So I’m on the interwebz and I see that the Mormons are giving away free bibles. Now i decide to go for it (sue me…I’m a cheap Ukrainian), and lo and behold I get a message from an “elder” who quite honestly sounds so young his balls must still dropping. He wants to come over and spread the good news, get to know me, and all that. In the event that I invite him over, are there some questions that I should ask him? Besides are you guys really that nuts?

What are your favorite questions for Mormons?

God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. (Genesis 1:16)

Long ago, ancient man saw two lights in the sky: the sun and the moon. They made the fairly safe assumption that the two lights functioned similarly.

We’ve know for a while now they were wrong. The sun is the source of the light, and the moon merely reflects that light. But they had no way of knowing that, and we shouldn’t be too hard on them.

That doesn’t seem controversial, but there’s a story about Bill Nye that shows it can be. In 2006, when speaking in Waco, TX, he mentioned that the moon only reflects light. Normally that wouldn’t offend anyone. But he also mentioned that Genesis 1:16 was wrong, which did cause offense:

The Emmy-winning scientist angered a few audience members when he criticized literal interpretation of the biblical verse Genesis 1:16, which reads: “God made two great lights – the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars.”

He pointed out that the sun, the “greater light,” is but one of countless stars and that the “lesser light” is the moon, which really is not a light at all, rather a reflector of light.

A number of audience members left the room at that point, visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence.

“We believe in a God!” exclaimed one woman as she left the room with three young children.

If Bill would have stuck to science and left religion out of it, no one would have walked out.

So should scientists should stick to science and leave critiquing holy texts to theologians? Or should they try and communicate what they perceive to be contradictions between science and faith?

Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.

But that quote works both ways. I know of no evidence for any of the miracles which the Christian faith is built on, just as I know of no evidence for the miracles claimed for Judaism, Islam, or Mormonism. To me, that puts them all in the “false” category.

I think C.S. Lewis was right in the sense that it’s no longer important to my life. But Christianity is important to other people and has had a large influence in history — which to me makes it important. The same goes for Islam — yes, it’s false, but that doesn’t mean it has no importance.

What do you think? Are religions of no importance because they are false?

I’m a senior in college, and I’ve experienced radical changes in my faith over the last few years, starting in my later years in high school. Here’s an abridged version of my story so far. Maybe you could give me some advice after you read it.

I basically come from a heavily evangelical background in “God’s country” in the Bible Belt. I actively attended church since my parents decided that our family should go back when I was about 7 years old. I was every parent’s dream (at least in my community) — church going, top of the class, and an athlete. I’m very fortunate to have had so many things go in my favor over my short life.

My thirst for knowledge led me to study the Bible in depth. Like many evangelicals, I was convinced that the “truth” was found in the Bible. I wanted to become a “serious” Christian. By the age of 17, I had convinced myself that I was a Calvinist, and I wanted everyone to know. I still had tons of questions, and I was convinced that I could figure them out myself. I had pastors and mentors, but I wanted to find out what “true” Christianity was, not what someone else told me.

I was good at science, really good actually. Somehow I managed to fuse evolution and my faith together. I never believed in young Earth — I found it hilarious that some would. Little did I know that I was slowly becoming more and more liberal in my faith. I started to globalize myself more by reading philosophy and about current world events. I became politically active, and I strongly supporting social rights. Unforgettable political arguments with others led me down that path (don’t you love college?). From a political standpoint, I was fine with gay marriage, drug legalization, and prostitution. However, I knew that this was at odds with my faith. I had learned to separate the two.

I later took two religious courses over two semesters with the legendary Bart Ehrman (New and Old Testament). Wow, did that class open my eyes. I was still actively involved in a campus ministry at the time, and we had weekly small group meetings where we would try to refute his claims in class. Our attempts were futile. His arguments were logical. They were based on facts. Before the class, I pretty much rested my faith in the inerrancy of the Bible. I had given up on trusting any other source. That belief was shattered over the course of that year.

I’m still a member of that campus organization. Most of my friends and family still think I’m a believer. I haven’t been to church in over a year.

My question to you is, how should I go about telling people about my skepticism? More than 90% of my close friends are believers, close to a quarter of them hardcore believers (going into ministry). I’m thinking of keeping my attendance with the organization until I graduate. What I fear the most is that I’ll miss the community that comes with being a Christian. I don’t think I want to join a atheist or agnostic community right now because my conception of them is that they ridicule faiths.

