Ken Ham (Creation) | Bill Nye (Evolution) Debate

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To be honest, I am not much impressed by either gentleman.

Nye has a pretty good handle on science, but neither knows nor cares much about Scripture.

Ham knows a lot of Bible, but is hobbled by his insistence on reading parts of it literally that aren't meant that way. And despite his Bachelor of Applied Science degree, he doesn't seem to know much science.

Neither is a very good representative of their side in this debate.
 
I agree that macro-evolution is not proven, but still only a theory. A useful theory for sure, but scientific theories do get dumped when a better one comes along or when advances in knowledge disprove them.

And of course, which parts of the Bible are meant to be taken literally is debatable.

My biggest problem with the Ham vs. Nye debate is that it's set up as either YEC or a-theistic evolution. But that's a false dichotomy: OEC and TE are also possible and defensible. I find either more plausible than the other two.
 
Well, at least the playing field will be level. For all those skeptics who whine that Ken Ham isn't a real scientist, it's perfectly fair to point out that neither is Bill Nye.

Essentially, it will be a debate between two science teachers.
 
Bill Nye is really a joke..... and anyone that actually can stomach Richard Dawkins..... needs a lobotomy.
 
Did anyone watch the debate last night?

It seemed like a draw to me, Bill Nye presented the same arguments about "the young earth view" I have always heard.

Seemed like a draw to me, with no clear winner.

Thoughts,
 
My thoughts about the debate:

Nye came across as very arrogant, condescending, and way too confident in himself. He also clearly made it personal and therefore, lost a lot of points in the debate.
Ham, quite the opposite, came across as lacking confidence and kept deferring to other people within his organization as the scientific experts. There were many times I felt like saying, why don't you just let one of them come out here and do the debate?

Overall, not a very good debate between the two, IMO.
 
It seemed to me Bill Nye presented some very good evidence, not against creation, but against the 4000 yr. young earth position.

Bill Nye showed more than 20 dating methods plus the tree rings & ice cores that all show signs the earth much older than 4000 yrs.

I know some believe the time between "the days of creation" was not a day as we know it related to the suns rotation but a very different time scale. Some believe the earth was created with age, but i'm not sure why God would do that. I believe the Geneses account of creation but wonder if we are interpreting it correctly.  I am just trying to get my head around the 4000 year position.

Thoughts, 
 
The whole topic is not one I can debate by any means, but as to why or whether God would create something with age, someone once pointed out that He created Adam with age...and that made sense to me, that God could have started at any point He wanted.
 
Honestly,

I don't think the YEC idea is that big a deal to me or to the debate between Christianity and atheism.  I'm not sure why Nye insisted on focusing on that, but oh well.  If you can accept "In the beginning God", you can accept all manner of supernatural claims which don't make a bit of sense to our natural, and finite minds.
 
Nye focused on that because its the part of the Geneses account thats easiest to disprove with science. He was playing to the middle, knowing they can be made to doubt.

Point taken on "God created".  That kinda settles everything I must know about creation. In that I have no doubt or question.
 
sword said:
Some believe the earth was created with age, but i'm not sure why God would do that.
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Well . . . a hot ball of rock without liquid water or living vegetation wouldn't be habitable.  I'd consider that a necessary prerequisite to supporting a population. ;)
 
Izdaari said:
I agree that macro-evolution is not proven, but still only a theory.
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Technically, it's still only a hypothesis.  You have to test it successfully at least once for it to graduate to a theory.
 
The Rogue Tomato said:
Izdaari said:
I agree that macro-evolution is not proven, but still only a theory.
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Technically, it's still only a hypothesis.  You have to test it successfully at least once for it to graduate to a theory.
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Yeah, ok. But it has proven to be a useful hypothesis.
 
[quote author=admin]Seems like a very big win for Christians who often complain about not getting their voices heard.
[/quote]

Did you say something?
 
admin said:
Seems like a very big win for Christians who often complain about not getting their voices heard.
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The problem is that the voice that was heard didn't seem very confident in his knowledge of the subject and kept deferring to his experts who work for him who were not on the stage to give him credibility.  Getting heard is half the battle.  Having something to say is the other half.  He didn't seem comfortable really interacting with the topic in debate.
 
BandGuy said:
admin said:
Seems like a very big win for Christians who often complain about not getting their voices heard.
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The problem is that the voice that was heard didn't seem very confident in his knowledge of the subject and kept deferring to his experts who work for him who were not on the stage to give him credibility.  Getting heard is half the battle.  Having something to say is the other half.  He didn't seem comfortable really interacting with the topic in debate.
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Yeah, that's one problem with it.

Another one, a much bigger one for me, is that OEC and TE Christians had no one representing their position.

I agree with Ham that God is the Creator.
And with Nye that the world is old.
 
admin said:
"The debate drew a few Nye disciples in the audience, including Aaron Swomley, who wore a red bowtie and white lab coat.
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Hurrah, debate cosplay!
 
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