StillPhil
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- Jul 14, 2005
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Hello. I'm new to this forum, and this is my first post.
Just recently I was watching some video tapes loaned to me by a friend. My friend is a Christian and I am not.
The Videos were of a Man named Dr. Kent Hovind addressing a congregation. Has anyone heard of this man?
Okay. This guy is a former high school science teacher who goes around the country giving these seminars.
The seminar is basically Evolution vs. Creationism.
Right off the bat, I'm convinced this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Especially from a scientific perspective. He doesn't seem to understand what science is.
He claims that Evolution is a Religion. Why? Because no one can observe a progression of evolution within a single lifetime.
He then goes on to "refute" scientific discoveries and evolutionary hypothesis' by ever so simply stating that, with science, facts and figures change regularly. With a straight face, he states that these facts and figures changing, is a bad thing.
That's what the scientific method is all about. When new facts come to light, conclusions change.
His arguements go into many far-fetched and sometimes old theories that have been debunked over and over again in scientific journals over the past 200 years.
He tries to say that Dinosaurs have lived with man all throughout history. His proof? Legends and folklore. He shows pictures of carvings , which include...dino-like creatures and man together. For instance a carving of a man riding the back of a dino-like creature.
Now if this is the proof...lets jump to the future a thousand years. The Young Creationists' a thousand years from now looking back on the late 20th and early 21st centuries. They find a copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. On the cover is Harry riding the back of (I can't remember the name) a horse-like creature with wings, feathers, and a beak.
Now based on Dr. Hovind's method, the Creationists of the future can simply look at that book cover and discern that in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, humans flew on the backs of these horse-like creatures with wings, feathers, and a beak.
At the end of this seminar Dr. Hovind had a question and answer session with the audience. One by one people walked up to a microphone and asked him questions. One girl in particular asked, "I have a friend who says he only believes what he can see. What would you say to someone like that?"
I was stunned by the response. Dr. Hovind said, "Ask your friend...Have you ever seen your brain?" What stunned me even more is the girl who asked the question took this as a good response.
Dr. Hovind took off his watch and explained that it was a Casio. A $50 dollar watch designed and made in Japan. He said, "Just because I've never seen the designer doesn't mean he doesn't exist."
Very true Doctor. But how does that prove that evolution excludes the theory of an intelligent designer? It doesn't. Which brings me to my concern. It seems there is a huge misconception.
Dr. Hovind is convincing people that Evolution is denying the possibility of God. That's absolutely not true. What Evolution does not do is cater to the idea of a Christian/Bible God. There simply isn't evidence to support such a claim.
Scientific process starts with facts then draws conclusions. Dr. Hovind seems to have a conclusion and draws the facts.
Very disconcerting.
Thanks for reading. -Phil
Just recently I was watching some video tapes loaned to me by a friend. My friend is a Christian and I am not.
The Videos were of a Man named Dr. Kent Hovind addressing a congregation. Has anyone heard of this man?
Okay. This guy is a former high school science teacher who goes around the country giving these seminars.
The seminar is basically Evolution vs. Creationism.
Right off the bat, I'm convinced this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. Especially from a scientific perspective. He doesn't seem to understand what science is.
He claims that Evolution is a Religion. Why? Because no one can observe a progression of evolution within a single lifetime.
He then goes on to "refute" scientific discoveries and evolutionary hypothesis' by ever so simply stating that, with science, facts and figures change regularly. With a straight face, he states that these facts and figures changing, is a bad thing.
That's what the scientific method is all about. When new facts come to light, conclusions change.
His arguements go into many far-fetched and sometimes old theories that have been debunked over and over again in scientific journals over the past 200 years.
He tries to say that Dinosaurs have lived with man all throughout history. His proof? Legends and folklore. He shows pictures of carvings , which include...dino-like creatures and man together. For instance a carving of a man riding the back of a dino-like creature.
Now if this is the proof...lets jump to the future a thousand years. The Young Creationists' a thousand years from now looking back on the late 20th and early 21st centuries. They find a copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. On the cover is Harry riding the back of (I can't remember the name) a horse-like creature with wings, feathers, and a beak.
Now based on Dr. Hovind's method, the Creationists of the future can simply look at that book cover and discern that in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, humans flew on the backs of these horse-like creatures with wings, feathers, and a beak.
At the end of this seminar Dr. Hovind had a question and answer session with the audience. One by one people walked up to a microphone and asked him questions. One girl in particular asked, "I have a friend who says he only believes what he can see. What would you say to someone like that?"
I was stunned by the response. Dr. Hovind said, "Ask your friend...Have you ever seen your brain?" What stunned me even more is the girl who asked the question took this as a good response.
Dr. Hovind took off his watch and explained that it was a Casio. A $50 dollar watch designed and made in Japan. He said, "Just because I've never seen the designer doesn't mean he doesn't exist."
Very true Doctor. But how does that prove that evolution excludes the theory of an intelligent designer? It doesn't. Which brings me to my concern. It seems there is a huge misconception.
Dr. Hovind is convincing people that Evolution is denying the possibility of God. That's absolutely not true. What Evolution does not do is cater to the idea of a Christian/Bible God. There simply isn't evidence to support such a claim.
Scientific process starts with facts then draws conclusions. Dr. Hovind seems to have a conclusion and draws the facts.
Very disconcerting.
Thanks for reading. -Phil
