Showing posts with label inerrancy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inerrancy. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 1, 2025

IQ World Record Holder Exposed!

You may have heard of YoungHoon Kim on X, the self-proclaimed world record IQ holder.  In the pinned post, he claims to have an IQ of 276.  And if you scroll down his main profile page, you'll find he parrots all of the mainstream Christian talking points, and Young-Earth Creationist (I am also YEC) talking points.  There's just one problem, and I'll let this video I found explain it:

Yeah, YoungHoon Kim made-up his IQ score.  But nearly every Christian (including myself) fell for him.  While I don't agree with all of his talking points, I did fall for his claims that (a) he's the certified world record IQ holder, and (b) that he's a Christian.  Looking back on it, I should have been able to identify the red flags that the video pointed-out and investigate myself.  But I didn't.  In fact, it would seem that hardly anyone did.  They all failed to "test al things" (1 Thessalonians 5:21), as did I.

By the way, one point brought up in the video is that apologetics ministries were promoting him and didn't do anything to verify his claims before doing so.  Here's a question:  Why?  The answer is quite simple:  The man is parroting all of their most important talking points (most apologetics ministries that I know of are YEC, by the way) under the perceived authority that comes from being known as the world's smartest person.  They're looking to justify themselves in the eyes of man.  This is a trait that everyone has by default and resurfaces from time to time.  But you can bet that these same ministries would be blasting him if he was parroting atheist talking points under the perceived authority of the world's smartest person.

Now, let's take a look at some of these posts and see for ourselves that this man is speaking out of pride (for some reason, these X posts don't seem to be embedding properly):

Notice that he starts off each post with "From the world's highest IQ record holder..."  Almost all of his posts begin this way.  He wants you to believe him just because he's (allegedly) the smartest person in the world.  In the best case scenario, this is simply pride talking.  Even if he does hold the record for highest IQ, that does not mean you should forgo testing everything.  As far as you should be concerned, anyone who starts their posts of with any claim of authority, be it a PhD or an IQ record holder, it is the equivalent of saying, "Suchandsuch is true because I say it is.  Don't try to verify my claims."

Even if this man is speaking with integrity, that doesn't mean he's always going to be right.  If he's prideful (which he is), that pride will one day result in him being wrong in the most obvious and most embarrassing way possible.  One must always be careful to keep one's own pride in check before it destroys one's credibility.  And once one's credibility is destroyed, it's hard to rebuild it.  Remember that God opposes the proud (James 4:6).  So even those who speak the truth will be brought low by God if they become puffed up with pride.

Now what about the claim that Truth speaks through Joe Rogan?  Well, I don't pay attention to Joe Rogan and I am not familiar with any of his teachings, so I am not in a position to say one way or another if he is telling the truth.  That is something that you will have to test yourself.

Here's another one of his posts:

Same pattern of claiming authority to get you to uncritically accept his claims.  This time, in declaring evolution is a scam.  Mr. Kim is absolutely correct that evolution is a scam, and that only the Biblical account of Creation is the truthful account of Creation.

Here's another post:

Same pattern.  But this time, his claim is not entirely correct.  While it is true that abortion, without exception, is murder, and it is true that there is never an excuse for abortion, what is not true is the claim that God said, "Do not kill".  The actual commandment is "Do not murder".  The KJV got it wrong in Exodus 20:13.

This simply proves the point that we should still test everything that anyone says.  Being the smartest person in the world doesn't mean you know everything.  And there is a big difference between knowledge and intelligence.  No matter how much knowledge you have, you will always be wrong about something and not know something.  But what you do not know, someone else probably does know.  But even the collective knowledge of all mankind does not know everything.

Now, I actually do not blame him for getting this one wrong.  Not everyone can study everything.  And I do not expect most Christians to do a deep study on the Hebrew or Greek texts of Scripture.  Nor do I expect most Christians to know how to do that.  I would like for all Christians to know how to do that (and I encourage you to do so), as it would make my job a lot easier and (more importantly) increase the level of discernment among Christians.  But that is just not going to happen.  And for all intents and purposes, whether the command is a blanket prohibition against killing or just an explicit prohibition against murder isn't going to affect most Christians.

Let's now take a look at another one of his posts:

Here, he shares a bit of personal testimony.  But here is also where I think his pride shines through the most.  Because he is trying to get you to accept everything he says by claiming at he beginning to be the record IQ holder.  This simply is not needed for personal testimony.  In this case, I'm not quite sure he's giving a personal testimony.  Since he's puffed himself up full of pride, this may actually be a call for help.  But I would love for this to be personal testimony.  And if I'm wrong, and it is personal testimony, then this is fantastic.

But what's going to happen when more and more people wake up to the fact that he's lying about being the official IQ record holder?  All his fame will disappear.  Apologetics ministries will quietly unpublish all of their articles about him, or make an example out of him about the difference between professing faith and living faith.  Atheists and other enemies of Christianity will use him as proof that Christians need fraudsters to uphold their faith.  And it will be a massive blow to the credibility of Christianity that this man was uncritically accepted by so many Christians.

