This is the online edition of In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood, 8th Edition (2008), by Dr. Walt Brown. It is designed to be read online.
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If the Sun and Stars Were Made on Day 4, What Was the Light of Day 1?
Light from the Sun and other stars is not the only way to illuminate the earth and produce day-night cycles. The light of Day 1 may have been a consequence of the instantaneous creation of matter. To understand why, some basics must first be explained.
Before planets, plants, and people could be created, fundamental forces had to be created including the gravitational force and the electrical force. All things on earth—rocks, the chair you are sitting in, and your body—are pulled toward the center of the earth by the gravitational force. The atoms in each object are held together by powerful electrical forces.
Gravity. The Bible seems to mention the beginning of gravitational forces. In describing earth’s earliest state, Genesis 1:2 says, “And the earth was formless and void, ... .” The second half of that verse then states, “... the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.” Could the earth be formless but soon afterwards have a surface? Yes, if gravitational forces suddenly began acting to make a “formless” earth spherical.
The earth’s particles, when created, would have been located at various distances from where they would finally rest after gravitational forces came into existence and pulled the particles together. Likewise, if atomic particles (electrons, protons, etc.) were not created in their equilibrium resting positions within atoms, the newly created electrical forces would have pulled electrons and protons—negatively and positively charged particles—toward each other to form atoms.
Electrons. Suppose electrons were created at various (even tiny) distances from what would become their first atoms. Negatively charged electrons would accelerate, or “fall,” by electrical attraction toward positively charged nuclei. In doing so, they would emit light. Genesis 1:3 may be describing this: “Then God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light.”
Whenever electrical charges accelerate, electromagnetic radiation—which can include visible light—is given off. That is how an antenna works. Electrons surge up and down the antenna at a particular frequency, causing radio, television, or other electromagnetic waves to radiate out at that frequency.
If “a universe” of newly created electrons accelerated (or “fell”) toward atomic nuclei, light with various frequencies would radiate. When light reflects enough times off surrounding matter, everything reaches a common temperature and the space between that matter becomes filled with blackbody radiation.1 If that space later expands, that radiation’s temperature will drop.