Anthony Pritchard
Well-Known Member
The Uneven Universe: Why Time Passes at Different Rates Everywhere
Part two of the Time Series - The Physics of Time.
One of the most stubborn assumptions behind deep‑time cosmology is the idea that time is uniform. The argument is simple: if a galaxy is two hundred million light years away, then its light must have taken two hundred million years to reach us. Distance equals chronology. Observation equals history. But this assumption collapses the moment we ask a basic question: does time pass at the same rate everywhere in the universe?
It does not. In fact, it cannot. Modern physics has proved this beyond dispute.
Time is not absolute. It is affected by gravity, velocity, cosmic expansion, and the very act of God stretching out the heavens. Nowhere in the universe does time pass at exactly the same rate.
1. Gravity changes the rate at which time passes
Einstein’s general relativity demonstrated that gravity slows time. The closer you are to a massive object, the slower time passes for you relative to someone farther away. This is not theory. It is measured fact.
A clock at sea level runs slightly slower than a clock on a mountain. A clock on Earth’s surface runs slower than a clock on a satellite. The difference is small but real, and it matters. GPS satellites orbit in weaker gravity, so their clocks run faster. If we did not correct for this difference, GPS would drift by miles every day. Aircraft navigation would fail. Your phone would not know where you are.
If time passes differently between sea level and orbit, then it certainly passes differently between galaxies and cosmic voids.
2. Velocity changes the rate at which time passes
Einstein’s special relativity adds the second factor. The faster an object moves, the slower time passes for that object relative to a stationary observer. This is velocity time dilation.
Einstein illustrated this with a simple thought experiment. Imagine a ruler flying past at enormous speed with a tiny observer riding on it. To the little man, his own clock ticks normally. To the outside observer, his clock runs slow. Both perspectives are correct within their own frames of reference.
Velocity changes time. Gravity changes time. Both effects operate everywhere in the universe.
3. Cosmic expansion changes the relationship between distance and time
The universe is not static. It is expanding, and according to secular cosmology it expanded far faster in its early stages than it does today. Rapid expansion means that the relationship between distance and time is not linear. A galaxy that is two hundred million light years away today was not two hundred million light years away when its light began traveling. The space between us has stretched.
If space is stretched, time is stretched.
If expansion changes, time changes.
Distance does not equal age.
4. Scripture says God stretched out the heavens
This is not only a scientific reality. It is a biblical one. Scripture repeatedly says that God stretched out the heavens.
Psalm 104:2 says, "Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain."
Isaiah 40:22 says, "That stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in."
Isaiah 42:5 says, "Thus saith God the Lord... that stretcheth forth the heavens."
Isaiah 44:24 says, "I am the Lord... that stretcheth forth the heavens alone."
Jeremiah 10:12 says, "He hath made the earth by his power... and hath stretched out the heavens."
If God stretched out the heavens, then space itself was altered by divine act. And if space is altered, time is altered. Stretching space changes gravitational potential, changes the rate at which time passes, and changes the relationship between distance and chronology.
Scripture presents a dynamic creation, not a static one. The heavens were stretched, not left in a fixed naturalistic state.
5. The unavoidable conclusion
When we combine gravitational time dilation, velocity time dilation, cosmic expansion, and the biblical act of God stretching out the heavens, one conclusion becomes unavoidable:
Time does not pass uniformly anywhere in the universe.
Not between sea level and orbit.
Not between planets and stars.
Not between galaxies and cosmic voids.
Not between the early universe and the present.
Not between regions of stretched space and regions of unstretched space.
This means that light years cannot be treated as fixed chronological units. They are measurements of distance, not measurements of time. Deep‑time cosmology assumes a uniform universe that does not exist.
6. The biblical implication
Genesis does not present a universe governed by uniform naturalistic processes. It presents a universe created by God, with instantaneous maturity and immediate function. Genesis 1:14 says, "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth." That is purpose, not chronology. To insist that light must travel millions of years before fulfilling its created purpose is to impose a naturalistic grid onto the biblical witness.
Deep time is not the biblical witness. It is the interpretive grid imposed on the biblical witness.
And modern physics, ironically, supports the biblical claim far more than the deep‑time assumption. The universe is not uniform. Time is not uniform. And distance is not age.
