Young-earth creationists, strictly speaking, can’t believe that there are such things as “supernovas” in the sense in which other people use that term. That term refers to stars exploding in faraway parts of the universe. For instance, the NASA page about one supernova visible in recent memory, SN 1987A, says this: “The star is 163,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud. It actually blew up about 161,000 B.C., but its light arrived here in 1987.” A young-earth creationist has to deny that, and must instead claim that God put the light from the explosion on-route to us at some point. Here’s a photograph of that supernova:

What we have seen in the sky on such occasions, and the remains seemingly left behind by the star’s explosion, are all – according to young-earth creationists – a lie that the Creator has told to human beings. And of course, according to young-earth creationists, that same Creator also supposedly takes great pleasure in those humans who can see that God is a liar (except in and through the Bible), and go around spreading the word to others, all in the name of defending the truthfulness of their interpretation of what is in fact a human book about God.

I think that even most young-earth creationists, if they think about this honestly and carefully, will realize how nonsensical this stance is, and how dishonoring it is to God.

There are other supernovas which, according to mainstream science’s understanding of things, would have happened billions of years ago.

But what if we consider the Crab Nebula, formed by an explosion that could be seen on Earth in the 18th century, which is a mere 6,000 or so light years from Earth, so that perhaps a young-earth creationist could assent to that time frame? They will have to say that the star did not explode for the reasons scientists say they do, reaching the end of their long stellar lifespan, but simply because God willed it. So here too, a young-earth creationist has no choice but to deny mainstream science. All of it: observation, physics, astronomy, and chemistry, and not just geology and biology.

If you are a young-earth creationist, do you really believe that this is what God desires from you? Do you not realize that in denying the evidence from creation itself, you are making Paul (and thus the Bible) out to be a liar, too? For in Romans 1:20, Paul writes, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature–have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”

Paul says that God’s invisible qualities can be clearly seen and understood from creation. The young-earth creationist stance, on the other hand, says that looking at creation does not give accurate information about God’s majesty, power, and activity in creation.

And let’s not forget Psalm 19:1, which says “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

And so given that young-earth creationism is both antiscientific and antibiblical, isn’t it about time that its adherents gave it up?