Various Current Events

Does Obamacare require euthanasia consults? (Politico)
NY nurse forced to assist abortion (NY Post)
India considers TV as contraceptive (Times Online)
The Gates cop in perspective (LA Times)
Texting seriously increases crash risk (NY Times)
Civilians and the rules of war (LA Times)
Dr. Obama’s tonsillectomy (WSJ)
Morality and Charlie Rangel’s Taxes (WSJ)
The path forward in Honduras (WSJ)
Record low temperatures this year (AccuWeather)
Twitter banned in White House (CS Monitor)
Obama: “I pray all the time.” (Christian Post)
Is health care a right? (WSJ)
Powell: Gates should have reflected (Fox News)
Death and abuse reports anger Iranians (NY Times)
Divorce harms not offset by remarriage (CNN)
AZ may sell capitol to pay bills (AZ Republic)
Obama science advisor urged de-developing US (CNS News)
Obama science advisor thought trees could sue (CNS News)
ABC features weird sex stories (Newsbusters)
Parental rights amendment gains momentum (Christian Post)
White roofs are coming (NY Times)
AZ illegal population down 1/3 in 2 years (AZ Republic)
Dieteman sentenced to life (AZ Republic)
DWI interlocks going national (USA Today)
Organic food no healthier (Reuters)
Conservative echo chambers bad (CS Monitor)
Driving and texting may become illegal (CS Monitor)

Wacky Wednesday--Sermons Are A Bad Idea

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~What is the purpose of them? To make the Word of God clearer than it already is?
~God chooses to reveal Himself to some but not all people. Who are you to try to make Him more known to everyone?
~Was Scripture not written well enough to just be read?
~So many sermons are really quite bad.
~So many wonderful people just don’t have the gift of preaching effectively.
~Many sermons mislead toward moralism or fail to proclaim Christ or even to present Scripture at all.
~Paul did not preach with clever words. 1 Cor 2:4-5
~Jesus told us not to prepare our words beforehand. Matt 10:19, Luke 11:12
~You don’t need a teacher. 1 John 2:25-29
~Sola Scriptura doesn’t include sermons, does it?
~Isn’t Scripture enough? 2 Tim 3:13-16
~Preaching in the church today is completely different from preaching in the Bible.

Wacky Wednesday--Minimum Wage Increases Are Good

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~We outlawed slavery over a hundred years ago, but working for minimum wage is practically the same thing.
~No one can make a living or raise a family working in a minimum wage job.
~Paying anyone so little is just a way of exploiting their inability to command a higher wage.
~Stimulates growth by raising the purchasing power of workers.
~Stimulates economic growth by requiring development of technology rather than labor-intensive jobs.
~If the price of something is artificially low because of unfair wage rates, then we should be forced to pay more for it anyhow.
~With the wealthy in America always becoming more wealthy, how can we look at a guy earning minimum wage and seriously tell him this is a land of fair opportunity?
~“In the United States of America, we should not have anybody working full time and living in poverty.” Sen. John Edwards
~“I believe that anyone who works 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, should not live in poverty in the richest country in the world.” Sen. Ted Kennedy
~Encourages those who would take low paying jobs to stay in school and develop their earning potential.
~“A job should keep you out of poverty, not keep you poor.” Paul Sherry Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign in Cleveland

Bible Resources: Gen 2:5, Gen 2:15, Gen 3:19, Exodus 20:9-11, Deut 24:14-15, Matt 10:8-10, Matt 20:1-16, Luke 3:13-14, Acts 18:1-3, 1 Cor 9:4-14, Gal 6:6, Eph 4:28, 1 Thess 2:9, 2 Thess 3:7-15, 1 Tim 5:8, James 5:4

Links:
MW Q&A (Dept of Labor)
History of MW (Dept of Labor)
MW in the 50 states (Dept of Labor)
MW (Wikipedia)
MW resources (Economic Policy Institute)
MW and fairness (Mackinac Center for Pub Pol)
Raise MW to minimize opportunity (Heritage Fdn)
MW, max folly part 1, part 2 (Walter Williams)
MW, keeping prosperity away (Vision and Values)

Theological Tuesday

~What should you look for in a church?