© A.K. Pritchard 1979, 2026 – Free to use with proper attribution.
Part two of the Time Series - The Physics of Time.
One of the most stubborn assumptions behind deep‑time cosmology is the idea that time is uniform. The argument is simple: if a galaxy is two hundred million light years away, then its light must have taken two hundred million years to reach us. Distance equals chronology. Observation equals history. But this assumption collapses the moment we ask a basic question: does time pass at the same rate everywhere in the universe?
It does not. In fact, it cannot. Modern physics has proved this beyond dispute.
Time is not absolute. It is affected by gravity, velocity, cosmic expansion, and the very act of God stretching out the heavens. Nowhere in the universe does time pass at exactly the same rate.
1. Gravity changes the rate at which time passes
Einstein’s general relativity demonstrated that gravity slows time. The closer you are to a massive object, the slower time passes for you relative to someone farther away. This is not theory. It is measured fact.
A clock at sea level runs slightly slower than a clock on a mountain. A clock on Earth’s surface runs slower than a clock on a satellite. The difference is small but real, and it matters. GPS satellites orbit in weaker gravity, so their clocks run faster. If we did not correct for this difference, GPS would drift by miles every day. Aircraft navigation would fail. Your phone would not know where you are.
If time passes differently between sea level and orbit, then it certainly passes differently between galaxies and cosmic voids.
2. Velocity changes the rate at which time passes
Einstein’s special relativity adds the second factor. The faster an object moves, the slower time passes for that object relative to a stationary observer. This is velocity time dilation.
Einstein illustrated this with a simple thought experiment. Imagine a ruler flying past at enormous speed with a tiny observer riding on it. To the little man, his own clock ticks normally. To the outside observer, his clock runs slow. Both perspectives are correct within their own frames of reference.
Velocity changes time. Gravity changes time. Both effects operate everywhere in the universe.
3. Cosmic expansion changes the relationship between distance and time
The universe is not static. It is expanding, and according to secular cosmology it expanded far faster in its early stages than it does today. Rapid expansion means that the relationship between distance and time is not linear. A galaxy that is two hundred million light years away today was not two hundred million light years away when its light began traveling. The space between us has stretched.
If space is stretched, time is stretched.
If expansion changes, time changes.
Distance does not equal age.
4. Scripture says God stretched out the heavens
This is not only a scientific reality. It is a biblical one. Scripture repeatedly says that God stretched out the heavens.
Psalm 104:2 says, "Who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain."
Isaiah 40:22 says, "That stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in."
Isaiah 42:5 says, "Thus saith God the Lord... that stretcheth forth the heavens."
Isaiah 44:24 says, "I am the Lord... that stretcheth forth the heavens alone."
Jeremiah 10:12 says, "He hath made the earth by his power... and hath stretched out the heavens."
If God stretched out the heavens, then space itself was altered by divine act. And if space is altered, time is altered. Stretching space changes gravitational potential, changes the rate at which time passes, and changes the relationship between distance and chronology.
Scripture presents a dynamic creation, not a static one. The heavens were stretched, not left in a fixed naturalistic state.
5. The unavoidable conclusion
When we combine gravitational time dilation, velocity time dilation, cosmic expansion, and the biblical act of God stretching out the heavens, one conclusion becomes unavoidable:
Time does not pass uniformly anywhere in the universe.
Not between sea level and orbit.
Not between planets and stars.
Not between galaxies and cosmic voids.
Not between the early universe and the present.
Not between regions of stretched space and regions of unstretched space.
This means that light years cannot be treated as fixed chronological units. They are measurements of distance, not measurements of time. Deep‑time cosmology assumes a uniform universe that does not exist.
6. The biblical implication
Genesis does not present a universe governed by uniform naturalistic processes. It presents a universe created by God, with instantaneous maturity and immediate function. Genesis 1:14 says, "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth." That is purpose, not chronology. To insist that light must travel millions of years before fulfilling its created purpose is to impose a naturalistic grid onto the biblical witness.
Deep time is not the biblical witness. It is the interpretive grid imposed on the biblical witness.
And modern physics, ironically, supports the biblical claim far more than the deep‑time assumption. The universe is not uniform. Time is not uniform. And distance is not age.
© A.K. Pritchard 1979, 2026 – Free to use with proper attribution.
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