Christianity has been very close to me for a very large part of my life. I’m not angry. Honestly, I would have not changed anything so far. I’ve developed a sharp eye for things and a mind that questions everything. What are your thoughts?

What’s your advice?

(via)

Early experiments have greatly extended the lifespan of bioengineered worms, enhancing their genetic integrity and giving them resistance to many things that would normally kill them….

While “somatic” cells (the cells that make everything except babies) wither and die, the “germ” cells (sperm and ova for us) make new organisms, which then replicate and make new germ cells, and are effectively immortal…. And the Harvard team have tricked their somatic cousins into acting the same way.

Finally! I will achieve immortality! Okay, maybe not yet:

While the research is applicable to mammalian cells in many ways, the simple fact is that you are your neurons, not your germ cells, and those neural cells are pretty different from the C Elegans model.  It’s certainly conceivable that we could adapt neurons the same way (though conceiving isn’t something we’ll want to do when everyone lives eternally), but unless the Einstein and Feynmann of genetics already exist and are the same person, you’re one or two generations too early.

So here’s the obvious question: If you could live to be 500-1,000 years old in good health (you know, like the bible folks did, wink wink), would you want to?

My answer: Hell yes.

What’s the worst thing you did in youth group?

I think for me it was taking part in holding a boy down and shaving all his pubic hair just for the hell of it. I regretted it soon after and had no idea what took possession of me, though now I realize it was simple mob mentality.

Second place goes to doing some things involving a girl, but I can’t decide if it was one of the worst things I did in youth group, or the best.

Either way, it made baby Jesus cry.

(Just kidding, honey!)

A person inclined to deal with inequity on a tit-for-tat basis tends to experience more unemployment than other people….

Anyone who prefers to act according to the Old Testament motto of “An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth” has on average less friends – and is clearly less than satisfied with his or her life.

What do you think — can tit-for-tat be a good philosophy? Is Jesus’ teaching better (that when someone does something bad to you, turn the other cheek and do good to them)? Or is there a middle way?

I’m a 15 year old kid, I’ve been a part of the Christian Church for about 2 years.

I’ve been very close-minded throughout those past two years and I’m not sure what to think. I would like to talk to a Christian about how I am feeling — should I talk to my youth pastor?

Your page has really given me a different outlook on how I think — thanks!

My advice was that in the unlikely event he thinks his youth pastor will encourage him to seek out truth, no matter where it leads him, he should tell him. But if the pastor is a simpleton and will tell him that doubt is bad and he should only pray and read his Bible, then it’s not worth his time.

What’s your advice for Zach?

Will humanity conquer death, either organically or digitally?

I think either have a possibility. We might be able to regrow our bodies/organs and if necessary transfer our memories or our brain.

Or we could build some kind of matrix where our memories could be stored digitally. Of the two, I certainly prefer the organic option!

What do you think? Is it possible?

I am interested in atheism as a cultural movement. Every time I think about adopting atheism, I come up with road blocks. Here’s one: How do atheists face despair?

I rarely feel a complete loss of hope, and when I do, it usually passes with the help of a good book, good food, friends & family, and a change of perspective. But I know some face massive amounts of despair on a regular basis, and I can’t speak for what they do to cope.

So, what do you do when you face despair?

I’m assuming this definition of torture: the act of inflicting pain on another person for the purposes of punishment, information, or pleasure of the inflicter.

I’d like to say never, but I can imagine rare situations where I would grudgingly find it acceptable. For instance, if a bomb was going to go off and kill innocent people, and they had the person who knew the location of the bomb but wasn’t talking. These types of situations I’m sure are very rare, but I can’t in good conscience say torture is never acceptable.

What do you think?

Update: This has stirred up quite a bit of debate, which is very interesting.

If you answer “never,” I’d like you to give some alternatives — what should the authorities do instead when they quickly need information to save innocent lives?

People didn’t like my bomb example, so let me give a different example, which was a real scenario:

A man kidnapped a boy, held him for ransom, and was arrested when picking up the ransom money. The kidnapper refused to reveal the location of the boy, and the police knew his life was in danger  — if he was not already dead. So they began threatening the man and told him they were going to torture him if he didn’t give them the information they needed. He gave up the information. Unfortunately, the boy had already been murdered by the kidnapper.

