNA, information science and the coherent structure of the universe).
Any argument which fights against the knowledge of God, is a good one it seems.
The bible expresses things poetically not scientifically, but the basic premise is that he stretches out the heavens.