Stand to Reason Blog

Challenge: Your Creation Story Is Just Another Myth

This week's challenge is a graphic (click on it to get a closer view). Your friend posts this on your Facebook page...what do you say? How can you turn this into a good conversation? What points is this graphic intended to make? How would you counter those points?

Leave your ideas in the comments below, and then check back on Thursday to see Alan's response.

[View Alan's video response.]

Challenge Response: God Doesn't Teach Children to Be Good

Here is my response to this week's challenge, "God Doesn't Teach Children to Be Good." 

 

Challenge: God Doesn't Teach Children to Be Good

A CNN iReport titled "Why I Raise My Children Without God" has been making some waves, so I thought I'd choose a portion of it for this week's challenge. We've already covered some of the objections in the article about evil (most of the objections in the article come down to the problem of evil) and prayer, so I went with the one on morality: 

God Does Not Teach Children to Be Good: A child should make moral choices for the right reasons. Telling him that he must behave because God is watching means that his morality will be externally focused rather than internally structured. It’s like telling a child to behave or Santa won’t bring presents. When we take God out of the picture, we place responsibility of doing the right thing onto the shoulders of our children. No, they won’t go to heaven or rule their own planets when they die, but they can sleep better at night. They will make their family proud. They will feel better about who they are. They will be decent people.

Does an "internally focused" morality create better people than one that's enforced by God? What do you think? Respond to this objection in the comments below, and then we'll hear Brett's response on Thursday.

[View Brett's video response.]

Challenge Response: Biblical Law Is Absurd and Outdated

Here's my response to this week's challenge about the claim that Leviticus' prohibition of homosexual behavior is outdated and irrelevant.

 

Challenge: Biblical Law Is Absurd and Outdated

The challenge this week is a popular two-minute clip from The West Wing that attempts to prove to Christians that saying homosexuality is wrong is an absurd, inconsistent, and even hypocritical use of biblical law. (There is a bit of language at the very end of the clip, in case you wish to avoid it.)

While you may not be confronted with this precise clip by friends, the approach taken by the character in this scene is still very common, so it's good to think through how you'll answer this challenge when it arises. Try out your response in the comments below, and then we'll hear Alan's response on Thursday.

[View Alan's video response.]

 

Challenge: We Are Irrelevant

Happy New Year! It's a great day to think about God, who He is, and why we trust in Him. So you're in luck, because it's also challenge day. Today's challenge is from a post on the Why I'm Atheist blog:

As Lawrence Krauss put it: "We constitute a 1% bit of pollution in a universe that’s 30% dark matter and 70% dark energy. We are completely irrelevant. Why such a universe in which we are so irrelevant would be made for us is beyond me."

And that’s why I’m atheist. That’s why, in such an age of scientific, rational thought, religion, to me at least, is not only wrong, but offensive. It could only take an ignorant mind to claim that this universe was designed, intelligently of all things, for such an insignificant race.

Now it's up to you. Do you have an answer? Leave your ideas in the comments below, and then on Thursday Brett will post a video with his response.

[UPDATE 1/03: Brett is currently fighting the flu, but he should have his voice back by next week, so look for his response then. In the meantime, feel free to continue the conversation below.]

View Brett's response here.

Challenge Response: Religion Needs the Devil

Here's my response to this week's challenge.

 

Challenge: Religion Needs the Devil

For this week's challenge: Your friend posts this on your Facebook wall...

What do you say? Can you break down all the specific claims included in this statement? Can you identify the main claim being made here? What are the hidden assumptions? What would you address first? When you're talking to someone and he throws something like this out, you have to be able to get to the heart of his concern quickly and address it. And it might not be something that was explicitly said. If you get too bogged down going step by step through every sentence, you might lose him, but if you can put your finger on the main issue and address that, you should have an interesting conversation.

We'll hear back from Alan on Thursday with his response.

[View Alan's response here.]

Challenge: Wouldn't Eternity Become Hell?

It's time once again for the challenge. You know how it works—we give you an objection to Christianity, then you get to think through the answer and take a shot at responding to it in the comments below. Toward the end of the week, we'll post our video response, and you can see how you did.

Today's challenge is a question sent in by a reader:

I had a young lawyer (an atheist) ask me why anyone would want to go to heaven. Why isn't 80 years of existence just enough? Wouldn't you become tired after a while? After you have seen everything, tasted all the great foods, met everyone in a deep and fulfilling way, and after you have gained all knowledge, wouldn't you just become Sisyphus? Wouldn't eternity become Hell?

Make sure you check back at the end of the week to hear Brett's response.

[View Brett's video response here.]

Challenge: God Would Have Addressed Current Issues

This week's challenge is from an email we received:

If God is all-knowing (past/present/future), why doesn't the Bible cover issues that are relevant today like stem cells, women in authority, artificial insemination, and slavery? If God exists, he would have addressed all these relevant issues in His eternal Bible.

Now it's your turn. How would you answer this challenge? Leave your ideas in the comments below, then check back later in the week to see a video response.

[View the challenge response.]