Do Young Earth Creationists like Ken Ham & Kent Hovind harm the credibility of the Gospel itself?

Do Young Earth Creationists like Ken Ham & Kent Hovind harm the credibility of the Gospel itself?

No. Unless you believe death happened before the Fall (when it clearly did not). Unless you believe certain literal stories in the Bible are metaphorical and not real life events (when many such events have been documented as being real). In fact, the belief in a Young Earth is what a normal person would have in a normal reading and study of the Scriptures. The only reason you would want to believe in an Old Earth is because of what secular science says and not what the Bible says.

Most Christians (such as myself) who stand behind the Global Flood, believe the Earth to be thousands of years in age and not millions of years old because they know the Bible and ancient civilizations to have been recorded as being only thousands of years in age.  Christians also know the Earth to be young because the tremendous amount of evidence that supports a world wide Global Flood, too.  In fact, this does not include the other different categories of evidences that back up the Scriptures, as well.  

Anyways, when secular scientists date fossils and rock layers, they don't factor in the Global Flood into their findings.  They make assumptions that the world is millions of years old and then date things accordingly. How do I know they make such wrong assumptions? Well, secular scientists had dated the findings of a recently erupted volcano to be a million years old. This means that they are biased towards dating things to be Old. Also, secular scientists claim that many rocks layers are millions of years in age, yet trees have been found growing thru out these rock layers, though.  Secular scientists also ignore the fact that sea shells on top of mountains would have not gotten blasted away by the elements if they were sitting up there for millions of years, too.  In fact, sea shells on top of mountains all over the world is one of the many incredible proofs that support a Global Flood and a Young Earth. Also, there are over 270 Flood Legends all over the world (With a good portion of them paralleling the various facts within Genesis). Fossil graveyards have been found buried all over the world. Trees have been fossilized standing up all over the world. Man's denial of a Global Flood (i.e. Secular Scientists and atheists) having fulfilled New Testament prophecy (2 Peter 2:3--6); And the list goes on and on.

However, what is the real problem with Old Earth Creatiionism?

Well, Old Earth Creationism not only does not line up with the scientific facts but it also sides itself with Secular Historical Science (of which cannot be proven because we do not have a time machine to actually show it's real age). However, thre real problem with Old Earth Creationism is that it is a model that came about from Evolution; And under the world view of Evolution you can technically do what is good and right in your own eyes. This is called "Moral Relativism" and it leads to chaos. In fact, under this World View: A person could say that when they murder someone, they are just one single celled organism eliminating another single celled organism by Natural Selection or survival. On the other hand, if a person were to believe in the Bible, they would be held accountable to a Creator God and a high moral code that tells them there is a right and a wrong.

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I was once a blind follower of Ham and Hovind because they maintained the Biblical positions that I maintained. But now I follow no one blindly. I like hearing all sides and make my OWN decisions as to what I will believe. If they harm the credibility of the Gospel (salvation) then I don't know where the harm is. Now, they might harm the credibility of science. I once saw a video of Hovind claiming the KJV was the only true Bible. It sounded good at the time. So maybe he is harming "theology" in some way. But many others do also. No wonder many ask what religion is the right religion. I don't blame them for asking. If they say all religions are silly I can't say I blame them for this either. All I see are arguments, just like the Pharisees argued with Jesus Himself.

What exactly is the central message of Jesus teachings?

According to bible Jesus said the most imporant commandment is 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one', christians are in lost worshiping a man, not God,

In a word, yes.

The idea that you have to leave your brains at home in order to be a Christian is hardly likely to act as a major draw.

Having to tell lies to reinforce one's religious belief as Hovind has done should tell you something about which side of the truth you are on.

All they do is point out what the Bible actually says about how we got here. If that harms the credibility, then you ought to consider it isn't really all that credible to start with.

They help emphasize absurdity of Bible.