Fundamentalist Youth Pastor Displays Ignorance of Science

[whitenerd108]

Earlier today I posted a link on my Facebook wall to an ArsTechnica article about some of the most common misconceptions about evolution (http://arstechnica.com/science/news/2009/09/five-essential-things-to-know-about-evolution.ars), and one of my former youth pastors (from a baptist church) commented with:

I read the article: fail. A win for question-begging, though.

Phrenology was a widely accepted scientific theory, too...and blood-letting...and geocentrism...need I go on?

"Let God be true and every man a liar."

I came back with an explanation of science as a self-corrected process, and pointed out that geocentrism was primarily promoted by the CHURCH. He replied,

Geocentrism was taught by the Roman Catholic Church, not the true church of Jesus Christ. It was NOT based upon a literal interpretation of the Scriptures, and this is coming from someone who interprets them literally.

My point in bringing up the failed scientific theories is to illustrate that a "scientific fact" a century ago becomes the joke of the next. I know science claims to be a self-correcting process, but the problem is that no scientist ever apologizes for teaching disproved theories. Their arrogance is evident, even in dismal failure.

"The absence of fossil evidence for intermediary stages between major transitions in organic design, indeed our inability, even in our imagination, to construct functional intermediates in many cases, has been a persistent and nagging problem for gradualistic accounts of evolution."... Read More

Stephen Jay Gould (Professor of Geology and Paleontology, Harvard University)

After which I laughed for about one minute straight. I responded again, calling him on his breach of the 9th commandment, but he hasn't since replied. Big surprise there.

I just felt the need to share that with everyone here, and the sad fact of how far some people will go to attack science, but only those theories which clash with their scriptures. As a student of science, this makes me sick...thank god not everyone has this attitude.

 

[DontHurtTheIntersect]

Tell him he's a condescending twat, and tell him to stop quote-mining the late, great Stephen Jay Gould.

 

[whitenerd108]

This was his final reply:

Tell you what: I'll stop "misquoting" Gould if you stop ripping biblical texts out of their context and actually do a little study on the ancient Hebrew vantage point of writing and what literal interpretation is, okey dokey?

I thought about this a lot tonight, and here's my conclusion on the matter: you're convinced, and I'm ... Read Moreconvinced. Your ever-shifting ideas on God, science, the Bible, Christ, and just about everything else are too unstable to even address...who knows, you might change your opinion tomorrow. What is clear, however, is that you have abandoned the true faith found in Christ Jesus and have put in His place a false god, made in your own image (and I don't say this because of the evolution discussion). As honestly and sincerely as I can say this, until you repent and put your trust in the Christ of the Bible, you are dangerous ground. Please, please, please repent, while you still have time. This will be my last communication with you until you do.

...after which he blocked me.

Now, I really don't give a crap what one person thinks, however it's sad that this is not the first time this has happened. Why is it that some people are incapable of engaging in civil discourse with people who disagree with them. It's disgusting and makes me ashamed of calling myself a Christian. I know most of you probably think it isn't a big deal and all, but this just bothered me, especially considering this man makes his living lying uh I mean "ministering" to youth and children...

 

[borrofburi]

I know most of you probably think it isn't a big deal and all, but this just bothered me

Well, most of us don't think it's a big deal because we run into this all the time. Indeed we seem to rarely bump into christians willing to engage with someone they disagree with. Though to be fair I've met many atheists who seem incapable of dissent as well.

 

[nemesiss]

Now, I really don't give a crap what one person thinks, however it's sad that this is not the first time this has happened. Why is it that some people are incapable of engaging in civil discourse with people who disagree with them. It's disgusting and makes me ashamed of calling myself a Christian. I know most of you probably think it isn't a big deal and all, but this just bothered me, especially considering this man makes his living lying uh I mean "ministering" to youth and children...

Some people just real difficulty with people who do not think alike, similar issues i had with HowTheWorldWorks.
he ussually had two responds "our taxmoney has been wasted on your education".
This was his argument until i mentioned that im not american, but european.
after that, he kept calling me "a european facist", which i should probably view as a compliment.

after i made a parody on him (reading ackward silly , but factually correct news), he blocked me.
he still makes grave errors in his video's when it comes to facts, so it didn't help that much.

i dont mind people watching his video's, but i think their should be a disclaimer warning on his video's
"Warning, the following news statement are not 100% accurate, further personal investigation is advised"

 

[whitenerd108]

Some people just real difficulty with people who do not think alike, similar issues i had with HowTheWorldWorks.
he ussually had two responds "our taxmoney has been wasted on your education".
This was his argument until i mentioned that im not american, but european.
after that, he kept calling me "a european facist", which i should probably view as a compliment.

after i made a parody on him (reading ackward silly , but factually correct news), he blocked me.
he still makes grave errors in his video's when it comes to facts, so it didn't help that much.

i dont mind people watching his video's, but i think their should be a disclaimer warning on his video's
"Warning, the following news statement are not 100% accurate, further personal investigation is advised"

He's an interesting character...I don't want to turn this into a discussion about politics, but I agree with about 80-90% of his viewpoints, and I've heard that he does these kinds of things although he denies it. You're right about him being a bit bigheaded about the factual accuracy of some of his statements though...even though I am also a conservative, he seems to be the type of conservative who isn't very open to the viewpoints of others.

 

[Giliell]

Well, your youth pastor is one of those people who regard as a vice what we see as a virtue:
The ability of science to correct itself.
I personally think that those people are weal in character. They are in dire need for ultimate truth, ultimate superiority.
They can always blame errors on "those who are not the true church of christ (everybody except themselves)".

Well, we can't. We can't blame the mistakes made in the past totally on "bad scientists" (OK, we're allowed some blaming on frauds or people who simply worked with preconceived notions, but not in general). We accept that everything we currently think to be true may be changed in the future, except the facts. But there might be new, additional facts.

Catholics here once spread a shirt saying "It's easy to be an atheist" and I thought "you morons". Seriously, there's nothing easier than just going with some "ultimate truth" somebody else taught you.
Having had to figure philosophy and ethics out for myself was hard work.

 

[GoodKat]

he seems to be the type of conservative who isn't very open to the viewpoints of others.

You mean a typical conservative?