Pat Robertson Says: “Corey and McGrath Are Right, and Ken Ham Is So Wrong It’s Not Even Funny”

Last updated on: January 22, 2014 at 8:38 pm by Benjamin L. Corey

Pat Robertson Says: “Corey and McGrath Are Right, and Ken Ham Is So Wrong It’s Not Even Funny” 2014-01-22T20:38:05-05:00 Benjamin L. Corey

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Yesterday on the 700 Club, Pat Robertson was asked to weigh in on the Young Earth Creation debate that’s getting ready to take off at the Creation Museum next month between Ken Ham and Bill Nye the Science Guy. In another one of his unscripted responses to a viewer question, Pat had a surprising reply to all of the blogging buzz when he said:

“As much as it pains me to side with a couple of liberal heretics like Dr. James McGrath and Rev. Benjamin L. Corey, I have to admit that in this case, they’re completely right– the Young Earth Creationism espoused by Ken Ham is just plain ole’ silly. All you have to do is pick up a hand full of dirt, and you’ll see that it’s old.”

Pat went on to say:

“I’m sure Ken is a nice guy in real life, and I hate to sound pretentious, but I’m just not comfortable getting my science or my theology from someone who only has a bachelors degree. I realize Mr. Ham has a bunch of honorary doctorates, but let’s be honest, they call them ‘honorary’ for a reason.”

Angry with Pat’s response, a Young Earth Creationist from the audience shouted out the go-t0 question they typically ask of: “were you there??” To which, Pat replied:

“Clearly you have underestimated how old I am, just like you’ve done with the age of the earth.”

Ok, well, maybe he didn’t exactly say all that, but he might as well have…

I’ve often been critical of Pat, one time publicly calling him a Jackass (sorry Pat, but my adopted children aren’t “weird” for being adopted and I like that my family looks like the “united nations”), so I thought it would be fair to point out something he said which I think is praise-worthy and relevant to the current discussion on the upcoming debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham.

A little over a year ago Pat was asked a question from a reader regarding the interpretation of Genesis and Young Earth Creationism, and actually gives a surprising answer: young earth creationism is not biblical.

In his answer, Pat points out as I did the other day, that young earth creationism is based upon a guy named James Ussher adding up some birthdays in the Bible and using that to date the earth– in spite of inconvenient things like, say, fossils.

Pat says that when Ussher claimed the earth was 6,000 years old he “wasn’t inspired by the Lord”. Speaking of scientific evidence, Pat says “don’t try to cover it up and make it look like it was 6,000 years! ”

And, perhaps the wisest advice of all, he says “if you fight revealed science, you’re going to lose your children– I believe in telling them the way it was.”

Which, is exactly correct– and exactly why I oppose Ken Ham even though we’re both Christians and both creationists. Young Earth Creationism is so silly, that our children will realize we’re feeding them a bunch of nonsense. If we do this, we risk the possibility of them rejecting the faith entirely– a potential outcome that should grieve us.

I believe God is beautiful, and I believe the message of Jesus is hands down, the greatest story ever told. However, when we misread ancient Hebrew poems and instead side for the poor theological math of a guy in the 1600’s, we risk losing a whole generation of Jesus followers by way of our own refusal to embrace revealed science.

There need not be these two sides– we can embrace revealed science AND follow the Jesus in the Bible. This isn’t a “choose this day whom you will serve” kinda debate– at least, it doesn’t need to be.

And, until we learn that, we become willing to risk the faith of our children over our own ignorance and stubbornness.

As Pat stormed off the set he was heard saying “if you want to believe that the creation process was quick like going through a McDonald’s drive through, that’s fine by me. I’m just telling you that it was more like waiting in line at the DMV.” He then said the entire discussion had him craving a Ham on Nye sandwich, as he let out his classic chuckle.

You can watch the original (and real) Pat Robertson answer here:

Young Earth Creationism

Previous Post

January 15, 2014

Genesis 1: It Doesn't Have To Be True In Order To Still Be True

Next Post

January 17, 2014 Why I'll Always Be A God Believer (about the day I was going to die)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Abuse Adoption Asked & Answered Atheism Atonement Bible Book Calvinism Christian Culture Christian Nonviolence Christmas Church Church Killing Lies Community Creation Care Creationism End Times Evergreen Forgiveness Fundamentalism Gender Gender Equality Ghosting Grief Guns Healthcare Hell Hermeneutics Holy Land Human Trafficking Hunger Immigration Islam Israel Jesus Justice Lent Letting Go Of Hell Series LGBT Life Mark Driscoll Missiology Most Popular Posts Nationalism Old Testament Open Theism Parenting Persecution Political Poverty Prayer Pro-Life Pro-llife ethic Progressive Christianity Prosperity Gospel Put It To Bed Series Race Sincere Questions Suicide Prevention That God Show Theology To Those Christians Who Say Travel Unafraid Uncategorized War What Franklin Graham Is Wrong About Today

Select a Month October 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz