User:Andy Franklinson/kent hovind age earth

Kent Hovind is a young earth creationist. His frequent errors suggest he is ignorant about many branches of science, such as physics, astrophysics, cosmology, geology, biology, and the scientific method. He has given a series of seminars on what he calls "evolution" (which, consists of many branches of science that have almost nothing to do with biological evolution; these seem to include star formation and cosmology). Here, I give my analysis of his seminar on the age of the earth (the 1998 version). Many thanks to (appropriately named, since this is RationalWiki) wiseoldgoat.com for the transcript. My comments are in bold.

Well, thank you for joining us this morning. My name is Kent Hovind. I was a high school science teacher for fifteen years, and now for the last nine years I’ve been traveling around the country and the world speaking on the subject of Creation, Evolution, and Dinosaurs. Of all the crazy things to do, that is what I get to do and that has been a great blessing to be able to encourage people’s faith in the Word of God. '''OK, he's just giving an introduction on what he does and who he is. Fair enough.'''

I’ve got three things in mind that I try to do in my seminars and I have something I always start off my seminar with and tell people so they know where I am coming from. I do not want to sneak up on anybody. I will tell you right up front, I believe the Bible is the infallible, inspired, inerrant Word of the Living God. I believe it from cover to cover. I even believe the cover, it says Kent Hovind, I believe that. I’ve got three things I want to try to accomplish. Number one, I want to strengthen your faith in the Word of God. Number two, if you are not saved, I am going to try to get you saved. And, number three, if you are saved and not doing much for the Lord, than I am going to try to make you uncomfortable. There is a war going on, folks. Yeah, way to encourage violence, Kent... Everybody ought to find something to do. I have learned in my 29 years of being a Christian; everybody is good for something. Even the worst of you could serve as bad examples if nothing else. '''The "worst of us" meaning, of course, those that don't believe in a magical man in the sky. Man, these people are intolerant.''' All right, let’s get started.

Now, how would you answer the four great questions of life? Well, that depends upon your worldview. If the evolution story is true, who am I? Well, if evolution is true, we are nothing important that is for sure. Actually, you are just a bit of protoplasm that washed up on the beach. As a matter of fact, you are part of the problem because you are one of the polluters of the environment and the more of you we can get rid of, the better. Right? Where did I come from? Well, if evolution is true, you came from a cosmic burp about 20 billion years ago. Why am I here? What is the purpose of life? Well, if evolution is true, there is no purpose to life so you might as well have fun; if it feels good, do it. Get all the gusto you can get, you only go around once in life, you know? Where am I going when I die? Well, if evolution is true, you are just going to the grave and you are going to get recycled into a worm or a plant. The Bible says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Now, if that is true that puts a whole different set of answers to those four fundamental questions of life. The devil came to Eve in Genesis 3, “The serpent said unto the woman, yea hath God said ye should not eat of every tree of the garden?” The second thing he said to Eve was, “Ye shall not surely die.” Now he is denying what God said. God said if you eat off the tree you’ll die, the devil said, “no you won’t,” and that is a common technique the devil often uses, just out right deny what God has said. And the third thing he said to Eve is classic, he said, “Eve, if you eat off that tree, ye shall be as gods.” '''What he's saying here is that "my point of view is less depressing, so it must be true!" This is obviously nonsense. I'd like to believe that there are not criminals; it's less depressing than the point of view that they do exist, but it does not make it true.''' The idea that man can become a god if we do what the devil says. See, the devil wants you to think, “we started off like an amoeba. Yes, boys and girls, and we are evolving, we are getting bigger and better and stronger and smarter and someday we are going to sail around the universe and discover new life forms like Star Trek.” '''Ah, so science is the work of the devil. Wow...This guy is nuts...''' People ask me all the time, they say, “Brother Hovind, do you think there is intelligent life on other planets?” I say no. I taught high school 15 years, I don’t think there is much intelligent life on this planet. I didn’t get to see a lot of it! The bigger question is: is there intelligence in Hovind?