Prove Evolution: Win $250,000!

Creation Science Evangelism ^ | N/A | Dr. Ken Hovind

[handk]

Dr. Hovind's $250,000 Offer
formerly $10,000, offered since 1990

I have a standing offer of $250,000 to anyone who can give any empirical evidence (scientific proof) for evolution.*  My $250,000 offer demonstrates that the hypothesis of evolution is nothing more than a religious belief.

 

Observed phenomena:

Most thinking people will agree that--
1. A highly ordered universe exists.
2. At least one planet in this complex universe contains an amazing variety of life forms.
3. Man appears to be the most advanced form of life on this planet.

Known options:

Choices of how the observed phenomena came into being--
1. The universe was created by God.
2. The universe always existed.
3. The universe came into being by itself by purely natural processes (known as evolution) so that no appeal to the supernatural is needed.

Evolution has been acclaimed as being the only process capable of causing the observed phenomena.

Evolution is presented in our public school textbooks as a process that:

1. Brought time, space, and matter into existence from nothing.
2. Organized that matter into the galaxies, stars, and at least nine planets around the sun. (This process is often referred to as cosmic evolution.)
3. Created the life that exists on at least one of those planets from nonliving matter (chemical evolution).
4. Caused the living creatures to be capable of and interested in reproducing themselves.
5. Caused that first life form to spontaneously diversify into different forms of living things, such as the plants and animals on the earth today (biological evolution).

People believe in evolution; they do not know that it is true. While beliefs are certainly fine to have, it is not fair to force on the students in our public school system the teaching of one belief, at taxpayers’ expense. It is my contention that evolutionism is a religious worldview that is not supported by science, Scripture, popular opinion, or common sense. The exclusive teaching of this dangerous, mind-altering philosophy in tax-supported schools, parks, museums, etc., is also a clear violation of the First Amendment.

 

How to collect the $250,000:

Prove beyond reasonable doubt that the process of evolution (option 3 above, under "known options") is the only possible way the observed phenomena could have come into existence. Only empirical evidence is acceptable. Persons wishing to collect the $250,000 may submit their evidence in writing or schedule time for a public presentation. A committee of trained scientists will provide peer review of the evidence offered and, to the best of their ability, will be fair and honest in their evaluation and judgment as to the validity of the evidence presented.

If you are convinced that evolution is an indisputable fact, may I suggest that you offer $250,000 for any empirical or historical evidence against the general theory of evolution. This might include the following:

1. The earth is not billions of years old (thus destroying the possibility of evolution having happened as it is being taught).
2. No animal has ever been observed changing into any fundamentally different kind of animal.
3. No one has ever observed life spontaneously arising from nonliving matter.
4. Matter cannot make itself out of nothing.

 

My suggestion:

Proponents of the theory of evolution would do well to admit that they believe in evolution, but they do not know that it happened the way they teach. They should call evolution their "faith" or "religion," and stop including it in books of science. Give up faith in the silly religion of evolutionism, and trust the God of the Bible (who is the Creator of this universe and will be your Judge, and mine, one day soon) to forgive you and to save you from the coming judgment on man’s sin.

* NOTE:
When I use the word evolution, I am not referring to the minor variations found in all of the various life forms (microevolution). I am referring to the general theory of evolution which believes these five major events took place without God:

1. Time, space, and matter came into existence by themselves.
2. Planets and stars formed from space dust.
3. Matter created life by itself.
4. Early life-forms learned to reproduce themselves.
5. Major changes occurred between these diverse life forms (i.e., fish changed to amphibians, amphibians changed to reptiles, and reptiles changed to birds or mammals).

[RadioAstronomer]

Did I call you a LIAR? No I didn't, I said I accept what you said at face value.

No what you said was; I find it hard to believe you have made an effort at the Koran as it is against muslim law to write the Koran in any language other than Arabic

So if I was a bit sensitive, I am sorry.

[RadioAstronomer]

My mistake on the date but if you agree or not on the date 610 AD is very late in history for the birth of mankind.

So is the Bible, since hominids have been around for more than a million years.

[RadioAstronomer]

Post then the history of mohamed and his wives in short version of course

I will not post from the verses because it may be offensive to any of our Muslim freepers, however this is a letter printed on the first page describing the reason for publication of this translation:

"I have undertaken the publication of this magnificent translation of the Holy Al-Quran as rendered into english by allama Abdullah Yusuf Ali in commemoration of the visit to the United states of America in 1946 of the Saudi Delegation headed by His Excellency Sheikk Abdulla Es-Sulaiman El-Hamidan Treasurer of the Royal Saudi Arabian Kingdom,
Khalil Al-Rawaf

What is really interesting is that there is a commentary section at the bottom of each page like many of the Bibles I have seen. Also the classical Arabic is written right to left and the english left to right.

[general_re]

That actually sounds kind of cool, so I looked it up on abebooks - is yours one or two volumes? It's not clear whether the 1946 edition is only one. Anyway, there are more recent editions of the same book, from 1990 and 2000 also, so I am prepared to grant that such a book exists and that you do, in fact, own a copy ;)

[RadioAstronomer]

Two volumes! :-) (Green cover with gold writing)

[general_re]

Neat. There's an earlier 1934 edition also - $65 if you're interested ;)

Anyway, if you like rare or old or used books, the Advanced Book Exchange is absolutely amazing - it beats the hell out of Amazon for out-of-print stuff, for sure.