Also, being cured of depression and anxiety isn't proof that Jesus is God.  Especially not by itself.  In fact, that one claim alone exposes a huge lapse in critical thinking on Mr. Kim's part.  For someone with the (allegedly) highest IQ in the world, he made a huge blunder that would be expected from someone with just an average IQ or lower.  And don't IQ tests measure a person's critical thinking skills among other things?  I believe that this statement alone proves his IQ isn't nearly as high as he claims it is.

If you really want proof that Jesus is God, look no further than the record of Jesus fulfilling every prophecy concerning his first coming (many of them are impossible to fabricate), including all of the miracles that he was to perform, and him teaching and practicing the law of God perfectly and according to its intended meaning.  That, coupled with the fact that Scripture points to Jesus as the one that the prophets spoke about as being "God with us", proves that Jesus is God.

Miracles by themselves cannot prove that Jesus is God.  Fulfillment of prophecies alone cannot prove it.  Rising from the dead doesn't prove it.  Raising others from the dead cannot prove it.  Even teaching and practicing the law perfectly cannot prove it.  It is all of those things combined with the necessary statement from the prophets that the Messiah would be "God with us" that proves that Jesus is God.  Had the prophets never said that he would be "God with us", then Jesus would not be God.

By the way, we're not very far in this man's timeline (even though I have skipped over many of his posts), and we have already found a major example of his pride getting in the way of his intelligence.  Assuming that his intelligence is as high as he wants us to believe it is.  Ever heard of the Dunning-Kruger Effect?

Let's take a careful look at a couple more posts:

Here, he's using his alleged IQ record to claim that somebody else (Donald Trump) is the smartest person in the world.  Mr. Kim is outright saying that he is both the smartest person in the world and not the smartest person in the world in the same post!  And if Trump is the smartest at an IQ of around 200, then it's impossible for Mr. Kim to have an IQ higher than Trump's IQ.  This one post alone (in my opinion) proves the grift, and is a lousy attempt at false humility.  The irony is that (in my opinion at least), Trump is actually much smarter than Mr. Kim.  Mr. Kim has become instantly famous, but his fame is going to quickly unravel, probably fading into obscurity quickly.  Trump built-up his fame in such a way that it will last for generations.  Whether or not you agree with what Trump is doing is irrelevant here.  There can be no doubt that Trump is more intelligent than Mr. Kim on this point alone.

Okay, here's the last post we're going to cover:

For those who don't know, I actually tested the Biblical inerrancy claim and found it to be both unbiblical and false.  I've even made a couple posts here and here, the latter of which goes into detail about a claim used to "prove" inerrancy.  In short, the Bible isn't perfect, nor does it claim to be perfect.  Nor is everything in the Bible the "word of God", and that's actually a good thing.  And your faith certainly should not stand on the Bible being perfect.  Rather, it should stand on the Bible being trustworthy, because it is trustworthy, in spite of the fact that it's not perfect.  Though, the number of errors in Scripture is so low that rounding to the nearest percent almost certainly yields a result of 0%.

Review his timeline while you still can.  I've been scrolling far beyond the post I quoted above, and cannot find one instance of him correcting a single mainstream Christian doctrine.  Not one post.  And it's not like there's a lack of incorrect doctrine within mainstream Christianity.  Even if you disagree with me on Biblical inerrancy (which is your right, especially if you have studied Scripture for yourself to draw your own conclusions), we should at least agree that mainstream Christianity is going to get something wrong eventually.  Right?  So why does it seem that he does not use the implicit authority that comes from having the highest IQ to correct errors in mainstream Christian doctrine?  Perhaps it's because he's seeking praise from men.

If he wasn't outright lying about his IQ, I would conclude that this man is an infant in the faith and letting his pride get in the way of growing in the Messiah.  And that he needs to be taught humility.  The most intelligent people are the ones who, upon receiving correct, test the correction, and upon learning that it's true, take it to heart, accept it, and put it into practice.  Those who seek attention and pride will be brought low, even if they are right about everything else.

But the fact that he actually is lying about his IQ record status proves that he isn't practicing the Christian faith.  And if he somehow doesn't know that you're not allowed to lie for Jesus (not surprising, since most apologists do exactly that, but at least try to appear humble), his response to being exposed will tell us everything about the sincerity of his faith.  If he accepts correction, and changes his ways, he is a genuine Christian.  If he rejects correction, especially repeated correction, continuing in his lies, then he is a wolf in sheep's clothing.

