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Jonathan D. Sarfati (born October 1 , 1964 ) is an Australian writer and researcher who works for Creation Ministries International (CMI), formerly part of Answers In Genesis (AiG), a non-profit Christian Apologetics ministry specializing in Young-Earth Creationism . He is the author of Creation Science articles and three books on the subject; ''Refuting Evolution'' (1999), ''Refuting Evolution 2'' (2002), and ''Refuting Compromise'' (2004). His forthcoming book is ''Rescuing the Bible from John Shelby Spong'', co-authored with Michael Bott. A 's national chess champion in 1987-8, Poison Pawn representing that country in Chess Olympiads in 1986, 1988, and 1992. He has a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Victoria University Of Wellington , New Zealand . BACKGROUND Born in Ararat , Victoria , Sarfati moved with his family to New Zealand as a child, where he became a Dual National . He attended Wellington College in New Zealand, later graduating from Victoria University of Wellington with a B.Sc. (Hons.) in Chemistry , and a Ph.D. in the same subject for a thesis entitled "A Spectroscopic Study of some Chalcogenide Ring and Cage Molecules." He co-authored a paper on of Condensed Matter samples published in other Peer-reviewed scientific journals. Five articles can be found by searching for Jonathan D Sarfati at Science Direct In 1996, he returned to Brisbane , Australia to work for the Creation Science Foundation, then Answers in Genesis and now Creation Ministries International, as co-editor of their magazine, ''Creation'', CMI's '' Creation '' magazine and their technical journal, ''Journal of Creation'' (formerly ''TJ''). AiG's '' Journal of Creation '' Archive Ethnically Jewish , Sarfati converted to Christianity in 1984, and describes himself as a Messianic Jew or Hebrew Christian . He is married with one stepson. WRITINGS AND CRITICISM Religion and science According to the ''Answers in Genesis'' website, Sarfati was a founder of the Wellington Christian Apologetics Society in New Zealand, and has long retained an interest in Christian apologetics and the Creationism Versus Evolution debate. Sarfati's biography at CMI-Australia, Creationist Physical Chemist and Spectroscopist His first two books, ''Refuting Evolution'' in 1999, and ''Refuting Evolution 2'' in 2002, are rebuttals to the National Academy Of Sciences ' publication ''Teaching about Evolution and the Nature of Science'' and the PBS / Nova series "Evolution," respectively. Eugenie Scott of the National Center For Science Education described ''Refuting Evolution 2'' as a "crude piece of propaganda," and expressed concern that there are no serious rebuttals of it, arguing that "its shoddiness is no excuse for complacency on the part of the Scientific Community ." Scott E.C. and Branch G. (2003). Antievolutionism: Changes and Continuities ''BioScience'': 53(3):282-285. ''Refuting Compromise'', published in 2004, is Sarfati's rebuttal of the Day-age Creationist teachings of Dr. Hugh Ross , who attempts to harmonize the Genesis Account Of Creation with modern science regarding the age of the earth and the possible size of the "Flood," against which Sarfati defends a literal biblical timeline and a global flood. Sarfati's writing covers a wide range of topics both within and outside his areas of formal training. Discussing , he argues that all the animals required in Genesis Genesis 6:19-20 (New King James Version) Genesis 7:2-3 (New King James Version)] to fit into may have an unknown purpose, or that their existence would be explained by the expulsion of Adam And Eve from the Garden Of Eden . Sarfati, J. (2002) Useless horse body parts? No way! ''Creation'' 24(3):24-25] He has written in the general field of chemistry criticising evolutionary Origin Of Life theories, pointing out what he considers difficulties in Chemical Evolution , such as polymerization,Sarfati, J. (1998) Origin of Life: The Polymerization Problem ''Journal of Creation'' 12(3):281–284 , chirality,Sarfati, J. (1998) Origin of life: the chirality problem ''Journal of Creation'' 12(3):263–266] , instability of building blocks Sarfati, J. (1999) Origin of life: Instability of building blocks ''Journal of Creation'' '''13'''(2):124–127] and the origin of self-reproduction.Sarfati, J. (1997) [http://www.creationontheweb.com/content/view/1532 Self-replicating enzymes? A critique of some current evolutionary origin-of-life models] ''Journal of Creation'' '''11'''(1):4–6 Sarfati has been criticized for the wide range of subjects he discusses. On the Talkorigins.org web site, Reed A. Cartwright and Dr Douglas L. Theobald have commented on Sarfati's views on vestigial organs, noting that his doctorate was in physical chemistry, not biology and that his understanding of vestigial organs is lacking. Cartwright, R.A. and Theobald, D.L. (2001) Citing Scadding (1981) and Misunderstanding Vestigiality: Another Example of Poor Creationist Scholarship , Talk Origins archive. Sarfati himself has criticised some of his opponents for their lack of appropriate credentials, noting of one researcher, that he was an Anthropologist , and therefore "anything he says about Radiometric Dating should be taken with a large grain of salt." Sarfati argues that Colin Groves, an anthropologist, is not an expert on radiometric dating [http://www.trueorigin.org/noaig.asp] It is widely believed that Sarfati posts at TheologyWeb and other online fora using the screen name "Socrates." In 2003, Dave Moore in an article titled "Reply to Jonathan Sarfati" at TalkOrigins.org said "Dr. Sarfati posts at TheologyWeb under the screen name "Socrates" with the habit of referring to himself in the third person" [http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/supernova/sarfati.html . This , this , this , and this provide evidence it is widely believed. Religion and morals Sarfati says: "Right throughout Scripture, murder — that is the intentional killing of innocent humans — is regarded as a heinous sin (Exodus 20:13, Matthew 19:18, Romans 13:9). Since abortion kills an innocent human being, it is nothing less than murder. So all the usual 'hard cases' pushed by pro-abortionists, e.g. 'What if the woman was raped?', 'What if the child is deformed?', 'What if she can't afford to keep the child?' are completely irrelevant. We should also remember Ezekiel 18:20, which prohibits executing a child for the crime of his/her father — this means that even the tragic cases of pregnancies due to incest or rape are no justification for killing the innocent child conceived." Creation on the web article "Abortion — The answer’s in Genesis" by Jonathan Sarfati First published in Prayer News (Australia), May 1998, page four. He has argued that "the Bible speaks against racism regardless of any way in which people have misused it." Creation on the web series ''Feedback'' from its 2001 article titled "The Bible vs slavery and apartheid" by Jonathan Sarfati. He defends marriage as an institution joining one man and one woman, and opposes Polygamy . Creation on the web article "Does the Bible clearly teach monogamy?" by Jonathan Sarfati. He opposes 2004 titled "Objections to homosexuality article" by Jonathan Sarfati. He has endorsed Bernard Goldberg 's suggestion that Roman Catholic Priest s who molest teenage boys should be called "gay priests" rather than "pedophile priests." In the same article, he used the terms "homonazis" and "sodomofascist" to refer to gays who advocate the imprisonment of pastors for calling homosexual acts sinful: :"Homosexuals are now a politically protected victim group, about which it is ''verboten'' to say anything negative. And certain homonazis want Christians punished if they quote from the Bible against homosexual behavior. Indeed, 63-year-old Pastor Åke Greenh was jailed in Sweden for just that, because they have such a sodomofascist law restricting Christian freedom. Fortunately his conviction was overturned on appeal, to the ire of homosexual activists, by a higher court because it was such an egregious violation of Sweden's free speech laws." Creation on the web series ''Feedback'' from February 18 2005 titled "The disingenuous and anti-Christian nature of 'gay rights' rhetoric" by Jonathan Sarfati. CHESS |
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