Greta Thunberg, Climate Change, & Creationism

Your Curmudgeon doesn’t blog much about climate change because we’ve never studied it. Our assumption is that climate scientists know what they’re talking about and politicians don’t, but that’s pretty much all we have to say.

Today, however, we found something amusing enough to break our customary silence. It’s a letter-to-the-editor, but because it’s off-topic, it won’t be included in our “Creationist Wisdom” collection. We found it in the Tribune-Democrat of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. It’s titled God, not teenager, controls weather. The newspaper has a comments section — with no comments yet.

Because the writer isn’t a politician, preacher, or other public figure, we won’t embarrass or promote him by using his full name. His first name is Robert. Excerpts from his letter will be enhanced with our Curmudgeonly commentary, some bold font for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]. Here we go!

In September, a Manhattan teenage rebellion was on display for all the world to see. [We didn’t see it.] Witness Sweden’s poster girl for science, technology, engineering and math, Greta Thunberg, tumble out of the sky and entice America schoolchildren to cut class simply because they aren’t granted enough snow days.

He’s talking about 16-year-old Greta Thunberg from Sweden, who already has a write-up in Wikipedia. You’ve probably seen her in the news talking about climate change. Robert has seen her too, and he’s all upset. He says:

Thunberg took a know-it-all attitude as she lectured world leaders. Claiming to speak for her generation and adding that she shouldn’t even be here [Huh?], “Rapunzel” made no mention of Sweden’s obscenely high abortion rate.

We’ll ignore the irrelevant issue of abortion, and a couple of other irrelevancies he mentions next. After that stuff Robert tells us:

Instead, the drama princess [Hee hee!] cited an alarmist “Useless Nations” report that – short of the sun itself actually falling out of the sky – blamed global warming for all calamities of nature.

We didn’t watch her speech, so we have no idea how accurate Robert’s account is. It doesn’t matter. Now he lurches into what we think of as creationist territory:

None of Thunberg’s junk scientists are Christian. [Gasp!] None believe the Bible is the literal word of God. [Egad!] They believe in evolution, not Adam and Eve. [Evolution? Aaaargh!!]

Good, huh? He continues:

Yet, Genesis 7 does speak of climate change. [Really?] The year God flooded the world was the year the climate changed.

Wowie — he brought the Flood into it. Let’s read on:

Afterward, God promised that he would never again punish the world with a second global flood. In spite of this, global warmers such as Thunberg continue to have a morbid fear of drowning.

They’re all fools! And now we come to the end:

Remember, God controls the weather, Greta, not you.

A powerful letter indeed! And now that Robert has rebutted everything she said, we’ll probably never hear from Greta again.

Copyright © 2019. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

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Incredible Information from Ken Ham

You’re going to be shocked — shocked! — when you learn what’s available from Answers in Genesis (AIG), the creationist ministry of Ken Ham (ol’ Hambo) — the ayatollah of Appalachia, the world’s holiest man who knows more about religion and science than everyone else.

Ol’ Hambo just posted this: Replacing Darwin and Quick Answers to Tough Questions Now on DVD. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]:

People have a lot of questions about the truth of God’s Word.

• Hasn’t science proved millions of years?
• Where do dinosaurs fit into the Bible?
• Why is there death and suffering?
• What about evolution?
• And many more.

You have questions like that, don’t you? Well, you’ve come to the right place. Hambo says:

And you can find answers to these often-asked questions, and more, in two brand-new DVDs from Answers in Genesis.

Ooooooooooooh! At last your questions will be answered! After that stunning announcement, Hambo tells us:

These new DVDs feature teaching from AiG speakers and researchers Bryan Osborne and Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson, based on their books Quick Answers to Tough Questions and Replacing Darwin.

Here are links to AIG’s bio info on Bryan Osborne and Nathaniel T. Jeanson. Hambo continues:

Bryan does an excellent job in his new Quick Answers to Tough Questions DVD giving quick but effective answers to these objections to the truth of God’s Word.

And it costs only $9.99. What a deal! Let’s read on:

In the Replacing Darwin DVD, Dr. Jeanson (who has a PhD in biology from Harvard) [They’re so proud of him!] shares his research from genetics about the origin of the species and how what we observe in genetics is a confirmation of a biblical model and a major challenge to the evolutionary model.

That one also costs only $9.99. Here’s the rest of it:

I encourage you to add these two presentations from two popular presenters to your home or church library. You can find these resources, and many others, on our online bookstore at [link omitted].

You can’t find information like that anywhere else, so what are you waiting for? And when you go there, tell ’em the Curmudgeon sent ya.

Copyright © 2019. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

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The Discoveroids’ Bold Outreach to Facebook

Maybe you can figure this out, dear reader. We found it at the Discovery Institute’s creationist blog. Their title is This week, Science Uprising Is coming to Facebook. Here’s How You Can Help, and it has no author’s by-line. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]:

Earlier this year, Discovery Institute premiered a provocative new YouTube series titled Science Uprising that was a bit different from the science documentaries we had done previously on or our own or in conjunction with Illustra Media.

We never watched any of the things, but one ghastly feature was what they referred to as a “masked narrator.” The hideous mask the narrator wears — which is featured above the Discoveroid post today — makes the Joker’s face look like something out of a Walt Disney cartoon for children. Addendum: Klinghoffer explains the mask in this Discoveroid post from a few months ago: What’s Up with the Science Uprising Mask?

