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A member of the House of Representatives is taking their oath on a classic Superman comic book:

Next time you need to swear an oath, swear an oath to Superman!

Imagine you went back in time to when people didn’t understand what a rainbow is. Pick one of the religions above and use some of its ideas to explain a rainbow.

Darth Harley says: “Every nature mystery in history that has been solved has been solved by science. If someone tells you god is the answer, ask them how well has that explanation worked in the past?”

Come up with some tough questions about religion that a religious person should be able to answer but may have trouble with …

Did God Create Us Ready Made The Way We Are Now?

Humans and OCTUPUSES shared the same ancestor: Both are descendants of a worm-like creature that lived 518 million years ago -and this could explain the creature’s high intelligence

• Octopuses are known to be highly intelligent and a new study finds this could be due to having brains similar to humans 
• Researchers found octopuses  possess a variety of gene regulators called microRNAs (miRNAs) in their neural tissue comparable to that of humans
• This is likely because humans and octopuses descended from the same  primitive worm-like animal that lived 518 million years ago

See the full article here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11470349/Humans-octopuses-descended-animal-lived-518-million-years-ago.html

Answers In Genesis is a Conservative Christian group who argue that if there is no God with the authority to tell us what is right and wrong, there is no such thing as objective/true morality. They say:

• “Many evolutionists are quite clear that evolution does not provide a basis for morality. If evolution is true, then there can be no universal moral code that all people should adhere to.“

Is this a good argument? For instance, would we say that if there is no God to “stamp” as true what criteria and standards we use to evaluate good figure skating, that we have no ground for calling a figure skating routine objectively good or poor?

Activity: Come up with a list of activities that are evaluated with criteria and standards, without talking about God. How might this relate to evaluating human behaviors as good and bad?

One big problem for apologists is the question of how there can be an all powerful, all loving God who at the same time allows horrible suffering like childhood cancer? Apologist Ray Comfort explains it this way:

• Why does God allow suffering? The short answer is because the Bible is true. We sinned against God, and thus all of creation has fallen under a curse.

Does this seem to be a good answer as to why there are children dying of cancer, or would a better answer be there is no God watching over things so of course random sufferings will pop up all over the place?

A religious apologist is someone who tries to defend their faith with logic and reason. Here is apologist Dr. Frank Turek trying to explain his kind of Christianity:

• Jesus is the only way. An infinitely just God cannot allow unjust people like you and me to go unpunished. He punishes himself in our place. He’s the ransom. He has to judge sinners, just like a judge in a courtroom. He has to punish people that have broken the law.

Here are some questions to think about Turek’s ideas:

(1) How do you think others may feel if you tell them Jesus is the only way?

(2) What does “infinitely just” mean?

(3) Is there another way to address bad behavior instead of punishing?

(4) Does it make sense to say “justice is served” if a murderer goes free and you are punished instead?

(5) Does it make sense to say God has to punish those who have broken the law, but also doesn’t have to punish them?

(6) How is Jesus a ransom? Who is being held hostage that a payment must be paid for? Who is holding them hostage?

BONUS QUESTION:

Does the God of the Old Testament always punish sin, or usually forgive?