total laymen here,
Why would the LORD not be able to manipulate the speed of light in the same way he made an ax float on water, made the sun and the moon stand still, made water gush from a rock, and birthed Jesus from a virgin?
Actually, some of the most vocal dismissals of this very thing are conservative YECers. There are several serious scientific and theological conundrums that accompany adopting such a position. I'm not completely for sure if you are thinking the "light in transit" theory, but if so here are a couple issues. A quote from
AIG:
"Some Christians have proposed that God created the beams of light from distant stars already on their way to the earth. After all, Adam didn’t need any time to grow from a baby because he was made as an adult. Likewise, it is argued that the universe was made mature, and so perhaps the light was created in-transit. Of course, the universe was indeed made to function right from the first week, and many aspects of it were indeed created “mature.” The only problem with assuming that the light was created in-transit is that we see things happen in space. For example, we see stars change brightness and move. Sometimes we see stars explode. We see these things because their light has reached us.
"But if God created the light beams already on their way, then that means none of the events we see in space (beyond a distance of 6,000 light-years) actually happened. It would mean that those exploding stars never exploded or existed; God merely painted pictures of these fictional events. It seems uncharacteristic of God to make illusions like this. God made our eyes to accurately probe the real universe; so we can trust that the events that we see in space really happened. For this reason, most creation scientists believe that light created in-transit is not the best way to respond to the distant starlight argument."
Their concerns and mine are that, just like the Christian's refusal of the RC mass for the antirationality of that "sacrament," the one holding such a position seem to suggest that the Lord is "tricking" us. So these concerns run parallel. The Confessors say, in regards to the Mass, "VI. That doctrine which maintains a change of the substance of bread and wine, into the substance of Christ's body and blood (commonly called transubstantiation) by consecration of a priest, or by any other way, is repugnant, not to Scripture alone, but even to
common sense, and reason." (bolding mine.) Also, the stars are said to be given as useful demarcation tools. "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." Gen 1:14. Can they be said to be "good" and worthy tools to establish durations of time and yet not give us correct information? If they are just fabrications or ornaments, then they do not serve that purpose at all. In terms of Adam's maturity, for example, he was never said to be a landmark for marking human maturity/aging. Likewise, the floating axehead from Elisha's life was not meant to teach us about buoyancy, but to confirm a prophet's authority/authenticity. Imagine if the Scripture said that this Elisha passage was to teach us about buoyancy. We'd be drowning and losing much more of the things we set "afloat" given the ordinary properties of water. But, like you, I'm a complete layman. I'm not even completely for sure that light-in-transit charges God with "smoke-and-mirrors." Anyway, by "manipulation" you may mean something totally opposite to "light-in-transit." Lisle and other YECers suggest that that light was perhaps "sped-up" or traveled more quickly in other points in history or that aging on the edge of the universe is different that aging here on the earth and since those stars were created for our benefit/perspective, we calculate age based on "our end." This would allow for us to divine "signs" for marking time if we could find out the nature of the change of speed/edge of the universe aging techniques. But, even OECers and secularists have issues with their model (see my post above,) so we are not the only ones with heavy lifting to do on our end.
