In a recent series of video rants, conservative Catholic commentator and collector of copper coins from cold countries (like Canada) Matt Walsh went on a wild spree of letting us know that Young Earth Biblical Creationists are stupid, and Ken Ham of Answers in Genesis is a bad, bad man. Naturally, this encouraged a lot of people who call themselves Christians to stand up and say, “Hey! Matt Walsh! I notice that you have given NO examples of Creationists who think as you describe, and have ascribed to Ken Ham and AiG beliefs which they have actively taught against for decades! So I too, now, also agree that Creationist are stupid and Ken Ham must answer for his crimes!”

And I was all, “…wait, what?”

One such Christian blogger and social media socialite took to the blogosphere to explain in her own words why people like me are idiots. She claimed that she USED to be as big a fool as I am, due to her “Fundamentalist Upbringing” but has since seen the light thanks to people like Hugh Ross and good old Matt Walsh, and as Proverbs 18 says, “The one who states his case first seems right, until the other comes and examines him.”

And I was all, “DANG! She quoted the BIBLE at me! I guess Ken Ham IS the devil…”

But then I remembered that she has spent considerable time recently ranting about how the Bible is NOT the Word of God, but is confusing, full of contradictions, and ultimately written by men who sometimes just made stuff up. So, I let it slide.

Ken, if you’re reading this, we still tight, bro. You my dawg.

But Proverbs there does have a point. And in fact, I have referenced this exact passage of Bible when describing my own personal journey. Unlike the blogger above, I started out as an OEC (Old Earth Creationist). I believed deep time, Big Bang, and some kind of vague take on evolution which I never thought about more than public school asked me too, which is not much. I had the original “Cosmos” by Carl Sagan on VHS and I watched it over and over on my VCR (kids, ask your parents what I’m talking about).

I know the OEC teaching of Hugh Ross.

I saw him in concert before it was cool. I listened to his podcasts back when people were still saying, “Pod-what?” and we all has LIGHTNING FAST 28.8 dial-up modems. I knew what Genesis meant- it meant BILLIONS of years. A short, bald science-man TOLD me so. And probably the Bible too. I assumed it did.

With my head full of “Science” I became a teacher at a Christian school. But then the school pulled a fast one on us. As part of the “start of the school year” meetings, they invited in MIKE RIDDLE. He’s one of those science-hating YEC’s that your mother, Matt Walsh warned you about. (No, I didn’t forget the word “and.” Matt Walsh is your mother. Didn’t you know? Oops. Awkward…. let’s just pretend I didn’t say that and move on.)

For the first time I heard the case for Biblical creation presented in a generic whole. I realized for the first time that I, like many other OEC’s, had never actually READ Genesis to see what it said. Oh, I’d skimmed it a few times, but READ IT? Like, to UNDERSTAND IT? Why would I do that? I already knew what it meant. I didn’t need the BIBLE to tell me what the BIBLE means, I had Carl Sagan on VHS!

So I did what any rational, thinking person would do. I immediately started making podcasts and blogs ranting about HOW STUPID OEC’s are, and how they are RUINING EVERYTHING!

Oh, wait, no I didn’t. I took the time to see what answers Hugh Ross gave to AiG, and then I looked into what answers AiG gave to Hugh Ross’s answers to AiG… and then I got my science teaching endorsement and taught some science, like Ken Ham before me.

So, the way I was taught seemed right until I was told otherwise. Then I looked into both and saw that, while I had been force-fed deep time/Big Bang/ Evolution my whole life in every where and way, I knew nothing about what the Bible said or what science actually revealed about these matters. At the end of the day, I became a YEC because I saw it was reasonable and true. Science and scripture agree. The Bible CAN be trusted from the very first page.

I used to be wrong in much the same way Matt Walsh is wrong about these things. So I am not hating on Walsh for being wrong. Ignorance is no crime, but CHOOSING ignorance is stupid.

What makes him an idiot (in this one matter at least) is that he has decided to publicly attack Creationists in rants full of vitriol and entirely lacking in information. Ken Ham and the kids at AiG have invited Walsh to come and visit the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter and actually LEARN what they believe and teach so that next time he decides to attack them on social media, he can get his facts right. We’ll see what he decides. My expectations, based on prior experience with ignorant Christians bashing Creationism in public forums, are low.

And for Walsh and all of my other homies who, having been given the invitation to talk and learn what Creationism actually teaches, I’d like to hit you with one more verse which is also from Proverbs 18:

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,
    but only in expressing his opinion.

Which I think is the very definition of social media. Let us all agree that the world- and internet- will be a better place if we aim to be better than the fool.