# Bill Nye the Science Guy vs Creotard Ken Ham **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 3, 2014, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-the-science-guy-vs-creotard-ken-ham/677764 "2014-01-03T01:52:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 11
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-the-science-guy-vs-creotard-ken-ham/677764/201 "2014-02-16T21:18:33Z")
> [@computergeek](#): > > So you’re saying you’re fine with seeing the Earth as billions of years old while still believing in the essence of the Bible? A lot of Christians who aren’t literalists feel comfortable with that. How does that translate to Ken Hamm deserving respect for believing the Earth is only 6,000 years old just because he believes the Bible says that? > > BTW, the Bible doesn’t explicitly say the Earth is 6,000 years old; the age had to be inferred from the various genealogies in the Bible, so pretty much interpreted. I give Ken Hamm’s commentary the same weight as I do Bishop Ussher’s, which is to say, none at all. _ **Originally posted by Simster:** _ _You realize this has no additional substance to it than Ham’s argument, right? You haven’t provided anything to rebut other than a ‘guess’ that some ‘time element’ exists between 1 and 3 - you haven’t defined what that “time element” was - a “microsecond” is a “time element” as much as a “billion quadrillion years” is._ Is that a fact? Well, considering the million-year- and billion-year- time periods commonly attached to prehistoric tiome periods, and the questionable means of arriving at them, I’d say you’re somewhat intolerant. **I’m** not the one trying to prove or disprove a negative here. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-the-science-guy-vs-creotard-ken-ham/677764/202 "2014-02-16T21:46:48Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > I give Ken Hamm’s commentary the same weight as I do Bishop Ussher’s, which is to say, none at all. > > _ **Originally posted by Simster:** _ > _You realize this has no additional substance to it than Ham’s argument, right? You haven’t provided anything to rebut other than a ‘guess’ that some ‘time element’ exists between 1 and 3 - you haven’t defined what that “time element” was - a “microsecond” is a “time element” as much as a “billion quadrillion years” is._ > > Is that a fact? Well, considering the million-year- and billion-year- time periods commonly attached to prehistoric tiome periods, and the questionable means of arriving at them, I’d say you’re somewhat intolerant. **I’m** not the one trying to prove or disprove a negative here. What does my “tolerance” have to do with your argument? Do you have a “better means” of arriving at the time periods? Who said anything about proving/disproving a negative? \*\*\*You \*\*\*said you were up to the challenge of taking on Ham’s “6000 year” argument - got more than a “i guess” to back that up? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-the-science-guy-vs-creotard-ken-ham/677764/203 "2014-02-16T22:13:22Z")
> [@simster](#): > > What does my “tolerance” have to do with your argument? > > Do you have a “better means” of arriving at the time periods? > > Who said anything about proving/disproving a negative? \*\*\*You \*\*\*said you were up to the challenge of taking on Ham’s “6000 year” argument - got more than a “i guess” to back that up? Take it or leave it. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2014, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-the-science-guy-vs-creotard-ken-ham/677764/204 "2014-02-16T22:18:27Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > Take it or leave it. Wow - what a scintillating and complete rebuttal - you sir, have a very special kind of intellect. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-the-science-guy-vs-creotard-ken-ham/677764/205 "2014-02-17T01:15:50Z")
> [@simster](#): > > Wow - what a scintillating and complete rebuttal - you sir, have a very special kind of intellect. And you have a sense of sarcasm matching my own. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-the-science-guy-vs-creotard-ken-ham/677764/206 "2014-02-17T03:06:10Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > And you have a sense of sarcasm matching my own. 🙂 You’re not really winning friends and influencing people, here. One can only conclude: you got nothin’. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-the-science-guy-vs-creotard-ken-ham/677764/207 "2014-02-17T06:02:30Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > You’re not really winning friends and influencing people, here. One can only conclude: you got nothin’. ♪♫ And nothin’s plenty for me…♪♫ I think I should point out to Simster, while he wants something “scintillating and complete,” that I had said that the Bible is a condensed account; obviously it omits things which might satisfy his quest but are not germane to the point of the Genesis account. Besides, simple though my answer was, according to the book\* Earth’s Shifting Crust,\* in Einstein’s philosophy “simplicity was a prime consideration.” If this was good enough for Einstein it should be good enough for any of the Teeming Millions. ---
**Author:** ![computergeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e56c9b/32.png) [@computergeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/computergeek)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-the-science-guy-vs-creotard-ken-ham/677764/208 "2014-02-17T11:07:08Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > ♪♫ And nothin’s plenty for me…♪♫ > > I think I should point out to Simster, while he wants something “scintillating and complete,” that I had said that the Bible is a condensed account; obviously it omits things which might satisfy his quest but are not germane to the point of the Genesis account. > Besides, simple though my answer was, according to the book\* Earth’s Shifting Crust,\* in Einstein’s philosophy “simplicity was a prime consideration.” If this was good enough for Einstein it should be good enough for any of the Teeming Millions. The Bible should not be used as a science document. Simple enough. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-the-science-guy-vs-creotard-ken-ham/677764/209 "2014-02-17T13:18:47Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > ♪♫ And nothin’s plenty for me…♪♫ > > I think I should point out to Simster, while he wants something “scintillating and complete,” that I had said that the Bible is a condensed account; obviously it omits things which might satisfy his quest but are not germane to the point of the Genesis account. > Besides, simple though my answer was, according to the book\* Earth’s Shifting Crust,\* in Einstein’s philosophy “simplicity was a prime consideration.” If this was good enough for Einstein it should be good enough for any of the Teeming Millions. I neither wanted, nor expected, something “scintillating and complete” - All I was doing was pointing out your “response” had no more substance to it than Ham’s position. You could have pointed out that in the original language used in Genesis - the word translated commonly as day could also be translated as “eons” or “age” and that would have been a substantive response that shows that literal ‘day’ is not necessarily the authors intent - instead, you went for a ‘nebulous’ “time element of one does not equal the same time element of another” - you didn’t simplify it - you complicated it. ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-the-science-guy-vs-creotard-ken-ham/677764/210 "2014-02-17T19:02:06Z")
> [@simster](#): > > I neither wanted, nor expected, something “scintillating and complete” - All I was doing was pointing out your “response” had no more substance to it than Ham’s position. > > You could have pointed out that in the original language used in Genesis - the word translated commonly as day could also be translated as “eons” or “age” and that would have been a substantive response that shows that literal ‘day’ is not necessarily the author’s intent - instead, you went for a ‘nebulous’ “time element of one does not equal the same time element of another” - you didn’t simplify it - you complicated it. “Literal ‘day’ is not necessarily the author’s intent”–Good point. You got me there. :o (Cf. Genesis 2:4.) Perhaps that _would_ simplifyt it. Nonetheless, this “time element,” located as it is, sets my argument off from Hamm’s and avoids the assertion that the Earth is only 6000 years old. Now THAT is simple enough. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bill-nye-the-science-guy-vs-creotard-ken-ham/677764.md?page=10)