Jim Burr's Response to the Bill Nye vs. Ken Ham Creation Debate on February 4, 2014
Questions for Bill Nye and Ken Ham

In his debate on February 4, Ken Ham should have come out of the box on the offensive, challenging Mr. Nye.  Evolutionary Science says that we came from slime through mutations and natural selection (MANS).  Through the use of gene technology scientists have been able to do a lot—none of it upward.  For example, they have been able to reproduce fruit flies with two extra wings.  However, there were two problems.  First, the wings were not hooked to the brain and so they just got in the way ... no evolution for that fly!  Second, they did it with intelligence, but obviously they were not as smart as God because he did it with dragon flies and it worked great.  Please tell me Mr. Nye, "how could MANS create a bat with radar that can find mosquitoes in the dark, or create a Venus Fly Trap for that matter.  Please explain how MANS could create, from slime, a creature with 30,000 lenses in its compound eyes, like a dragon fly.  And how did they become symmetrical with 30,000 on each side of the head?

In the cultures of the world, God has given us 20,000 herbs and spices.  Please tell me Mr. Nye, how did the genes in your slime decide which were going to be garlic, cinnamon, oregano for your pizza or spearmint for your tea?  How about chocolate for your hot fudge Sunday, a chili pepper, a mango or a pecan?  The birds eat bugs, the cows eat grass, but God was so good to give us thousands of foods.  “He satisfies your mouth with good things.” (Psalms 103:5)  What is the evidence, Mr. Nye, that mutations are taking us upward?  If we are mutating upward, then we should see fewer and fewer diseases.  What we observe is just the opposite.  We have new diseases appearing every day.

There are 7,000 rare diseases in the US.  And a geneticist tells us that every generation passes on one percent or more of these downward gene pool mutations to our children (see Genetic Entropy & the Mystery of the Genome by John C. Sanford, professor at Cornell University.  Dr Sanford holds 32 patents in the field of genetics).  If you run those downward mutations backwards you find a perfect gene pool where Adam could live 930 years.  You did not evolve from a monkey millions of years ago.  Here is what the medical community tells us.  The perpetual nature of the emergence of infectious diseases poses a continuing challenge, which is volatile and ever-changing.  The future is ever uncertain, because unimagined new diseases surely lie in wait, ready to emerge unexpectedly.  Please, Mr. Nye, explain this in the light of MANS.  (According to Dr. Sanford, our life expectancy is about 40 years if you take away antibiotics, insulin, by-pass surgery, pacemakers and a thousand medications.)

Mr. Nye, you ask for evidence and predictions.  Here is one of the most amazing prophecies of the Bible.  Isaiah predicts the decree of Cyrus (by name) to free the Jews 150 years before he lived.  The prophecies of Daniel chapter 2 predicted the fall of Babylon, Medo Persia, Greece and Rome with Rome being divided into ten countries of Europe.  Like iron and clay that don’t cleave together.  Europe would never be united even though time after time people have tried to unite Europe through marriage and war.

The prophecies of Daniel 12:2 indicates that we are near the end of time.  It says that near the time of the end "knowledge will increase and men will run to and fro."  Before 1900 knowledge doubled every 100 years.  Now it doubles every year and soon it will be doubling every 12 hours.  How did the Bible writers know that?  Transportation and communication was flat-lined from Abraham to Paul Revere.  They both rode on horses and communicated with their voice.  Then we went from Kitty Hawk to the moon in 60 years.

There are over 200 prophecies of the Messiah (worked out by Chuck Missler).  The probabilities of any person fulfilling 16 prophecies is 1 in 10 to the 45th power.  Where would you be with 100 prophecies or more?  Now Mr. Bill, if you accept the rules your scientists have laid down, you should accept the Bible.  Their rules are that anything with a probability of 1 in 10 to the 50th power could never happen.  Therefore, the predicted life of Christ was a miracle and the Bible was God ordained.

Now I also have an issue with Mr. Ken Ham.  I believe he has done a great disservice to Bible believers by insisting that the universe is 6,000 years old.  Mr Ham, people with a scientific mind will roll their eyes and never accept what else you have to say.  A young Earth, Yes.  There is lots of evidence, but nothing to indicate a 6,000 year old universe.

The Bible tells us God’s throne is from everlasting in the heavens.  Mr. Ham, are you telling us the universe is not from everlasting?  Are you telling us God never had a throne till 6,000 years ago?  This infinite creator that can create millions of species, occupied emptiness—no universe, no space, no time?  And 6,000 years ago He got the idea to create a universe?  The focus of Genesis is the Earth, 21 times.  And in chapter 1 verse 8 He explains that the heaven He is talking about is the sky.  The Bible tells us 11 times that He laid the foundations of the earth and created the heavens, and "of old He laid the foundations of the Earth." (Psalm 102:25)  What qualifies as "of old?"  Why are the foundations never mentioned in Genesis.  What probably happened is this.  Of old He laid the foundations of the Earth and created the heavens, and the earth was without form and void and darkness was on the face of the deep.  Then about 6,000 years ago God put life on earth.  And regarding the scripture you love to quote, Mr. Ham, "for in six day’s the Lord created heaven, the earth, the sea and all that in them is…”  Why is the sea mentioned seperately?  The earth is 70% seas.  If it is talking about the firmament, the earth and the sea, it makes a lot more sense.  And in verse 16 "the stars also" is a parenthetical phrase sort of like, "by the way, God is responsible for the stars also."  Note that the words "He made" are not in the original language.

Jim Burr

(If you would like more information on a Young Earth and Old Universe, see Mr. Burr's paper on the subject titled A Biblical Answere to the Starlight and Time Problem.)