Ethics Class, Session 13: Criteria 35-36

Tonight we are going to try to get through the next set of criteria in the ethics syllabus. (You can get more information at http://andrewtallmanshowethics.blogspot.com.) This means we will be talking about:

35. If and How
36. Why moral theories matter
--An overview of all the moral theories we will discuss

In order to facilitate discussion amongst those of you either taking the class or wanting to discuss these ideas in more depth, I will be posting each of the criteria separately without much (if any) actual explanation simply so you can have your discussions on those particular ideas.

Best Car Ever

Okay, I know from the start that I am treading on dangerous territory here in a couple of different ways. First, this must seem like nearly the most uninteresting topic in the world to many women. Second, I am woefully underequipped to have this conversation with those of you gearheads who have memorized engine sizes and the most arcane details of various muscle cars. Don’t get me wrong. I have great admiration for your knowledge, I just do not share it. Nevertheless, we have long thought this might be a fun discussion topic for a Monday. Of course, there are additional questions we might address. What sort of car would Jesus drive? If you were to teach something about God using a particular car or car feature, what would you teach? And something I’m personally interested in: what is the appeal of working on cars?

Various Current Events

Correcting Obama’s fact errors (NY Times)
State-by-state impact of Obama’s tax surcharge (Heritage Fdn)
FixHealthCarePolicy.com (Heritage Foundation)
Obama attacks docs and cops (Bill Kristol)
Text of Obamacare press conference (NY Times)
Sotomayor, the good, the bad, and the ugly (Findlaw)
Vote no on Sotomayor (WSJ)
Arrest of black scholar stirs debate (Findlaw)
Obama’s “stupidity” comment disappoints cop (Findlaw)
The cop tried to save Reggie Lewis (Boston Herald)
Senate denies interstate concealed carry (NY Times)
The truth about cars and cell phones (NY Times)
GovernmentCare’s assault on seniors (WSJ)
Bill seeks compromise on abortion reduction (Christian Post)
Info on the bill (Beliefnet)

Wacky Wednesday--We Didn’t Go To The Moon

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~Why haven’t we gone back in the last 40 years?
~As many as 20% of Americans believe the moon landing was faked.
~There are no stars visible in the background of the photos.
~The flag waves in the wind, but there’s no atmosphere on the moon.
~There was no dust from the landing or during walking.
~The extremes of day and night temperatures weren’t accounted for.
~There are all sorts of lighting discrepancies, especially the famous picture of the astronaut in front of the sun, his mask reflecting the lander and the flag. He should have been a black silhouette.
~Two different pictures show the lunar landar both present and the missing with the exact same mountain range in the background.
~The crosshairs in the photos are sometimes behind the images and sometimes in front of them.
~There’s no blast crater where the module landed, but that’s a pretty powerful rocket engine.
~Radiation in the VanAllen belts would have roasted any of the astronauts who tried to cross it. This is why trips to outer space always stay well under those high limits.
~The Hubble telescope can see things ridiculously far away in space, why not a photo of the moon lander as evidence?

Links:
Pro: Did we go to the moon?
Pro: Fox TV and the Apollo moon hoax

Wacky Wednesday--We Shouldn't Argue Or Debate

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~It’s unloving to try to beat someone in an argument.
~It’s a fallacy to assume that two people arguing on opposite sides will bring out all the relevant ideas.
~Debate is oppositional, whereas real thinking should be more collaborative
~Rhetoric rather than substance wins debates.
~Debating emphasizes speed, not quality of thought.
~Debating is more about ego and winning than about discovering truth
~In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty. Therefore, we never need to disagree.
~Disagreeing gives people the impression that Christians are not united.
~The Bible warns us against indulging in vain disputes.
~Disagreeing agreeably just doesn’t happen very often.
~Love and disagreement aren’t synonyms, and we’re supposed to be known for our love.
~Disagreement is the first step down the path of schism and church-split. Just like you shouldn’t look at other women because it’s the first step towards an affair.
~Disagreements often lead us to question other people’s Christianity.
~Only sinners disagree, and we’re not supposed to imitate sinners are we?
~Whether we disagree doesn’t matter as long as we love each other.

