Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
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Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
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Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
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If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evolving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
Rules For the rest of the Site also accessible on the sidebar.
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Confirmed New Record for Most Distant Galaxy BY JAKE HEBERT, PH.D. | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 09, 2026 https://www.icr.org/article/new-record-most-distant-galaxy/
A galaxy with the designation MoM-z14 has recently been confirmed as the most distant galaxy ever detected.1,2 By Big Bang reckoning, we are seeing this galaxy as it was just 280 million years after the supposed Big Bang. This shocked conventional scientists, because slow, gradual, evolutionary processes should not have been able to form such a “remarkably luminous”2 galaxy in such a short time.
Big Bang scientists have been greatly surprised by the number of “surprisingly bright” distant galaxies revealed by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which seems to be about a hundred times greater than predicted by theoretical models.1 Such data from JWST has greatly exacerbated the “mature distant galaxy problem” that has long plagued Big Bang cosmologists.3 The most distant galaxies are billions of light-years away, so Big Bang cosmologists assume that light from those galaxies took billions of years to reach Earth. Although this may seem reasonable, this assumption is open to serious challenge.4 Nevertheless, according to Big Bang cosmology, we should be seeing these very distant galaxies, not as they are now, but as they were shortly after the Big Bang. Since star and galaxy formation should take many millions of years, theorists were not expecting to see many galaxies in the “early” universe, and those that did exist were expected to be unevolved and immature. Yet data from the James Webb Space Telescope have been shattering these Big Bang expectations.5,6
The existence of these “early mature” galaxies is so surprising that astronomers designed the Mirage or Miracle (MoM) survey to test whether these galaxies really are as distant as they appear. Hence, this most distant galaxy is designated MoM-z14, with the “z14” referring to its apparent high redshift of 14. Astronomers recently confirmed that this galaxy’s very high redshift is real, and this implies that it is indeed very, very far away. This is why the title of their paper declares MoM-z14 to be a “cosmic miracle.”2 Thus, Big Bang scientists must now attempt to explain how such a bright galaxy can exist just 280 million years after the Big Bang, when until just very recently, it was mainstream dogma that the first stars—let alone galaxies—did not appear until 400 million years after the Big Bang.6
It should also be noted that MoM-z14’s nearby surroundings seem to be partly ionized, with atoms that have gained or lost electrons. Yet, virtually every Big Bang reionization model predicted very little ionization 280 million years after the Big Bang.2
Despite popular hype, the Big Bang model is in tatters, with a “growing chasm between theory and observation.”1,7 Bible-believing Christians should be encouraged by this. The existence of mature distant galaxies is better explained by biblical creation than the Big Bang, since the Lord Jesus could create whatever kind of galaxies He wished, wherever He desired. He created our universe and continues to “[uphold] all things by the word of His power” (Hebrews 1:3), and, despite the misguided assertions of some Christian apologists, He did not need the help of the Big Bang to do so!
References
Downer, B. Webb Pushes Boundaries of Observable Universe Closer to Big Bang. Phys.org. Posted on phys.org January 28, 2026, accessed January 30, 2026. Naidu, R. P. et al. 2026. A Cosmic Miracle: A Remarkably Luminous Galaxy at zspec = 14.44 Confirmed with JWST. Open Journal of Astrophysics. Preprint. Posted on arxiv.org January 28, 2026, accessed January 30, 2026. Hebert, J. ‘Early’ Spiral Galaxy Surprise. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org May 1, 2020, accessed August 22, 2022. Dennis, P. W. 2018. Consistent Young Earth Relativistic Cosmology. Proceedings of the International Conference on Creationism. 8: 14–35. Hebert, J. 2022. James Webb Telescope vs. the Big Bang. Acts & Facts. 51 (11): 14–17. Hebert, J. Webb Telescope Continues to Challenge Big Bang. Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org January 26, 2023, accessed June 6, 2025. Hebert, J. New York Times Editorial: Big Bang Unraveling? Creation Science Update. Posted on ICR.org September 14, 2023, accessed January 30, 2026.
I've never understood the concept of a giant exploding mass of sub-atomic particles being able to join to form hydrogen, and then later converging to form stars, that then produce denser elements, and then later form other stars and planets. I believe this theory has as much believability as creation of life from non-living components.
The question "Why is there something rather than nothing?" is one of the most profound in philosophy and science, often attributed to Martin Heidegger, who called it the fundamental question of metaphysics.
Materialist just can't get around this question.
If there was ever a 'state' of absolute Nothingness, there would still still be an absolute nothingness.
The human mind can't imagine absolute nothingness. The best they can do is 'empty space' which is something.( We use words that only apply to existence)
Empty space has height, wide, length, time (Time because it takes time to get from point A to point B) & something to maintain it's existence.
I love seeing science unsettled.
For all we know, God could have created it yesterday.
1 Cor.15:12 Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. 14 And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. 15 Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. 16 For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. 17 And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 18 Then also those who have [c]fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.
Little bit encouraging