A month or so ago, I notice quite a few Christians posting on social media, statements by a person (that we had never heard of before) named YoungHoon Kim.
This person, who self-describes as the “Highest IQ Record Holder” made a number of very pro-Christian statements. Here is just one example:
There are many more and YoungHoon Kim is equally as eager to praise Donald Trump. His position as “Highest IQ Record Holder” apparently gives him the authority to assert such things.
Now I happen to believe that Jesus is not a myth (I have an entire website dedicated to this) and I believe the gospel. I am not as enthusiastic about Donald Trump.
But what I saw was a reaction from Christians that seemed to imply something like: “This is amazing! The world’s smartest person also believes in Jesus, this must mean that my faith really is built on solid ground!”
I actually do believe that our faith is built on solid ground but that solid ground is not the assertions of YoungHoon Kim.
But wouldn’t the personal beliefs of the world’s smartest person actually support the truth of Christianity? Why would we not want to cheer such great defence of Jesus and Christianity?
Even if he did have the highest IQ (but see below) that would not necessarily mean that he has any special knowledge about the relevant disciplines. One could be the smartest person and yet never have studied the various areas that he seems to speak so assertively of. A person with a high IQ does not know everything, they simply can learn more easily.
There is absolutely nothing about YoungHoon Kim that would suggest that he has the necessary qualifications to determine facts.
Of course he has just as much right to say he believes in Jesus as I do or anyone else. But he does more than this. He says his opinion really counts because of his IQ and Christians are buying it.
But is he really the highest IQ record holder? Strangely, many Christians who seem highly educated and who tend toward rational thinking took his word for it quite uncritically.
The first thing is that almost every one of his posts on X include the claim that he is the highest IQ world record holder. Not just in his bio but in every post. That seems suspicious.
I have done a bit of research myself and there are plenty of red flags. There have been some claims that his record is recognized by Guinness, an organization that has not included records for IQs for a long time because they are so unreliable.
For an extensive look at the concerns about YoungHoon Kim’s claims, see the video below:
Even if you are not convinced by this video and see the individuals involved as overly critical and unduly skeptical, I recommend that you actually scroll through YounHoon Kim’s X feed. Aside from what you want to believe, does this really look like the statements of the world’s smartest person?
Let me add a couple of more statements:
Do you really think this person is the highest IQ record holder? I am not saying that he is unintelligent. I think he quite smart because he has figured out how to assemble a huge social media following.
So why were Christians drawn to YoungHoon Kim?
Christians tend to look for support in their faith from celebrities. If celebrities such as Bono or Denzel Washington are Christians, then maybe our faith is not so strange after all. Their embrace of our faith creates some legitimacy.
Now YoungHoon Kim has created his own celebrity status. But if his claims are correct, this would definitely support the legitimacy of Christian faith.
But this is just lazy thinking.
There are great reasons to believe that Christianity is true but it takes some work to discover them. Some people just want a really smart person to think for them.
I would like to address people in the Christian apologetics community who embraced YoungHoon Kim. If he had been attacking Christianity, apologists would have investigated his claims about himself. But since he was saying what they wanted to hear (about both Jesus and Trump), they passed on the research.
When we defend Christianity with bad reasons (like the assertions of the “Highest IQ Record Holder”) we make ourselves look bad and we lose credibility when we share good reasons.
I understand why many Christians wanted YoungHoon Kim to be the real deal but we are going to have to do our own work to support the claims of the Christian faith.
