If they were created only thousands of years ago, the light going out in every direction would also have needed to have been created in place as well, as most of the observable universe, including parts of our own galaxy, are much farther away than 6000 light years away. Just like all the isotopic ratios here on Earth, of certain radioactive ores that sure make it look like they have been decaying for billions of years. Including the complete absence of the so-called “extinct nuclides” (such as I-129) with half-lives that are very long compared to 6000 y but very short compared to the alleged 4.5 billion year age of the Earth.
Dr. Russell Humphreys has proposed a possible solution to the distant starlight problem in his book Starlight and Time using the general theory of relativity.
Unless the speed of light was not always what it is now, in this brief moment of time we inhabit.
If you put a radar gun on a vehicle moving down the road for a hundred yards, and it maintained a constant speed of 50 miles per hour, would you assert that it has always moved at that speed?