Forbes reports on Kent Hovind's Innocence Claims
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Such a shame. His creation science materials were top notch… significantly better than AiG. I was saved through his ministry. I guess it is just a norm for large scale Creation Science personalities to go a bit crazy as they feel they constantly need to be looking over their shoulder for people out to get them.
“Already in prison since January 2007 for failure to pay federal taxes, for structuring various bank transactions to evade reporting requirements, and for attempting to obstruct administration of the U.S. internal revenue laws, Young Earth Creationist and Sovereign Citizen proponent Kent Hovind has had a raft of new charges laid against him for the filing of lis pendens liens on property deemed forfeited to pay for earlier unpaid taxes.[132] The filing of these liens had been earlier forbidden by a court. Hovind during his incarceration has relied increasingly on Sovereign Citizen arguments, denying his U.S Citizenship and declaring “Democracy is evil and contrary to God’s law”. Hovind’s co-defendant is Paul J. Hansen, another Sovereign Citizen advocate. In filings before the court relating to the upcoming trial, both have made lengthy submissions which recycle typical Sovereign Citizen tropes, such as “withdrawing consent for the proceedings”, denial of jurisdiction, invocation of maritime law, the attempted convocation of unsanctioned citizen grand juries, and which threaten the judge personally, claiming that as representatives of a fraudulent government that has “made war on the people” and which “contravenes Divine Law”, that they lack any immunity from consequences in the discharge of their public duties.[133] [134] Their trial is presently scheduled for February 2015 in Florida.”
paynen or anyone else. I had minimal contact with Hovind and his materials. Can you please post one thing that made his materials better than AiG, just so I know what you liked about it?
Don’t get me wrong AiG materials have their place. But they tend to be lacking real scientific depth in content. That being said they aim at a more popular level and are probably better for young children. I was saved in high school and really found the depth of Hovind’s scientific knowledge impressive. That being said from what I’ve seen now ICR which stems from Henry Morris is probably the best overall as far as material is concerned. They have a significant number of Scientists as it is a research institute. The problem with ICR is that their materials are expensive.
Bottom of the line is both ICR has significant backing from scientists. Hovind had a background in science and taught it. AiG tends to be more of a popular group that takes what a lot of scientists outside their organization do and bring it to people in churches. Yet they have little scientific experience themselves.
The other issue I have had with Kent Hovind lately is that he has become more embroiled in psuedo-political issues. His whole bill board argument with atheists reminds me of children who sit around and argue whose dad can beat up who.. Overall AiG has just gotten to big for its britches its lost a lot of its original purpose.
“Dr. Hovind’s trial has been postponed again. It is now scheduled for the week of March 2nd.”
http://www.kenthovindblog.com/
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“The government asked this week that the trial be to rescheduled to March because the federal attorney assigned to the case was temporarily out of the office with a family emergency. Chief District Judge M.Casey Rodgers granted the motion Wednesday morning despite opposition from Hovind.”
[paynen]. Hovind had a background in science and taught it.
Here’s his background in science:
In 1971, he graduated from East Peoria Community High School in East Peoria, Illinois. From 1972 to 1974, Hovind attended the non-accredited Midwestern Baptist College and received a Bachelor of Religious Education.Patriot University In 1988 and 1991 respectively,
Hovind was awarded a master’s degree and doctorate in Christian Education through correspondence from the non-accredited Patriot University in Colorado Springs, Colorado (now Patriot Bible University in Del Norte, Colorado, which no longer offers this program).
Having a website called “Dr. Dino” has provoked some academics to look closely at how Hovind presents his education and credentials. Barbara Forrest, a professor of philosophy, expert on the history of creationism and activist in the creation-evolution controversy, wrote that Hovind’s lack of academic training makes it impossible to engage him on a professional level
Patriot Bible University is a diploma mill, as it has unreasonably low graduation requirements, lack of sufficient faculty or educational standards, and a suspicious tuition scheme.The school’s current policies allow students to attain bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, and Doctor of Ministry degrees in months, rather than years, for as little as $37 per credit. Bartelt has stated that Hovind’s doctoral dissertation is evidence of the poor requirements at Patriot and that Hovind lacks knowledge of basic science.[15] She noted that Hovind’s dissertation is incomplete (it contains four chapters totaling 101 pages, but Hovind’s introduction claims the work is 250 pages with 16 chapters), of low academic quality, with poor writing, poor spelling, and poor grammatical style. Bartelt asserts that pages are repeated, references are absent, and it is not an original work with original ideas.My conclusion (and I have followed this guy for years): He is a huckster and a tax scofflaw.