Anyway, then they say:

Our regular readers and longtime members and subscribers responded enthusiastically and the series went viral garnering nearly a million views over the summer. [Really?] Now we are rebooting it so to speak, on Facebook. [Ooooooooooooh! Discoveroids on Facebook!] More about that and what you can do to help in a moment.

After that they tell us:

The series is aimed at the fast growing number of “nones,” people who don’t identify with any traditional religion, often younger people. Instead, they are being introduced to materialism [Gasp!] by a slew of its popularizers such as Bill Nye the “Science Guy,” Sam Harris, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Richard Dawkins. And it doesn’t stop there. Materialist ideas are presented in schools, on TV in sitcoms, in movies, in graphic novels, in music. People are inundated by these ideas and receive a steady flow of celebrity affirmations that these claims are backed up by “science.”

Egad, that’s horrible! The Discoveroids continue:

Science Uprising counters these corrosive trends with a hopeful, accessible message in a fast-paced style, about meaning in the cosmos and in life. [Ooooooooooooh! Meaning in life!]

[…]

Science Uprising is the brainchild of cinematographer David Arabia and Center for Science & Culture Senior Fellows John West and Jonathan Witt, working with a network of young professionals and cinematographers in the TV industry who have worked on productions for the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, National Geographic Wild, Animal Plane, and other media outlets.

Wowie — that’s how science should be done! Let’s read on:

By relaunching the series on Facebook we’re hoping to reach out to to viewers in their thirties and younger who have grown up with social media. These “digital natives” get much of their impression of the wider world from the Internet. So, we’re bringing Science Uprising to where many reside online, Facebook.

The rest of their post is a section labeled “How to Help.” Here’s a bit of it:

Each day this week we’ll be posting one of the episodes on the CSC Facebook page. Here’s what you can do right now to help us start a Science Uprising across Facebook.

• As soon as each episode is published, watch it on Facebook and post a comment.

• Share the episode with family and friends and ask them to share with their friends.

And they list a few other things they want their drooling followers to do. What do you think of this, dear reader? Your Curmudgeon has never had a Facebook account, so we have no idea what’s going on there. We always thought it was a cesspool of idiocy. Are the Discoveroids on the right track? Is Facebook the way to go for making creationism successful? If so, then our assessment of Facebook is correct.

Copyright © 2019. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

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Ken Ham Debates an Old-Earth Creationist

This is a good one from Ken Ham (ol’ Hambo) — the ayatollah of Appalachia, the world’s holiest man who knows more about religion and science than everyone else. He just posted this at the website of Answers in Genesis (AIG), his creationist ministry: Watch Ken Ham Debate Jeff Zweerink of Reasons to Believe. Here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]:

Do we live on a young or an old earth? That question was the subject of a recent debate on a Christian radio show in the United Kingdom, Unbelievable. [Hee hee!] For over an hour, I debated Dr. Jeff Zweerink of Reasons to Believe (an old-earth organization). I challenged listeners to start with God’s Word as their authority as I exposed the problems with old-earth beliefs.

A video of the debate is embedded at Hambo’s post, so if you want to watch the thing, just click over there. Your Curmudgeon never watches that stuff, so we’ll carry on without it. Hambo says:

I encourage you to watch the debate (embedded above). What stood out to me was the obvious difference in our choice of authorities. Throughout the debate, Jeff kept appealing to certain Hebrew scholars and differences throughout history on how to interpret Genesis chapter 1. While insisting he believed in biblical authority, he told the audience that, because Hebrew scholars and theologians have not always held to one common view of Genesis throughout history (although, until fairly recently, most of the church viewed Genesis as historical narrative and the earth as young), there is room for differing interpretation, and so we cannot be dogmatic that the earth is young. But is this true?

Well? Is it true that we can’t be dogmatic? You already know Hambo’s answer to that question. He tells us:

No. [Surprised?] I often hear this argument that it’s just a difference in interpretation, so we should just agree to disagree. But Scripture is abundantly clear — God created everything in six, literal days, just thousands of years ago [scripture references omitted].

Using the same argument, it’s also abundantly clear that The Earth Is Flat!, but Hambo is dogmatic that it’s spherical. See, e.g.: Hambo Says: Flat Earth, No & Young Earth, Yes. Anyway, he continues:

Why am I so passionate about this issue? Why did I debate another believer on an issue so many people see as a minor one? Because I’m passionate about the authority of God’s Word and the gospel. This topic isn’t a minor matter and not an issue of interpretation. It’s an issue of authority — is God’s Word truly your authority, or is man your ultimate authority?

If you start with God’s Word, and nothing else, there’s absolutely no room for millions of years in Genesis. You just won’t find it in Scripture! The only reason people like Dr. Zweerink try to add those years in Genesis is because of influences outside the Bible. Therefore, the Bible is not their ultimate authority — man is. This compromise undermines biblical authority and, ultimately, the gospel message (which is grounded in the history in Genesis).

You see the problem, don’t you, dear reader? According to everything Hambo is saying, he ought to be a flat-Earther. But he’s not, and the consequences will be eternal! Anyway, let’s read on:

I encourage you to watch the debate and consider the following for yourself — who will your authority be? The ever-changing opinions and ideas of man? [Oh no!] Or the rock-solid, inerrant, unchanging, eternal Word of God?

Hambo goes on and on, but you get the idea. This is an important issue, dear reader — perhaps the most important issue there ever was. So what will your decision be?

Copyright © 2019. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

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