A Going Concern: with Royal Truman Pt I

03/15/25 • -1 min

This week your host Fred Williams and co-host Doug McBurney welcome Dr. Royal Truman to air his concerns regarding assertions that "Professor Dave" (David James Farina) makes against creation scientists. *The Royal Treatment: Royal Truman, PhD received his bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and in computer science from SUNY Buffalo, an M.B.A from the University of Michigan, a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Michigan State with post-graduate studies in bioinformatics at the universities of Heidelberg and Mannheim in Germany. Royal believes the God of Abraham created the universe recently, and that His Son Jesus Christ is the savior of the world. *Setting the Stage: Concern Zero: Professor Dave claims there are no credible chemists in the creation science community. *The Disappearing Evolutionist: Concern #1: Professor Dave claims there is no such word as "evolutionist." Someday, by the grace of God, we hope he's not mistaken! *Whale of an Error: Concern #2: Dr. Truman helps Professor Dave and his audience understand the Hebrew word in the Bible for the great fish that swallowed Jonah. *Just Batty: Concern #3: More help for the good professor understanding the Hebrew word in the Bible that describes bats and flying creatures. *Constant Lunacy? Concern #4: Dr. Truman explains that Creationists assume that the rate of lunar recession was faster in the past, (contrary to Professor Dave's "bunk", we do not say it was constant). *The Slow Kid... Concern #5: Dr. Truman points out Professor Dave's misunderstanding of the mathematics describing the celestial mechanics regarding lunar recession. *The Mind of a Child : Concern #6: Professor Dave alleges that creation scientists misrepresent "the Big Bang" as an explosion that instantly produced fully formed planets. But we all know that creation scientists are perfectly capable of describing the Big Bang in all its absurdity, just as the evolutionists do, (typically right before we debunk it). * Abiogenesis: Concern #7: Professor Dave accuses creation scientists of oversimplifying the enormously sophisticated origin of life research, experiments and theories that have failed for decades to produce even a basic algorithm for abiogenesis that either a PhD or a 6th grader could call convincing. *Sprouting Off: Concern #8: Professor Dave says creation scientists accuse evolutionists of portraying creatures that suddenly sprout wings and appendages alá Richard Goldshmidt's Hopeful Monster! *Probability & Protein: Concern #9: Most people (creationists and evolutionists) outside specialized fields within genetics are not aware that genes and proteins can vary in composition along their sequence. Professor Dave pretends this common ignorance reflects what creation scientists believe, and then unleashes a torrent of vulgar insults, "poisoning the well" for a civil debate. *Competence & Condescension: Concern #10: Professor Dave claims there are no competent scientists in the creation science universe. *Setting the Table: Concern #11: Dr. Truman sets up a scholarly review of concerns 11-17 of Professor Dave's so-called creationist debunk video.

Previous Episode

Giraffes, Ant Surgeons, and Kicking Cats

Giraffe's Cardiovascular System: Ever wonder how a giraffe manages to bend down for a drink without passing out like your uncle after Thanksgiving dinner? Guest host Ryan Williams joins Fred to go over the latest Creation Magazine. They begin with the incredible design of the giraffe’s cardiovascular system, which allows it to handle sky-high blood pressure without blowing a gasket.

Ants' Survival Strategies: If ants had medical degrees, they'd probably put some human surgeons to shame! These tiny insect paramedics identify wounded nest mates and even perform amputations—without malpractice lawsuits.

Mudskippers' Blinking Mechanism: Mudskippers blink, but not because they just heard another far-fetched evolutionary tale. Unlike fish, which don’t normally need to moisturize their eyes, mudskippers have a built-in design that lets them blink using pre-existing muscles—no need for an "evolutionary upgrade" here!

Animals' Inherent Fear of Humans: Animals instinctively fear humans, which might explain why your neighbor's cat disappears the moment you try to pet it (or Fred has other ideas related to 4th and long in Football).

Complexity of DNA Coding: If you thought learning one language was hard, try being DNA—it speaks multiple languages at the same time! Fred and Ryan break down new research revealing the incredible complexity of genetic coding, proving that DNA is more like a sophisticated programming language than a random jumble of letters. So much for "junk" DNA—it turns out, every bit of it has a purpose!

Next Episode

A Going Concern: with Royal Truman Pt II + Abbie Leash: Unleashed!

This week your host Fred Williams and co-host Doug McBurney conclude Dr. Royal Truman's concerns with Professor Dave, and talk witnessing out in the world with Abbie Leash! *Welcome Back Dr. Truman: Royal Truman, PhD received his bachelor’s degrees in chemistry and in computer science from SUNY Buffalo, an M.B.A from the University of Michigan, a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Michigan State with post-graduate studies in bioinformatics at the universities of Heidelberg and Mannheim in Germany. Royal believes the God of Abraham created the universe recently, and that His Son Jesus Christ is the savior of the world. *Freshman Genetics: Concern #11, Dr. Truman points out that Professor Dave is incorrect when he says "every organism" has a genome with genes wrapped around histones, (by far, most organisms do not). *Expression of Ignorance: Concern #12, Professor Dave states that enzymes interact with promoters in the encoding region of the genome. (chemical reactions are not being catalyzed at promoter sites). *Mutant Claim: Concern #13, When Professor Dave claimed a mutation is a change in the genetic code, he incorrectly defined mutations. An insignificant proportion of mutations change the genetic code, and many mutations damage regulator functions instead of protein sequences. *But Who's Counting? Concern #14, Professor Dave's claims that "creationists lie about the proportion of the genome that is functional" and that "genes make up only 1-2% of the genome" are together a false accusation against creation scientists, and an erroneous reference to only the exons on mRNA. *What's Your Function? Concern #15, Dave's errant description of "coding DNA" overlooks that many categories of genes are not protein coding at all, so 1-2% is grossly wrong. Also, transfer RNA by definition is not coding DNA; and there is no such term as 'genes for ribosomes' in the definition of coding DNA. *Encode Project Anyone? Concern #16, The claim that "10% max" of the genome is functional ignores widely acknowledged regulatory and structural functions (already well understood before Professor Dave got his "science communicator" credentials on YouTube.) *Lies and Statistics: Concern #17, David James makes the absurd claim that creation science researchers do not allow for realignment after discrepancies are detected, which is a mathematically impossible explanation for the 84% value. This absurd claim is also directly contradicted by the papers published by the creation scientists. *Off the Leash! Listen to software engineer and creation speaker Abbie Leash discuss the battles of faith, creation and real science out there in the college-educated world.