While I often disagree with him (he rejects macroevolution and is an Evangelical Protestant in theology), Hugh Ross wrote the following response to the “You weren’t there!” “argument” young-earth creationists tend to use against an old universe and old earth, among other things which was pretty good:
This assertion assumes that since no human was around to observe cosmic creation and God’s transformation of the universe into its current condition, no human can have any factual basis for theories on cosmic origin and development. Thus, many young-earth creationist leaders insist on calling astronomers’ observations and calculations about the universe’s age “pure speculation.” As Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis said:
There were no observers to these long ago events. (Ken Ham, “Were You There?” Back to Genesis, no. 10 [October 1989]: b)
No one was there to record these past events . . . . Scientists only have the present—they do not have the past. (Ken Ham, “Billions, Millions, or Thousands—Does It Matter?” Back to Genesis, no. 29 [May 1991]: b)
In one sense, the case is exactly the opposite. Astronomers don’t have the present; they have only the past. They cannot observe or record present events. But they can observe and record all manner of past events. For instance, when astronomers observe the Sun, they’re recording the physics of God’s solar creation from eight minutes ago, when the light of the Sun began hits journey to the astronomers’ telescopes. When astronomers observe the Crab Nebula (4,000 light-years distant), they’re recording the physics of God’s creation 2,000 years before the birth of Jesus. In observing the Andromeda Galaxy, astronomers are witnessing physics from 2 million years ago. In detecting the tiny ripples in the cosmic background radiation, astronomers are measuring the universe when light first separated from darkness, when the universes was just 0.0003 percent of its present age—just 380,000 years after the creation event.
Because of the time it takes for light to travel from stars, galaxies, and other sources to astronomers’ telescopes, these telescopes operate like time machines carrying us into the past. Astronomers literally measure the heavens to see what God did in the past. In answer to the question “Were you there?” astronomers can reply, “Yes, God allows us to directly observe in real time what happened in the past.” (Hugh Ross, A Matter of Days: Resolving A Creation Controversy [Colorado Springs: Navpress, 2004], 172-73)
