Thursday, November 5, 2009

Bible Stuck in the VCR

This video, done by Eric Hovind (son of creationist Kent Hovind, who is currently serving time in prison for tax fraud, a violation of both Matthew 22:21 and Romans 13, as well as a host of other related passages) with two other Christians provides one example of how awful we are at communicating and thinking responsibly.

This is the kind of video that makes skeptics laugh at us. And no, they're not laughing because of a hardness of heart. It's because of the sheer ridiculousness of statements like these (my comments about these statements are in brackets):

Eric Hovind: Science can't really give us certainty.

Christian 2: Not science alone.

Eric Hovind: Because it's starting from the bottom and working its way up to the top. [Huh? So you're supposed to start from the top and work your way down to the bottom? That is, you're supposed to believe a statement like, "A UFO landed in Texas," and then you're supposed to try to find evidence that supports your claim?]

Christian 3: Right. It would be like if you were to walk into a crime scene, and you're the investigator trying to put together the clues, the facts—trying to know what happened. You could look at fingerprints and footprints and try to determine what took place, but you could never be absolutely certain, not having seen it yourself. But if someone gave you a videotape [picks up a Bible—Bible = videotape?—big fat analogy fail] of what took place during the crime, you would be able to know exactly what happened. And all the clues that you had gathered would then fit into place.

Eric Hovind: It all makes sense. It would be perfect.

Christian 2: Yeah, because you could see what actually happened and have absolutely… We have the video tape, if you will, of what happened [can't really stick my Bible in my VCR, though]. We have truth—absolute truth. The Bible says, "Thy word is truth" [see John 17:17, which is Jesus saying to the Father that His word is truth], and Jesus, whom we know to be the Word Himself [come on, skeptics, you know you know this too] stated, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" [see John 14:6]. Every foundation of truth we have—the certainty we can have—is found in Scripture, not just science alone.

Eric Hovind: Wow. [He turns to the audience.] Now, some of you aren't convinced that [the Bible] is truth. [Um, if the Bible is essentially a videotape, how could they NOT be convinced that it's truth? Problematic much?] You're not convinced that the Word of God is truth despite the fact that it claims to be truth. [The Quran claims to be truth, but are you convinced of that?] You're kind of like the detective. [He holds up a magnifying glass.] You're great at doing scientific research, you're great at making observations, but you refuse to look at the videotape. [He turns to Christian 3.] I just wanna challenge 'em [referring to the skeptical detectives out there who refuse to stick the Bible into a VCR]. Would you please pick up a copy [of the Bible], read it for yourself and examine it as if it is truth and see what you come away with [in other words, just believe in it, and find evidence for it later]. We've got a couple of great Bibles through our ministry… The Defender's Study Bible—I've had this Bible for many, many years. [It's] a great one by Henry Morris. [It] goes into looking at the Bible through the eyes of the Creator, as if creation really is true. Then another one I love is The Evidence Bible by Ray Comfort. The notes in here really teach you how to evangelize the exact same way Jesus Christ did. You know, there's a passage in Psalms [146:5-6]. It says this: "Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help…which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is..." The truth is, we have absolute truth. It's found in God's Word. This is starting from the top and workin' our way down. Hey, thanks for joining us for "Creation in Common Sense." I really hope you'll always use creation science for evangelism. [Why? Is creation science an accurate representation of the Bible? Is it an accurate representation of science?]


Is the Quran a videotape? If not, what makes the Bible a videotape and the Quran NOT a videotape? Why is the Bible true, and the Quran untrue? Does it make sense to simply shout, "Absolute truth is found here!" without really investigating that claim?

There's a huge reason why I react strongly to statements like "don't be an intellectual—start with the Bible." It sounds like this: "Be mindless." Um, God gave us our minds, and I think He expects us to use them responsibly, especially when communicating with others about the Bible.