I think it would have been acceptable to torture that man. He forfeited his rights to be treated nicely when he kidnapped a person. That boy should not be tortured further, or die, because we don’t want to hurt a very bad man. If necessary, I think the guilty man can be hurt to give the innocent a chance to live.

But if you think that would be wrong, then I want to know what you think should be done instead to protect the innocent.

I recently went from Christianity to Agnosticism, and have taken a lot of heat for it from family friends. They really attempt to make me feel extremely bad for the way I believe. I am not sure where they see it is right to treat other people this way, but nonetheless, nothing will change the way they think.

How you deal with criticism, especially from people who are close to you?

This is a situation that many of us have to deal with. Here is my advice:

Don’t Return Criticism

This seems obvious, but it’s easy to forget. When someone criticizes us, we want to criticize them in return — or at least complain about them. Fight that urge. It doesn’t solve anything and creates a vicious circle.

Be Sympathetic

Remember that you probably once thought like they do. You know how they feel and why — they’re trying to help you in their misguided way. This should make you sympathetic instead of angry, which means you’ll be happier and less likely to say things you’ll regret.

Talk to Them Privately

Pullquote: Explain that social pressure and bullying is not going to change your mind, because you reject Christianity for intellectual reasons, not relational.

If a family member or friend is constantly pressuring you and/or making barbed comments, have a private conversation with them about it. Tell them their methods are ineffective and damaging to your relationship.

Explain that you love talking and debating, but social pressure and bullying is not going to change your mind, because you reject Christianity for intellectual reasons, not relational.

Disagree Calmly

Whenever you get into an argument, never raise your voice. Listen to what they have to say, consider it, and respond calmly. If they get angry, ask them also to be calm. This keeps the tone civil and keeps things from getting out of hand. If things get uncomfortable, insert a joke to lighten the mood.

Emphasize Your Open-Mindedness

You are open to believing anything if there is evidence for it — tell them that again and again. And be sure to act on that open-mindedness. They won’t criticize you if you are willing to seriously consider what they have to say.

Admit When You’re Wrong

Pullquote: It’s hard to criticize someone who is willing to admit they’re wrong.

Whenever you realize you are wrong, admit it. It’s hard to criticize someone who is willing to admit they’re wrong. It also makes it easier for others to admit they are wrong. As Dale Carnegie said:

You will never get into trouble by admitting that you may be wrong. That will stop all argument and inspire your opponent to be just as fair and open and broad-minded as you are. It will make him want to admit that he, too, may be wrong.

Don’t Tell Them They’re Wrong

I don’t think anyone has ever changed their mind because someone said, “You’re wrong!” That doesn’t change minds — it closes them. It puts people on the defensive. It hurts their pride. It also makes them dislike you.

Instead, use tact. Try to understand things from their perspective. Ask them to explain their beliefs and why they hold them. Perhaps through questioning you will show them their position is illogical or cannot be supported by facts. But don’t just tell them they are wrong. That’s an easy way to make an enemy.

Listen, Listen, Listen

Don’t be a bore — you know, the guy with the inflated ego who loves the sound of his own voice. If you want someone to listen to you, you must listen to them. Don’t interrupt to interject your witty insight or fact correction. Have the respect to listen to others the way you want them to listen to you.

Focus on Areas of Agreement

Pullquote: Instead of emphasizing where you disagree, emphasize where you agree.

Always end on a note of agreement. You may not agree with them about the resurrection of Jesus, but you both can agree that it is a hard thing to believe — even Thomas doubted, after all. You can agree that it is good to question things and make sure there is sufficient evidence to believe in it. And so on.

Instead of emphasizing where you disagree, emphasize where you agree.

Love Them Anyway

Life is too short to make enemies of friends. If possible, ignore their vices and enjoy their virtues.

What’s Your Advice?

What do you do in these situations? Do you have any advice that might be helpful to those who have family or friends pressuring and/or criticizing them?

I generally try not to believe weird things. But my strangest belief is that someday we’ll be able to store our memories digitally and transfer them to other bodies (like our own, regrown). That is, if we survive that long!

So what’s yours?