Tuesday, December 20, 2016

#1765: Paul G. Humber

Paul G. Humber is the director of CR Ministries and author of things like 400+ Prophecies, Appearances, or Foreshadowings of Christ in the Tanakh and Evolution Exposed. Humber is, of course, a young-earth creationist, and has also penned articles for the Institute of Creation Research and Creation Matters, the newsletter of the Creation Research Society (both organization apparently put “Research” in their name since otherwise no one would ever have guessed that this is what they think they are doing).

Well, Humber’s writings on science contain the usual tropes, appeal to the Bible, obvious lack of expertise and rank denialism, and we’ll limit ourselves to an example: One obvious problem for young-earth creationists is radioactive decay, which rather clearly, uh, suggests that the Earth is somewhat older than they’d like to think. Their solution is of course to (completely out of the blue) assert that radioactive decay isn’t constant but happened much faster in the past. So here’s Humber:

[C]onsider Deuteronomy 32:22 – ‘For a fire is kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol, devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of mountains.’ This verse may point us in the direction that radioactive decay is a physical manifestation of God’s anger against evil, affecting even biological life. Prior to the Noachian flood, mankind lived much longer. His lifespan has diminished substantially since the flood. Also, even though Noah might well have had some immature dinosaurs on the ark, their nearly total extinction following the flood seems obvious. This also holds with respect to many other animals that have become extinct.

Or put differently: radioactive decay can’t be used to measure the age of anything, but is instead a measure of how angry God is at any moment. It’s hard to express how mind-boggling it is that anyone above the age of 7 can write this with a straight face and expect to be taken seriously (it’s at the level of “rain is angels relieving themselves”), but at least it entails that God is much less angry these days and accordingly unlikely to be overly concerned with gay marriage, abortion or transgender people using their bathroom of choice.

Here is Humber on Nebraska Man, an incident that really shows science working the way it should, but which to Humber is, irrationally, a reason to dismiss science in general if it doesn’t fit with what he has already convinced himself that he wants to believe.


Diagnosis: Oh, you silly duck. All the facepalms in the world wouldn’t reflect how crazy and silly Humber’s pseudoscientific babbling is, yet he is apparently viewed as an authority in certain quarters.

13 comments:

  1. Silly me, I thought rain was angels shedding tears of joy every time pat robertson made another buck. But I guess piss does make more sense. What a great educational resource you've got here!

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  2. You ought to take a look at Ben Kissling
    http://www.dailynebraskan.com/ben-kissling-think-for-yourself-on-intelligent-design/article_1b3b491c-3ee9-55e5-85ee-290c936fe886.html

    http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/2016/01/13/editorial-we-recommend-ron-simmons-in-gop-race-for-texas-house-district-65

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  3. It's an honor being associated with such people as David Barton, Jerry Bergman, Chuck Colson, and Dinesh D’Sousa. I challenge the readers who think I may be am “loony” to watch this video of mine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWKRcXG3jV8

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    Replies
    1. Hey Paul,

      We don't "think" you are loony. We know you are. Does that clear it up ?

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    2. Why are all these creationists so bad at internet behaviour? Don't you know that commenting on an article being critical of you makes you look silly? Heck, linking a video makes you look even more silly! How about this. Instead of being a whiner who cries conspiracy, how about taking the time to prove the author wrong? If you're right and can prove it I'm sure many people will agree with you. But something seems fishy here, you probably don't have that. That's why you rely on copy pasta. Tsk Tsk.

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    3. Why are all these creationists so bad at internet behaviour? Don't you know that commenting on an article being critical of you makes you look silly? Heck, linking a video makes you look even more silly! How about this. Instead of being a whiner who cries conspiracy, how about taking the time to prove the author wrong? If you're right and can prove it I'm sure many people will agree with you. But something seems fishy here, you probably don't have that. That's why you rely on copy pasta. Tsk Tsk.

      Delete
    4. Paul Number, never misses a chance to spam.

      Delete
  4. Hey Paul Humber! Remember that time when you blatantly lied in the Creationism Facebook group about a 1996 issue of National Geographic stating that "Lucy" was not a hominid? And remember how I had that issue in my collection and posted images or the article in question for all to see. Your response was to block me, you filthy lying coward.

    And what a shock, you worship fellow liars like Barton and D'Souza.

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    Replies
    1. I have seen Paul lie quite a few times in the Creationism Facebook group. He then proceeds to block anyone (including me) who points out when he lies. His ability to comprehend even the most rudimentary of concepts is also staggeringly limited.

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. Seriously - check out Ben Kissling - https://www.facebook.com/groups/31425129128/permalink/10155742579894129/

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  7. If you really want to see the absolute lunacy of Paul G Humber...watch this video of him trying to debate an actual physicist. He didn't even have a grade school understanding of the topics being presented. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhJlelEZ9YU

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  8. Ad hominem is not a convincing way to argue your objections nor is saying that you hate his argument. This says more about you than it does about him. Engage him. Don't just lob rocks at him.

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