Baptism (Who, What, When, Where, How, and Why?)

When it comes to baptism, one of the few things all Christians agree about is that all Christians should be baptized. That’s where the discussion begins, not where it ends.

As infants or as adults?
By immersion, by sprinkling, or by pouring?
By a pastor/priest or by anyone?
Symbol or sacrament?
What is the relationship between baptism and salvation?

Of course, what’s fascinating about all this is that a practice which was intended to signify the unity of the Christian Church has now become a massive point of division among people who all claim to love Jesus.

Here is a cursory outline of how various important texts on baptism tend to fall on the questions above.

Passages which indicate that baptism is necessary for salvation (8)
Matthew 3:14 (I have NEED)
Mark 16:14-18 (Although there is dispute over the authenticity of these verses)
John 3:3-5
Acts 2:38-41
Acts 8:35-39 ( Notice the Eunuch's immediate reaction to Philip's preaching, and then notice that the Holy Spirit takes him away immediately after baptism is completed, as though that's the complete transaction.)
Galatians 3:27
Titus 3:3-7
1 Peter 3:18-22

Passages which indicate that baptism is not necessary for salvation (13)
Luke 23:39-43
John 1:12-13
John 3:14-18, 36
John 5:24
John 15:3
Acts 10:44-48
Acts 22:16
Romans 10:8-11
1 Corinthians 1:11-17—especially verse 17
1 Corinthians 6:9-11—Seems to indicate the word and the name do the washing.
2 Corinthians 5:17—Although when combined with 1 Corinthians 12:13, perhaps means in Christ by baptism.
Ephesians 1:13-14
Ephesians 2:8-9

Passages which indicate that children should be baptized. (9)
Genesis 17:1-14
Matthew 19:13-15
Mark 10:13-16
Luke 1:41—John the Baptist was a believer in his mother’s womb
Luke 18:15-17
Acts 16:14-15
Acts 16:30-33
Acts 18:8—Does not say it very clearly, so give this one only some weight.
Romans 4:11

Passages which indicate that believers should be baptized.(3)
Acts 2:38-41
Luke 3:8—Some were turned away from being baptized by John.
Acts 8:37—Although this verse is of uncertain authenticiy.

Passages which indicate baptism by sprinkling (5)
Numbers 8:5-7
Numbers 19
Ezekiel 36:22-28
Hebrews 9:19-22
Hebrews 10:22

Passages which indicate baptism by immersion (4)
Matthew 3:13-17
Mark 1:4-11
John 3:22-23
Acts 8:35-39

Passages indicating that water baptism was to be replaced by Holy Spirit baptism.(7)
Matthew 3:11
Mark 1:4-8
Luke 3:16
John 1:25-34
John 4:1-2 (Jesus’s baptism is not of water, else He would have been baptizing.)
Acts 1:5
Acts 11:16

Passages indicating that water baptism was not to be replaced by Holy Spirit baptism.(2)
Acts 10:44-48—Also it’s clear that baptism with water does not have to precede HS, although usually it does
Acts 19:1-7—Paul rebaptizes in Jesus’s name and thereafter they receive Holy Spirit

Passages indicating baptism is more than merely symbolic.(6)
Matthew 28:18-20
Romans 6:1-11
1 Corinthians 12:12-14
Ephesians 5:26-27
Hebrews 6:1-2
Colossians 2:8-12

Passages supporting rebaptism.(1)
Acts 19:1-7

Passages opposing rebaptism (1)
Ephesians 4:4-6

Ethics Class, Session 12: Criteria 32-36

Tonight we are going to try to get through the next set of criteria in the ethics syllabus. (You can get more information at http://andrewtallmanshowethics.blogspot.com.) This means we will be talking about:

32. Is and Ought.
33. Moral Authority and Religion
34. Can, Should, and Must
35. If and How

In order to facilitate discussion amongst those of you either taking the class or wanting to discuss these ideas in more depth, I will be posting each of the criteria separately without much (if any) actual explanation simply so you can have your discussions on those particular ideas.

