LRA: Did Distant Starlight Arrive Instantaneously?
One can stipulate the one-way
speed of light without violating
relativity, says an astrophysicist
In a live presentation for Logos Research Associates this month, Dr Jason Lisle defended a startling claim: General Relativity allows one to stipulate the one-way speed of light. So why not use the Biblical synchronicity standard, that the light from the universe arrived on Earth instantaneously?
This strikes most people as arbitrary. But Lisle, with a PhD in astrophysics, explains that we can only know the round-trip speed of light due to the limitations of measurement. If it was the purpose of God to make the stars visible to Adam and Eve, then He could make incoming light infinite in speed and outgoing light 1/2 the speed of light. Even Einstein assumed that c (the speed of light) is constant in every direction, but admitted it was a choice—a preference—a factor that the researcher stipulates instead of measures.
Leading astrophysicists agree that humans can only measure the round-trip speed of light. The physics of General Relativity work despite the one-way speed stipulated, and the observations match.
Lisle’s claim is part of his broad model he calls the Anisotropic Synchrony Convention (ASC). It’s hard to argue with him when he made three predictions of what the James Webb Space Telescope would find before it was deployed. All of them were confirmed—while the three opposite predictions of Big Bang theory failed spectacularly. Big bang theorists are struggling to explain the existence of mature galaxies too close to the proposed Big Bang, and have no answers. On the other hand, mature galaxies from the beginning would be expected by Biblical creationists.
In addition, Lisle mentioned that other leading relativistic models dealing with the light-distance problem by creationists are foundering, and their proponents are now tending to agree with his ASC model.
Watch Dr Jason Lisle’s presentation for Logos Research Associates, presented 11 March 2026, and see if he defends his position to your satisfaction. At the end, Dr Lisle answers questions from viewers.
Comments
The different speeds of light fails the common sense feeling. Do we have an instance of something going through the same media and traveling different speeds? Water waves, sound waves, sonic booms, earth quakes, radio waves, thunder – all go at pretty much the same speeds both ways. But quantum effects seem to never go at a common rate. Very strange things happen and the different speeds seems very strange especially at instant speeds.