John Pendleton: Creationist Extraodinaire

22nd May 2008

John Pendleton: Creationist Extraodinaire

posted in Biblical, Creationism by themaiden |

John Pendleton has a series of videos on YouTube spotlighting his scientific inadequacies. Sadly, his video freezes several minutes in, at least on my system, so I’m linking to an analysis posted by ExtantDodo which reproduces (nearly) Pendleton’s entire film plus commentary. It is a long video, weighing in at over thirty minutes. If you don’t have the time to watch it through, skip to about minute 12 and see Pendleton make these mindbenders:

1) The Mississippi delta is about 6,000 years old therefore the world is about 6,000 years old.
2) The oldest living organism is about 4300 years old (which is false) therefore there was a flood about 4400 years ago.
3) Sequoias are resistant to fires and disease therefore the Earth is young ????? WTF?

At about minute 22:15 or so Pendleton gives example of creationist misuse of radiometric dating, a subject that has caught my attention a few times already. Way back in 2005 I wrote “… radiometric dating is unreliable, but only when used incorrectly, which, essentially is how the creationists have gotten all of the errors I have seen them present in the past. Real scientists know the limits of the methods and stay within those limits.” John doesn’t seem to know the limits of the methods, or maybe he just doesn’t care. But I am grateful for the live action demonstration.

Good show, John.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 3:58 pm and is filed under Biblical, Creationism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On May 23rd, 2008, PolitiGal1 said:

I just love watching creationists do the mental acrobatics necessary to avoid having to deal with a severe case of cognitive dissonance. Great post!

2 On May 25th, 2008, themaiden said:

PolitiGal1,

It is fun watching the creationists squirm. The really mind bending part is that they don’t seem to know that they are squirming. I really can’t get over that. How can you not know? Why, I ask myself, does the insanity of it all not eat them alive?

3 On May 31st, 2008, jason said:

I will start off by saying I am a Christian. However I do not agree with 99.9% of them, especially on creation. Genesis 1:1 states God created the heavens and earth period. It is not until two verses later that the the planet as we now know creation is started. There is no time frame for Genesis 1:1, without a doubt billions and trillions of years at the least. Genesis 1:2 says the earth covered by water and darkness, possibly a comet or meteor hit the earth and caused this killing the dinosaurs and what ever else was here. It is not until the next verse that the current state of earth is created. Not the planet but wildlife and plantlife etc… I do not understand why so many christians cannot understand this, if there is one thing life teaches us is things take time. If there is a GOD would he not work in a like manner. I do not doubt that the big bang happened. If science proves it amen. Through all the life that has existed, one led to another. First there was an electron then dust, then a rock, then water, lizard, man. I think you see what I mean. But if we go back to the root of everything, there is nothing. How did something come from nothing, the theory of that happening as opposed to creation is by far much more outlandish. To say that the odds of this universe being aligned perfectly and our planet just so happens to be the only one with life? This was all started by something just apearing at random were nothing exists. Maybe I will wait for a pterodactyl to appear in my living room, would that not be plausible. Or maybe if I try to jump up in the air and fly and tell my children to try also and tell them to tell there children and on down the ages. I guess after several miliion years of handed down traditons my ancestors would grow wings. I think most creationists and evoluitionists need to meet in the middle of the road and see were the truth is at. Have a good day.

4 On June 1st, 2008, themaiden said:

Jason,

Hello. Welcome.

I’m always happy to get comments, and I applaud you for not swallowing the dogma whole, however, I have to say that your reading of Genesis is as tortured as any.

Take Genesis 1:1. I it is true that there is no time frame given in that particular verse but the time frame is given in Gen. 1:5– “and the evening and the morning were the first day.” It is hard to make trillions of year out of that.

Now Genesis 1:2. Saying that a comet killed the dinosaurs doesn’t make sense as God doesn’t create any dry land until Gen. 1:10, give or take, no grass until Gen. 1:11 and no animals until about Gen. 1:20. A comet can’t wipe out what God hasn’t created. Sorry, but Christians don’t understand this because it doesn’t make sense unless you are willing to rewrite Genesis wholesale and that seems a bit like cheating.

No idea why God would ‘work in like manner’, honestly. God if God is would work in whatever manner he, she, it or they want.

How does something come from nothing? 0 = 1 + -1. Quantum particles seem to pull the trick all the time. Look up ‘virtual particle pairs’. Granted, this doesn’t strictly answer ‘how’ it happens, but it does demonstrate that it does happen and happen a lot.

As for the universe being aligned ‘perfectly’, that point always strikes me as turning logic on its head– like walking down to the docks, seeing a ship and concluding that the ocean was crafted so that the ship could float on it. Nope. Its just the other way around.

You could wait for a pterodactyl but, no, it isn’t plausible. That critter took around 4 billion years to show up the first time around. I doubt you’ll live that long and there is no guarantee that anything else like it will show up ever. So, no, not plausible.

Your ancestors could take flight if there were sufficient pressure in that direction. I’d say it is pretty unlikely but who knows? Maybe.