Shooting the Messenger Doesn’t Change the Message

I recently wrote a post invoking the name of a very controversial man: Ian Juby. He is a congenial Canadian who happens to be a member of Mensa (The genius club*) and a robotics engineer who has done a lot of personal study of geology and paleontology. The reason why he’s controversial is simple- he’s a young earth creationist who has done lots of GREAT work making the creation/evolution debate easy to understand and showing how very badly evolution fails when held up to the observable evidence. Apparently this upsets a lot of people. I referred an uninformed Twitter citizen to Juby’s youtube channel, suggesting that he learn something about Creation science before he tries to mock it. Immediately I had skeptical minds calling Juby an “idiot” and demanding to know his credentials.

Sharing a cup of Tim Horton’s coffee with Ian Juby- my 3rd best Canadian friend!

People do this to Juby all the time, as well as anyone who dares to question the sacred mythology of Darwin. They intend to say that someone who doesn’t have a PhD should NOT be saying anything about science. What’s embarrassing to these people is when you give them a list of PhD’s like

Dr. Georgia Purdom (Biology),

and Dr. Jason Lyle (Astrophysics),

and Dr. David Menton (Washington University School of Medicine),


They either quickly change the subject, abandon the conversation and vanish into the land of wind and ghosts, or, if they are a Roach Clown, they continue to mock the PhD’s for any of a list of stupid reasons, including “No REAL scientist rejects Evolution, so these people can’t be REAL scientists!”

Sigh, roll eyes, face-palm, sigh again.

What should be more obvious than it is, is the fact that, when you have to decide if an idea is true or not, it really doesn’t matter WHO makes the statement. What matters is whether the statement is true or not. The pursuit of a person’s credentials is a completely different topic. If Ian Juby’s formal education was in nothing more than using crayons**, that would not make Evolution true or Creation false. If it could be shown that he had the highest IQ on earth, that would not make Evolution false or Creation true. Evolution and Creation are worldviews and scientific models which stand or fall on their own merits, not on the qualifications of the people proposing them. The Biblical account of Creation is true BECAUSE IT REALLY HAPPENED. It doesn’t matter who teaches it, or who rejects it. The only thing that matters is what is true.

If that doesn’t seem blindingly obvious to you, then you make me sad.

When Elmo teaches us the alphabet, no one is daffy enough to demand his English Literature degree, or when the Count teaches us the number of the day, no one would suggest he can’t be qualified to talk about numbers without a PhD in calculus. So why do they make these ridiculous demands of Ian Juby (and occasionally, me)? I strongly suspect its because they know they can’t answer the position with any reason, so they try to attack the next best thing- the messenger. But the truth doesn’t change when its told by someone new, and the right mouth doesn’t turn a lie into the truth. If the Devil of Hell told you the sky was blue, I’d still call him the “Father of Lies,” but the darn thing would still be blue.

When a small, furry, red puppet with a squeaky voice tells us that the alphabet starts with the letter A, it doesn’t matter that he still hasn’t finished his doctoral dissertation on Grammatical Ascending Hierarchy. The only thing that matters is that what he said is true. A fact doesn’t become untrue even when told to you by the right hand of a man wrapped in fabrics pretending to be a four year old monster.

You heard it here first.

Don’t fall for this sad little trap. If you declare the truthfulness of scripture by defending the first two chapters of the Bible and someone demands your credentials, just remind them that Charles Darwin only had a degree in theology***. If we’re going to start determining the debate of creation vs evolution by the credentials of the people making claims, then I suggest we start with the lazy slacker who dropped out of Med school and got his degree in theology, and went on to prove himself a rotten theologian and an even worse scientist who married his first cousin and then published a book of fairy tales- Charles “Uncle Chuck” Darwin. Once we’ve dealt with Darwin, then we can talk about Ian Juby. I can say with confidence that Juby has NOT married his own cousin.

And if I haven’t said so recently, I suggest you all check out Juby’s excellent channel. And remember #JesusLovesYou

*The Genius Club is not a sandwhich. Which is a shame.

**I spent an entire semester in college using crayons- true story. They are a vastly underrated tool.

***Charles earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Theology in 1831.

This entry was posted in atheism, The Creation SoapBox and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to Shooting the Messenger Doesn’t Change the Message

  1. Randy Epps says:

    That is the answer I have been looking for…that truth is truth, no matter whose mouth it comes out of.


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