A new video has been posted at Your Origins Matter called “College & Science: Nathaniel Jeanson.” I can’t find it on youtube anywhere (at least not yet) so you’ll have to click over there to view it. Jeanson is one of the ICR’s researchers, and the video is about 13 minutes long and covers the following:
- Who are you, what is your specialization, and what does your current research look like?
- When did you decide you were destined for a career in science?
- What background do you have in science and the study of creation?
- What advice do you have for prospective college students – science and non-science majors?
- What words of wisdom do you have for the Christian student in both Christian and secular universities?
The college advice portion is the longest, and perhaps the most interesting. In summary, Jeanson wants you to first ground yourself thoroughly in creationism. You should then go to a secular university, on the grounds that hearing a fellow Christian talk about “unbiblical” ideas will be more likely to persuade you than if it’s a non-believer talking, and take a course in science but not one that’s evolution-centric. Once you’ve got “credentials” you can investigate the issues you were originally interested in. If you’ve heard much about Jeanson before you might recognise his advice as being, in effect, “do as I did,” but it’s also quite similar to what Jake Hebert said in December.
Jeanson also recommends that you commute to university to avoid the debauchery (so that’s what I’ve been doing wrong – damn trains), to live either alone or with fellow believers, and to be suspicious of potentially compromising campus groups. And there’s plenty more where that came from – go watch.
Eye on the ICR 
I found that very interesting. Thanks for the link.
If he continues his current research program, I suspect he is going to find it increasingly difficult to maintain his YEC viewpoint.
One interesting point is that he apparently was able to learn some evolutionary theory, by maintaining a distinction betweeen the answer that the instructor wants to hear, and his beliefs. I have always assumed that was possible, though perhaps different. But it is rare to come across somebody who has succeeded in that.
Experts, even in Christian schools, will teach you “in a very persuasive way” things “that are wrong”? In other words, ‘evidences’ (yeah, he used that trope) are unimportant, no matter how persuasive, if it leads to conclusions that you have already decided are wrong. You have to wonder how good his science can ever be if he takes the attitude that no matter what he finds through his research it must be wrong if it doesn’t confirm his beliefs. He is proud of having his “grounding” in “creation science” through eighth grade and nothing after that can change his mind. As if eighth grade is the pinnacle of knowledge.
“Jeanson also recommends that you commute to university to avoid the debauchery (so that’s what I’ve been doing wrong – damn trains)”
While I wouldn’t say you are doing it wrong, what Jeanson calls “debauchery” can be an “edifying” part of residing at a university. You may make more “mistakes” than when you live at home (though I suspect not; there are ample opportunities there too), it’s harder to blame them on your parents. It’s all a learning curve, which Jeanson is desperately trying to (and, apparently, successfully to date) avoid.
Lastly (and snidely) when did evangelicals start emulating metrosexuals in dress and grooming?