Expressions That Don’t Make Sense

All too often, I hear someone say something that I know I’m supposed to understand, but I don’t. Sometimes (rarely) it’s because I just don’t get the intended meaning. Other times (mostly) it’s because I start thinking about the expression itself and realize that it is confusing. But there’s a third kind of emerging difficult expression, the Biblical reference, which depends on the rapidly fading public knowledge of the Bible. So, let’s share our collective ignorance today and come up with all the expressions that baffle us or we think might baffle others.

Links:
Expressions explained (World Wide Words)

Various Current Events

Soto: Catholic double standard (WSJ)
Soto: Served to prevent abortion regulation (CNS News)
Soto: International law? (WSJ)
Soto: 3 days of questions (NY Times)
Soto: She’s fair (WSJ)
Charity in truth Papal encyclical (Vatican)
Encyclical NOT for one-world government (Prison Planet)
NYT gets Pope’s ideas wrong (NY Times)
Pope on economic justice (Wash Post)
Does the deficit really matter? (Findlaw)
“Gay penguins” go straight? (CBS News)
Honduras’s non-coup (LA Times)
Troops shouldn’t smoke? (Wash Times)
0% tax actually increase revenues (WSJ)
Thoreau on universal health care (WSJ)
Pet airline starts service (Breitbart)
Christians arrested for converting Muslims (Wash Times)
Iraq paying Sunnis to marry Shiites (Fox News)
Fetuses have memories (Wash Times)
Why we don’t want a nuclear-free world (WSJ)
Swearing reduces pain (BBC)

Wacky Wednesday--Morality Doesn’t Matter

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~You can’t make yourself be good. Have you ever tried?
~You can’t choose your desires, and it is the desires of your heart that really define your goodness.
~All morality can do is teach you to not act upon your desires. But this only leads to frustration as you try to suppress your sinful tendencies.
~Ethics can’t be taught. Good people wind up having immoral children, and awful people wind up having decent children
~All people have sin, and all sins fully separate us from God, so what difference does it make which sins or how big they are?
~You’re saved by faith, not by works, anyhow, so what does it matter?
~You can’t prove what is right or wrong, which is really just a matter of opinion anyhow.
~There are four possibilities when you pronounce on morality
~1. You anger those who disagree with you
~2. You increase the frustration of people who agree with you but find themselves unable to change.
~3. You cultivate pride in the few people who can change.
~4. You cultivate contempt in the people who are lucky enough to already be in the morally superior category.

Wacky Wednesday--We Should Care About Celebrities

~Celebrities are more entertaining than ordinary people
~Most lives are fairly dull and boring, why should you be forced to contemplate your ordinariness when you could be thinking about the Jet Set?
~Culture is a blend of events, arts, and people.
~All cultures have heroes and important people
~Free markets show that they must satisfy some very deep need we have. Just look at how many outlets focus on them.
~It’s normal and healthy for people to affiliate themselves with and invest themselves in the lives of other people. Sports fans do this, right?
~Actors and artists have important things to say to us.

Evolution/Creation Posts

Over at the Ethics class blog, I have just posted two long entries on evolution and creation
Why Origins Views Matter
A Scriptural analysis of the Theory of Evolution
Enjoy. =)

Theological Tuesday

~Why is Judges 10:1-5 in the Bible?
~What should we learn from Acts 6?
~What should we learn from Jeremiah 28 and 29?
~Does Isaiah 1 have anything to teach us in America?

Links:
Andrew’s July 12 Sermon at The Refinery “What’s Your Legacy?”

Ethics Class, Session 11: Criteria 28-31

Tonight we are going to try to get through the next set of criteria in the ethics syllabus. (You can get more information at http://andrewtallmanshowethics.blogspot.com.) This means we will be talking about:

28. Hypocrisy and Ideals.
29. Little Things and Big Things
30. Segmented vs. Unified Character
31. Tallman’s Theory

In order to facilitate discussion amongst those of you either taking the class or wanting to discuss these ideas in more depth, I will be posting each of the criteria separately without much (if any) actual explanation simply so you can have your discussions on those particular ideas.