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Wednesday, September 14, 2022

Making Claims on the Bible's Behalf

If there's one thing that I've noticed while testing everything, it's the fact that the Church makes claims about what the Bible says about itself that, quite frankly, the Bible never makes!  These claims are made by the Church on behalf of the Bible, and if you dare to question whether the Bible makes these claims (or even claim that the Bible does not make them), then you are "undermining the authority of the word of God" (or something along those lines).  Responses like these are how the Church protects their doctrine from Biblical scrutiny.  Here are two of the claims that the Church makes about the Bible on the Bible's behalf:

  1. The Bible claims to be the word of God.
  2. The Bible claims to be inerrant.

Let's first take a look at the evidence that the Church provides to prove these claims about the Bible.  For the assertion that the Bible claims to be the word of God, some quote this passage:

For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. [1 Thessalonians 2:13; NKJV]

And that is how we get 100% proof that the Bible claims to be the word of God!  Never-mind the fact that Paul was referring to what he spoke to the Thessalonians when he was physically with them!  So what was Paul referring to?  Probably the Law of God and the writings of the prophets in order to prove that Yeshua is the Messiah, and also the Gospel of Yeshua the Messiah.

After reviewing all of the instances in the New Testament where the phrase "word of God" appears (71 times according to Bible Gateway), I have to conclude that every single one of those appearances is referring to the "Old Testament" or specific portions of the "Old Testament", such as the Law of God and the writings of the Prophets.  There is no evidence that the phrase "word of God" is used to refer to any of the "New Testament" writings.  And in fact, if you look at the book of Revelations, you will find that the "word of God" is actually distinguished from the "testimony of Jesus [the] Christ" (that is, the Gospel message of Jesus the Messiah).

On a side note:  While none of the "New Testament" writings claim to be the word of God, Yeshua did claim to be God and he proved his claims to be true.  This makes all of Yeshua's teachings the word of God by definition, even though the writers of the Gospels never claimed that their writings were the word of God.

In the so-called "Old Testament", we see the phrase "word of Yahweh" many, many times.  Each time, it refers specifically to something that God has spoken through his prophets, or sometimes the law of God.  And in the case of the writings of the prophets, the phrase "word of Yahweh" is used many times specifically to claim that what is being said (or is about to be said) is indeed the word of God.  But the phrase "word of God" in the "Old Testament" usually just refers to the Law of God.

Does the fact that these prophetic writings claim to be the word of God mean that the whole Bible is claiming to be the word of God?  Not at all.

By the way, some within the KJV only cult will use Proverbs 30:5 to prove that the KJV is the word of God.  The line of logic behind that claim is this:  "The KJV says every word of God is pure, therefore the KJV (and only the KJV) is the word of God."  With that line of logic, you might as well use every single appearance of the phrase "word of God" as proof that the Bible itself is claiming to be the word of God.

Another passage often used as proof that the Bible itself claims to be the word of God is this verse:

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness [2 Timothy 3:16; NKJV]

What's the line of logic here?  The line of logic is that since the Bible is also called Scripture, this verse is the Bible itself claiming to be the word of God.  By the way, the word (singular) translated as "given by inspiration of God", literally means "God-breathed".  This fact is used to claim that God dictated every word that is in the Bible and that the Bible is therefore claiming to be inerrant.  But that's not what this passage is saying!  By the way, since we're on the topic of taking the Greek text literally, the word translated as "scripture" is the Greek word "graphe", which literally means "writing" or "document".  Have fun trying to explain that one away!

Actually, the "New Testament" outright tells us what it is referring to when it uses "graphe":

44 Then He said to them, "These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me." 45 And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures [graphe]. [Luke 24:44-45; NKJV]

The "Scriptures" refer to the law of Yahweh, the writings of his prophets, and the Psalms.  Usually, when the word "graphe" ("writing") is used, it's referring either to the law of Yahweh or the writings of the prophets, but not the Psalms.  This passage is one of only a few exceptions to this rule.  In other words, the "New Testament" used the generic word for "writing" to refer only to the writings which were widely regarded as having a great deal of authority.  And we can see this usage clearly in 2 Peter 3:16.

Now, about the "God-breathed" part:  It does not necessarily mean that Yahweh dictated every word that's in the writings that Paul is referring to.  In fact, it is highly unlikely that this is the case at all.  While the parts that claim to be quoting Yahweh directly are this way (and probably a significant portion that is not claiming to be quoting Yahweh directly), there is no reason why this cannot simply refer to Yahweh guiding the process, or motivating those who seek truth to write what they have written.  Of course, there are places where Yahweh dictated what these documents should say.  And nothing that comes directly from the mouth of Yahweh is ever in error.  But the Bible never claims to be without error.

Now, is the Bible even capable of making claims about itself?  No.  Why?  Because the Bible is a book that was compiled from 66 individual books.  It has no content of its own and is therefore not able to make any claims about itself.  Instead, what we see is some of the books in the Bible claim to be the word of God.  And some claim that other books (which are also in the Bible) are the word of God.  But the Bible itself makes no claims about itself whatsoever.  In fact, even when all of the 66 documents which are now contained within the Bible were completed, the Bible still didn't exist until these documents were compiled into a single book.  Ironically, this compilation was done by the Catholic Church, which is pretty much the only work of the Catholic Church that has any instructional value on how to carry-out the will of Yahweh, as Yeshua warned.  Though the 66 documents that are in the Bible were widely accepted as having a high level of authority long before that happened.

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