[RadioAstronomer]

Neat. There's an earlier 1934 edition also - $65 if you're interested ;)

No thanks. :-) You may have realized by now from all my posts over the past year, that I am not particularly religious. I do treasure this book due to how I acquired it though. :-) Also thanks for the link. At one time I had an opportunity to buy a page from a 12 or 13^th century "Book of Hours". At the time I did not have the money. Sigh! I do love to read books. I have around 5000 books here at my house. (Makes it a real pain to move though!)

[PeaceBeWithYou]

Hmmm... I have a big toe also. How does a rib prove creationism?

If you cut off your big toe will it grow back? Does your big toe contain the neccesary DNA to develop a clone from?

Rib bone has both of these qualities and is also used heavily in reconstructive surgery all over the body because it will not only regrow from where it is taken from, but also will cause shattered bone to regenerate. Promising research is also being done in limb regeneration using rib bone.

[general_re]

ABEbooks is really the best - I'll always recommend it. It's come through for me twice when I really, really wanted something.

My father-in-law always used to talk about this one book he had that he had loaned to someone years before and never gotten back, and he hadn't had any luck prowling around local bookstores. So my wife thought it would be cool to see if she could find it for him - we plugged it into Amazon's out-of-print search, and forgot all about it. Three months later, I got an email from them - they had an edition available, for only $330, plus shipping. Ha.

Well, that was bit more than we were prepared to spend, so we had to say no thanks, although it was disappointing. I found out about ABE not long after that, and plugged in the title. And it was fabulous - I got back a hundred hits on the spot, all of them in the $30-$60 range.

Now, ABE at the time was just a book finder service - back then, once you found the book you wanted, you had to get in touch with the bookstore that actually had the thing and work out the details with them. So I called one of them, and as I was talking to some super-nice lady at an independent bookstore (somewhere in Manhattan, IIRC), I happened to mention that I had tried Amazon and what they had come back to me with - and she started laughing!

"What's so funny?" I asked her (nicely - I still wanted the book).

"Oh," she says, "we sell old books to Amazon all the time. If I knew how much they were marking them up, I'd have charged them more!"

So now I start with ABE for old books, and think only nasty things about Amazon and their out-of-print service scam ;)

[PeaceBeWithYou]

So, women really ARE the inferior being! I mean, a rib? You know, the cheap cut! I'm going to Hell for that one."

Don't know about that...glad I didn't say it tho.;-)

Actually rib bone is amazing stuff, see my #230 to RA.

Later models usually have improvements don't they? I think they do...don't you? Adam seemed to think so also.

[PatrickHenry]

Lurking ...

[Tribune7]

Biblical creationism isn't a theory based in observation and it isn't amenable to proof.

Biblical creationism -- that the world was created in six days in the order as recorded in Genesis -- is not science, as you note. It is faith.

Evolution, on the other hand, is based solely on observations -- in the lab, in the feild, in the fossil record. That's science.

The insistance that those observations are evidence of evolution is a tenant of faith. The observations can be more fairly considered as raising doubts about evolution. For instance, after a plethora of laboratory experiments we have never evolved a new species -- unless one starts playing semantic games with the word "species."

There are no transitory fossils -- although I can't take the fossil record seriously one way or the other.

Note that I limit myself to biological evolution rather than the all-encompassing theory which attempts to explain the accidental existance of our universe and is inarguably a religious belief.

Got to go.

[Phaedrus]

Well, if the mechanism of evolution, as a necessity of logic, excludes purpose, then you HAVE to be saying that God is incapable of creating a universe in which evolution occurs .

I do? Wrong. What I "HAVE to" be saying is a another mischaracterization of my post, less than wholly honest and, as noted in my last post, a sophomoric debating tactic. Logic is a limited tool, dealing only with what it is given and then only in its limited way. Logic will generate the conclusion inherent in the assumption. Further, you attempt to change the subject away from the deficiencies of Darwinism toward Creationism, which is a dodge. Unlike Darwinism, true science welcomes scrutiny. Until you learn to debate fairly, this debate is over. With yourself having lost it.

[Twodees]

You've inadvertently wandered onto a conservative forum. Click the back button on your browser until you arrive back home at DU.

[Motherhood IS a career]

Post then the history of mohamed and his wives in short version of course

I think someone is confusing the terms "story" and "history".

Either way, the argument is pointless.

It is interesting, however, what the human mind is capable of. One of them being the ability to create its own coping mechanisms. People can convince themselves of just about anything in order to escape realities too harsh to live with. All they need is a little push in that direction, and all of a sudden, their terrible fear of death is greatly eased. How convenient.

[jlogajan]

Logic is a limited tool, dealing only with what it is given and then only in its limited way. Logic will generate the conclusion inherent in the assumption.

So you're saying that your assertion "Evolution excludes purpose" has circular meaning by necessity and therefore cannot usefully describe reality. So why did you say it?

[foolish-one]

I'll wire you $20, if you can provide any evidence that does NOT require me to go on "faith."

Photinus pyralis - Pyralis (common) firefly. Very complex biological structure involving production, storage and release/mixture of otherwise toxic chemicals which no other species is known to produce or use. Evolutionists have to wrestle with which came first, the storage pouches, mixing chamber, release mechanisms with no use or the toxic chemicals which would have been of no use and killed the host. Also, evolution depends on continual breeding to pass on the new (superior) genes so who was the first mate attracted to the neat little newly "lighted" bug? The explanations may, in fact, exist but they are not known or even suspected at this time, so Creation and an Intelligent Designer seems the most plausible explanation.

You said any evidence that doesn't require faith, not all or even enough to change my mind. But I suspect that your 'bet' was the usual hyberbole and won't hold my breath waiting for the $20.00 or for you to change the conditions.

Have fun!!