The issue of distant starlight goes something like “since we see light from stars that are millions of light years away, then it took millions of years for the light to reach us, therefore the universe is millions of years old”.
This line of reasoning is based on a not just observations, but also a large number of presumptions – some of which are incorrect…
The speed of light being constant – false, observations indicate that it was faster in the past. Experiments have also been conducted that have slowed and/or bent light.
Time is rigid – false, rate of passage of time is impacted by gravity and the speed at which an object is traveling
Uniformitarianism – assumption that the same natural laws and processes that operate in the universe now have always operated in the universe in the past and apply everywhere in the universe.
Naturalism – assumption that nature is “all there is” and everything can be explained using natural laws. Being that there are supernatural, spiritual, and multi-dimensional components to reality, then we can expect existence of phenomena that defies our ability to explain based on our current understanding of natural laws.
The question to ask concerning assumptions is: “How do you know?” How do you know that light has always traveled at the same rate? How do you know that the decay rate of a particular radioactive material has always been the same? How do you know there is nothing beyond the natural laws?
The fact of the matter is that even “big bang” supporters have a distant starlight time-travel problem of its own and there is yet a satisfactory model to explain observations.
Gen 1:14-19 – And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
Ps 104:2 – Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain (Isaiah 40:22; Isaiah 42:5; Isaiah 45:12; Jeremiah 10:12; Jeremiah 32:17; Jeremiah 51:15)
Light-travel time: a problem for the big bang
http://creation.com/light-travel-time-a-problem-for-the-big-bang
‘Ripples’ of galaxies—another blow to the big bang
http://creation.com/ripples-of-galaxies-another-blow-to-the-big-bang
Does Distant Starlight Prove the Universe Is Old?
https://answersingenesis.org/astronomy/starlight/does-distant-starlight-prove-the-universe-is-old/
Distant Starlight—The Anisotropic Synchrony Convention
https://answersingenesis.org/astronomy/starlight/distant-starlight-thesis/
Distant starlight and Genesis: conventions of time measurement
http://creation.com/distant-starlight-and-genesis-conventions-of-time-measurement
Distant Starlight and the Big Bang
http://www.icr.org/article/8767
Starlight and the Age of the Universe
http://www.icr.org/article/starlight-age-universe/
Distant Starlight and the Age of the Earth
http://www.icr.org/radio/248