# Someone explain Kent Hovind **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 18, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723 "2010-06-18T22:45:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2021, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/61 "2021-08-29T22:53:16Z")
And that word “day” in Genesis is actually translated from “age”, which could be any length of time. ---
**Author:** ![Mijin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mijin/32/9369_2.png) [@Mijin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mijin)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/62 "2021-08-30T01:37:10Z")
Although of course whatever time duration you make those ages, the genesis account is incompatible with our scientific understanding. The sequence is radically different. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/63 "2021-08-30T02:11:07Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > And that word “day” in Genesis is actually translated from “age”, which could be any length of time Yeah, about that? If it can mean any length of time, does that mean that one of them can mean “seventeen seconds” and the next one could mean “3766 years”? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/64 "2021-08-30T02:33:56Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’m a Christian. I know that the Universe is billions of years old because God told me so. How did God tell me? By leaving all sorts of evidence all over the place. The usual rebuttal to this is that the Devil, not God, planted all that fake evidence to deceive us. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/65 "2021-08-30T02:50:17Z")
Or that Goddidit to test our faith. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/66 "2021-08-30T02:53:20Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Or that Goddidit to test our faith. That conflicts with the doctrine that God will _never_ lie to us. So it must have been the Devil! Anyone who thinks God may lie to us to “test our faith” must have some serious difficulty in determining what to believe. How could someone trust _anything_ that God supposedly told us? ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/67 "2021-08-30T05:18:30Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > The usual rebuttal to this is that the Devil, not God, planted all that fake evidence to deceive us. Which only means that He is not omnipotent or omniscient, take your pick _or_ He is a trickster god who toys with His creation and not even directly but through a cat’s paw. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/68 "2021-08-30T13:00:21Z")
En attendant Godot @Becket… ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/69 "2021-08-30T13:45:03Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > the Catholic Church has no problem with an old universe (again, Georges Lemaitre was a Catholic priest) or evolution. As was the paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. And Gregor Mendel, one of the founders of the science of genetics, was an Augustinian friar. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/70 "2021-08-30T13:48:04Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > As was the paleontologist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. And Gregor Mendel, one of the founders of the science of genetics, was an Augustinian friar. As is the man credited with the successful completion of the human genome mapping project, Francis Collins (head of NIH and devout Catholic). ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/71 "2021-08-30T14:00:54Z")
> [@Becket](#): > > …blood and DNA and soft tissue immediately harden and disintegrate immediate the creature dies. So, Forensic Files has been lying to us all these years? “…the time depth of ancient DNA analyses has long surpassed the limit of 100 000 years imagined by the research community, to an astounding **700 000 years** for bones recovered from permafrost [18] and about 400 000 years for bones in regions outside permafrost” That time span is orders of magnitude greater than the age of the earth as espoused by creationists. > **[Ancient DNA: the first three decades](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4275880/)** Arguing that acceptance of evolution is a matter of “faith” (similar to taunts about how embracing vaccination and other forms of evidence-based medicine is a form of religion) is a strong indication that the accuser is not making a good-faith effort to persuade. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/72 "2021-08-30T14:05:28Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > The God of Creationism is just some big lazy guy in the sky who willed the Earth into existence without any intricate planning, crafting, and engineering, and just expects everyone to ignore the world around them and accept what his followers wrote about, and absolutely nothing else. That’s not really true. If God did create Earth and the universe 6,000 years ago, he put some effort into making it look lived-in. There are isotopes in various stages of decay, evidence of tectonic that have risen and fallen, and a moon pockmarked by craters. He didn’t want it to look new and pristine. It’s like when you buy a pair of jeans that already have holes in them. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/73 "2021-08-30T14:22:32Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > He didn’t want it to look new and pristine. It’s like when you buy a pair of jeans that already have holes in them. Which is fortunate–he could have made the universe earlier during his tie-dyed and bell-bottomed phase. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/74 "2021-08-30T14:28:30Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > That’s not really true. If God did create Earth and the universe 6,000 years ago, he put some effort into making it look lived-in. There are isotopes in various stages of decay, evidence of tectonic that have risen and fallen, and a moon pockmarked by craters. He didn’t want it to look new and pristine. It’s like when you buy a pair of jeans that already have holes in them. That’s pretty much the thesis of _Omphalos_ by Phillip Gosse, written in 1857. > **[Omphalos (book)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omphalos_(book))** > > Omphalos: An Attempt to Untie the Geological Knot is a book by Philip Gosse, written in 1857 (two years before Darwin's On the Origin of Species), in which he argues that the fossil record is not evidence of evolution, but rather that it is an act of creation inevitably made so that the world would appear to be older than it is. The reasoning parallels the reasoning that Gosse chose to explain why Adam (who would have had no mother) had a navel: Though Adam would have had no need of a navel, Go... He argued that Adam and Eve would have had belly buttons (hence the title) despite never having been connected to an umbilical cord, as well as other signs of previous growth and development, such as fingernails and hair. By extension, then, the Earth and the whole universe were created as going concerns, with all the signs of previous growth and development, not because God is trying to trick us, but because that’s how He designed the world to work. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/75 "2021-08-30T14:29:06Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Which is fortunate–he could have made the universe earlier during his tie-dyed and bell-bottomed phase. So you’re saying God planned for the expansion of the fabric of the universe by adding 4% elastine… ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/76 "2021-08-30T14:29:13Z")
Even better! The God of Creationism is a trickster, leaving all kinds of physical evidence of evolution as part of some strange deceptive plan. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/77 "2021-08-30T14:33:16Z")
> [@iiandyiiii](#): > > part of some strange deceptive plan. Not that strange - she is apparently doing a fairly straight-forward selection algorithm: those that make decisions on faith vs. those that make decisions based on logic/(apparent) facts. Which side is “right” is a different discussion (if there even is a “right” side - could just be interested in what the hairless bipeds end up doing). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/78 "2021-08-30T14:35:59Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > That’s pretty much the thesis of _Omphalos_ by Phillip Gosse, written in 1857. Also Last Thrusdayism. > **[Last Thursdayism](https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Last_Thursdayism)** > > Last Thursdayism (alternately Last Tuesdayism or Last Wednesdayism) is the idea that the universe was created last Thursday, but with the physical appearance of being billions of years old. It's also a counter to the creationism theory. Under Last... ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/79 "2021-08-30T15:00:28Z")
AIUI, the usual argument of YECs isn’t that Satan planted it or God faked the evidence of an old Earth, but rather, that the age of the Earth and Universe is misunderstood - that methods such as carbon dating aren’t as effective as claimed and if science were truly accurate, it would show a young Universe. But the other thing going for Hovind and his sort is what Gregory Boyd (a prominent pastor-writer) once pointed out: Many Christians, when confronted with facts or evidence that conflict with Scripture, feel the need to spin or massage the facts or evidence to fit Scripture, not the other way around. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2021, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723/80 "2021-08-30T15:05:20Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > that methods such as carbon dating aren’t as effective as claimed and if science were truly accurate, it would show a young Universe. Carbon dating is only good for about 50,000 years, many orders of magnitude less than the current understanding of the age of the universe. Anyway, there are Nobel prizes awaiting these YEC scientists for when they overturn all the various theories and measurements that point to an old universe. They should put up or shut up, really. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723.md?page=5)