Have you viewed any of his materials? They were quite legitimate… The issue is he also equated the government with evil. He truly wanted to help people and bring creation to light. And his son’s current ministry is an example of that done right. His view of government and its conspiracies is wrong and it lead him to the state he is in now. I don’t think it is fair of you to claim that his ministry was all a scheme to take advantage of people and take their money.
http://www.wnd.com/2009/05/98757/
Hovind commends AIG for their work:
An evangelical organization with similar aims, Answers in Genesis, has distanced itself from some of Hovind’s teachings. An exchange between AIG’s Ken Ham and Hovind began in 2003 when AIG published a list of Arguments We Think Creationists Should Not Use.” Hovind saw many of his arguments in the list and responded to Ham. Asked about the outcome, Eric Hovind told WND Answers in Genesis “has done a great job of reminding creationists to be accountable for what we teach, and for that I’m grateful.Also many laughable comments about paying taxes. (As we all are either preparing or thinking about preparing our taxes, do you think we could get away with this?!)
Hovind argues he took a vow of poverty as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ and, therefore, owns nothing and receives no income. All of his needs are taken care of by the ministry, he explains.
In 1996, Kent Hovind tried to file for bankruptcy to avoid paying federal income taxes. He told a judge at a hearing he did not believe the United States, the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office “have jurisdiction in this matter.”“I sincerely believe that I am not a person required to file a Federal Income Tax Return,” he said. “This belief is a result of extensive research that I have done.”Asked by the judge where he lived, Hovind replied, “I live in the church of Jesus Christ, which is located all over the world. I have no residence.”Kent Hovind has stated he believes the Bible “teaches us to obey the authority over us.”But he contends the “IRS is not the authority over me any more than the government of Japan is.
Eric Hovind said he can see how “the majority of people would look at my dad and say, ‘Hey you’re refusing to pay a tax that you owe.’ The question is do you owe that tax?”As an ordained minister, he said, his father “paid no taxes, because he didn’t make any money.”“The ministry was set up in a way that it provided for his needs,” he said. “Not all his wants and desires, but his needs. He didn’t live a lavish lifestyle. And he had zero income.”
Regarding his citizenship arguments, if being a non-citizen allowed a man to not pay taxes, that fact escaped our Lord, who did pay the Temple tax out of reverence for Caesar. Cool way of paying it, but He paid it nonetheless, and He was definitely not a Roman citizen like Paul. For that matter, Paul was addressing mostly non-citizens in Romans 13. So Hovind’s got a pretty interesting Biblical wall against his theories, to put it mildly.
Paynen, I cannot speak to my view of Hovind’s arguments, as I’ve not the time to review them (nor are they relevant these days given his legal status), but as much as I would agree that AIG sometimes uses rather “lightweight” arguments scientifically, even they took the time to dismantle a bunch of Hovind’s. There is a difference at times between a true scientist and a “huckster” (to use Jim’s words) who makes scientific-y-sounding claims, but without scientific heft.
For that matter, his legalish is a great part of the reason he’s in jail, no? I think that he’s finally run into people who can explain his hucksterism before a jury, really. Hopefully that happens with people like Al Sharpton soon, too.
Aspiring to be a stick in the mud.
[paynen] I don’t think it is fair of you to claim that his ministry was all a scheme to take advantage of people and take their money.
Answer: I said “My conclusion (and I have followed this guy for years): He is a huckster and a tax scofflaw.” He was convicted of the tax scofflaw part. And he peddled error with regard to paying taxes.
Hovind’s ministry as a presentation used far stronger scientific arguments then I have ever seen AiG use. In regards to his lecture series I believe they are still sold and in use fairly widely. my frustrations with Jim’s comments are not regarding any issues he has had with the law. I agree with those. My original comment on this post was to state the sadness with which it is to see a man who had a good creation ministry and clearly communicated the gospel in a state such as he is in. His ministry was legitimate, he was passionate and knowledgeable about creation and the Gospel and communicated that with expertise. His fall came in his belief that the government had no authority over him and that he was being persecuted for being a Christian.
There is a difference between someone who is out to make a buck and is just trying to avoid taxes, And a man who truly believes the government and all its functions are corrupt and evil and that they have no place in his life. However wrong he was, he was passionate about God and His ministry. I am not trying to defend what he has done. It is completely wrong and their is no defense for it.. but the words you stated insinuate that his intent was to pull one over on the people he ministered to.
[paynen] t the words you stated insinuate that his intent was to pull one over on the people he ministered to.
Actually .. you insinuated that I insinuated .. but let’s just leave it and move on.
I concur with your opinion, Jim. I took over a very large Christian school years ago and walked in the science rooms to find a shelf of Hovind’s videotapes. (It WAS years ago.) After doing a brief research and examination, I immediately had them pulled off and replaced with credible materials from well-educated sources. To compare Hovind’s stuff with AiG is like comparing Hyles-Anderson scholarship to Cedarville’s.
I cannot agree with you more. I’m not sure how anybody could compare Hovind’s work (yes, I’ve watched all his videos) to something like, say, Answers Research Journal (AIG).
Tyler is a pastor in Olympia, WA and works in State government.
Perhaps it is because I am relatively new to the game. To me even looking back at CSE materials especially the still sold Creation Seminar of Dr. Hovind they are high quality, and good science. Entry level, but good. Whenever I see anything from AiG nowadays its stuff like this
https://answersingenesis.org/religious-freedom/
They are just political nowadays… All that being said ICR is clearly the best resources out there especially with some of the weird things AiG has done lately.
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