Housing Ethics

Two scenarios have recently been occupying my thoughts. One is the first-time homebuyer’s tax credit, which allows people buying a primary residence to receive $8,000 from the Federal Government so long as they stay in the home for three years. Question is, “Is it virtuous to take $8,000 from the government to buy a house?” The second is a scenario I’ve heard is occurring more and more frequently: people abandoning their houses because they owe so much more on them than the houses are worth. Sometimes they’re renting, sometimes they’re even buying new homes first, but the essence of it is simply defaulting voluntarily to escape a bad investment. The obvious question is whether this is morally virtuous.

Various Current Events

Is Roger Federer from the Matrix? (NY Times)
FCC internal report on media in US (CNS News)
Biden “We misread the economy” (ABC News)
Bill would mandate Congress use own health plan (CNS News)
Ford outperforms Government Motors (CNS News)
Cap and trade wrong approach say experts (CNS News)
Former SG Elders advocates sex ed in K (CNS News)
Fed report blames housing collapse on Congerss (CNS News)
Mass sues US over DOMA (Christian Post)
Iowa a gay wedding destination now (USA Today)
Study: Cohabitation is dating, not pre-marriaging (USA Today)
Team claims first artificial sperm created (BBC News)
School bans girl’s pro-life T-shirt (Fox News)
Sperm, egg sales up during recession (USA Today)
ACLU helps death row man access Catholic TV (Nola News)
Turkish show: Religious compete for atheists (Jerusalem Post)
U of Chicago will allow co-ed dorm roommates (Sun-Times)
Coffee may reverse Alzheimer’s (BBC)
Why Palin quit (WSJ)

Wacky Wednesday--All Sins Should Be Illegal

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~When God prohibits something, He always attaches a consequence.
~Name a sin which we’re better off keeping legal.

~Sins like murder, theft, and perjury are already the benchmark for making laws.

~For most people, the only ethical guide they have is what the law says.

~How many times have you heard someone say, “Yeah, but I didn’t break any laws?”

~When things are outlawed, people do them less.

~Prohibition wasn’t a failure, even though people think it was.

~For Christians, it shouldn’t matter, and for non-Christians, it’s the only way to teach people how to behave.

~Good parents add negative consequences to bad behaviors when a child doesn’t see how bad they are on their own merits.

~With more things being decriminalized, have we seen a flourishing in morality?

Wacky Wednesday--You Can’t Legislate Morality

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~Legislating morality is just another way of teaching someone that might makes right. Morality is just a personal opinion, not the basis of law.
~Morality presupposes religion, and there is no official religion of these United States.
~Furthermore, people have the expressly protected freedom to choose and act upon their religious beliefs.
~Hence legislating morality entails curtailing expressly protected religious liberties in the First Amendment.
~You can’t make people good by passing laws.
~It’s wrong to impose your personal beliefs on other people.
~Goodness is a matter of internal restraint, and external restraints cannot impart internal restraints.
~Look at something like the 18^th Amendment. It’s failure should show you that people can’t be made good through the use of law.
~It doesn’t work, because moral laws are generally unenforceable.

Theological Tuesday

~What does it mean that “God is a jealous God?”
~What should we learn from Jeremiah 28 and 29?
~Why is Acts 6 so interesting?
~Why did God do what He did in 2 Kings 1?

Ethics Class, Session 8: Criteria 21-24

Tonight we are going to try to get through the next set of criteria in the ethics syllabus. (You can get more information at http://andrewtallmanshowethics.blogspot.com/.) This means we will be talking about:

25. Morality and the Law
26. Culture, Normality, and Archetypes
27. Persuasion, Emotion, and Bonding
28. Hypocrisy and Ideals.

In order to facilitate discussion amongst those of you either taking the class or wanting to discuss these ideas in more depth, I will be posting each of the criteria separately without much (if any) actual explanation simply so you can have your discussions on those particular ideas.

Freedoms You Cherish

Since Saturday was the 4th of July, I just thought it would be worthwhile to take some time and talk about all of the freedoms we enjoy in this country. So, what forms of freedom do you value the most, and what forms do you think people take for granted? Also, are there any freedoms you wish we didn’t have, and are there any infringements of freedom that bother you?

Various Current Events

Irena Sendler’s amazing bio (Snopes)
AZ budget deal (AZ Republic)
Bill advances that would end photo-radar (AZ Republic)
Illegal immigrant bills (AZ Republic)
Is the Iraq job done? (LA Times)
Cigarette taxes are right (LA Times)
Cigarette taxes are wrong (LA Times)
PV refunds faulty photo-red-light tickets (AZ Republic)
Niagara Falls has 18 valedictorians (Buffalo News)
Honduras defends its democracy (WSJ)
Honduras coup unsettles neighbors (CS Monitor)
Rick Warren to speak at Muslim event on 4th (Christian Post)
Decline of the workplace jerk (WSJ)
One family’s valor (WSJ)
Supermajority in the Senate (NY Times)
Tipping points for revolution (CS Monitor)
Taliban buying children for suicide bombings (Wash Times)
Congress’s travel tab swells (WSJ)
Has Obama turned on Israel? (WSJ)
Just do cap and trade (NY Times)
Obama stands with tyrants (Wash Times)
The scandal of the public Evangelical (Christianity Today)
6 Mousavi supporters hanged (Jerusalem Post)
Critics cringe at suggestive BK ad (Fox News)
Obama’s five health care lies (Forbes)
Sports salaries show what we really value (WSJ)
Parsing the health reform arguments (WSJ)

Wacky Wednesday--Revolutions Are Always Wrong

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~Jesus’s kingdom is not of this world, otherwise my disciples would fight.
~Jesus refused political power
~Judas probably wanted to force Jesus to take over politically.
~What does Romans 13 teach about submission to government?
~The early church submitted to Roman rule, a far worse tyranny than any you can likely imagine. ~What set of conditions would justify using arms to rise up against a government instituted by God? ~“Vengeance is mine,” says the Lord.
~We must turn the other cheek.
~What’s to keep a thousand people with rifles from attempting a coup?
~What’s more important, a political victory with bloodshed or saving people’s souls?
~We should persuade others with our reasons, and if we can’t persuade them, that should tell us something.
~It brings dishonor to the name of Christ
~You can’t universalize the notion of revolution. What if everyone did it?
~The whole idea of democracy is that you have to live with some things you don’t prefer.
~No government is perfect.
~He who lives by the sword shall perish by the sword.
~The Bible tells us to be at peace with our neighbors.
~Show me a coup in the Bible that was considered righteous.
~Would you encourage the Christians in China or North Korea to be staging a revolution instead of doing as they are right now?
~How can it be right to do something that would cost you execution as a traitor if you were unsuccessful in it?
~How does revolution demonstrate your faith and confidence in Jesus Christ?

Wacky Wednesday--Christians Shouldn’t Oppose Evolution

Note: Before reading the following arguments, please understand that they are not what I believe. On Wednesdays, I deliberately argue for wrong ideas, challenging my listeners to call and defend the obvious right answer, which is usually far harder than one would expect. This is a summary of what Wacky Andrew will be arguing, not a representation of what real Andrew believes.

~God could have brought everything about through the process of evolution if He wanted to, right?
~Christians have resisted and then learned to accept many things they initially rejected, such as heliocentrism and interracial marriage. We can adapt to this, too.
~It makes us look foolish and anti-scientific.
~There’s nothing in essential Christian doctrine which requires evolution to be false.
~Can a person be saved and still believe in Evolution? Clearly. Then why do you bother fighting over something so peripheral?
~There are indicators that Genesis 1 should not be taken literally, like the presence of plants before the presence of sunlight.
~There are several non-literal interpretations of Genesis 1, such as the poetry approach, the days of revelation to Moses view, the gap theory, and the day-age theory.
~Don’t Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 contradict each other, if you take them both literally?
~Creation is religion and evolution is science. They are two different realms of meaning.
~Why would we expect God to write a scientifically accurate account of something this complicated when laying out a story for a bunch of primitive nomads anyhow?
~Couldn’t there have been people, time, or anything before Adam and Eve?
~Even the Pope has allowed for both to be true, and millions of mainstream and some conservative Christians also accept both.

Evolution/Creation Posts
Over at the Ethics class blog, I have just posted two long entries on evolution and creation
Why Origins Views Matter
A Scriptural analysis of the Theory of Evolution
Enjoy. =)