www.whatwouldyousay.org

Colson Center #fundie #pratt whatwouldyousay.org

When skeptics and cynics claim that an all-powerful, all-good God would never allow bad things to happen to good people, they are assuming we live in a world where it makes sense to speak of “bad things” and “good people”… a world in which there is such a thing as good and bad, and that humans can know the difference between good and bad.

But what are “bad things” in a world without God, in which death, violence, and natural disasters are just natural parts of an evolutionary process? What are “good people” if human behavior is really no different than animal instinct, within a world in which “survival of the fittest” ultimately determines the future of all living things, and humans have no freedom to act against it?

In other words, a universe without God is not a morally intelligible one.

When we recognize something as “bad,” we are suggesting that whatever happened is not the way it is supposed to be. But if there is no Creator, no design or purpose to the world, then there is no way things ought to be, only how they are. And there is no moral standard to which humans are accountable.

But we do sense the world is a moral place and we have an ability to know when something is bad. If there is no God, that sense is meaningless.

You Fail Economics Forever Award

Brooke McIntire #wingnut #dunning-kruger whatwouldyousay.org

You’re in a conversation and someone says, “In America, the richest 1% have 40% of all the wealth. This kind of inequality shouldn’t be tolerated.”

What would you say?

The wealth gap between the upper class and everyone else is almost always framed in terms of inequality and fairness. But that doesn’t present the whole picture.

The next time you’re in a conversation and someone suggests that economic inequality is inherently unjust or unfair, here are 3 things to remember:

1. Because there’s not a fixed amount of wealth in an economy, the wealth of some doesn’t necessarily cause the poverty of others.

2. Economic inequality is often the mark of a truly free society, one that respects that the diversity of our choices and gifts often have unequal outcomes.

3. Focusing on inequality and wealth gaps distracts from the real problem of poverty.

Brooke McIntire #homophobia #biphobia whatwouldyousay.org

You’re in a conversation and someone says, “What consenting adults do in private is none of our business. It’s between them, and it doesn’t affect anyone else.”

What would you say?

Sex – like going to the bathroom or taking a shower – is not meant to be a public act. However, though sex is meant to be experienced privately, that doesn’t mean there are no public consequences for the sexual behavior we allow as a society. There are.

So, the next time someone says sex is merely a private act, here are three things to remember:

1. Sexual activity affects public health.

2. Sexual activity is procreative.

3. Our sexual experiences affect our mental health and deeply shape our character.

Colson Center #fundie whatwouldyousay.org

You’re in a conversation and someone says, “It doesn’t matter if we get married, all that matters is that we live together and love each other.” What would you say?

In recent decades, the marriage rate has plummeted, but at the same time, the rate of cohabitation—couples living together long-term without getting married—has spiked. According to a 2019 Pew Research study, more Americans have cohabitated at some point than have been married.

Most people don’t see any problem with that. For example, about three-quarters of high school seniors think that cohabitation is a good testing ground for marriage.

But it’s not. Cohabitation is fundamentally different from marriage, and sets couples up for relationship failure.

So, the next time someone says, “It doesn’t matter if we get married, all that matters is that we live together and love each other,” remember these three things:

Number 1: Cohabitation doesn’t confer the same benefits as marriage.
[…]
Number 2: Cohabitation hurts your chances of ever ending up in a stable marriage.
[…]
Number 3: Marriage is not just a piece of paper. It’s God’s design.

Ryan Bomberger #racist #fundie #forced-birth whatwouldyousay.org

You’re in a conversation and someone asks: “Should Christians support Black Lives Matter?”

What would you say?

It is absolutely true that black lives matter. Christians believe that because all people are made in the image of God, everyone has dignity and equal value. And it’s important to affirm that truth for specific groups who feel their value and dignity have not been recognized or have even been denied.

However, we need to distinguish between the truth of the phrase “black lives matter,” and the organization that goes by the same name. The next time you’re talking about racial justice and someone says Christians should support Black Lives Matter, remember these 3 things:

1. The Black Lives Matter Movement is all about “Black Power.”

2. The Black Lives Matter Movement is radically pro-abortion.

3. The Black Lives Matter Movement is fundamentally dishonest.

Colson Center #homophobia whatwouldyousay.org

The slogan “love is love” seems to show up everywhere.

Behind the slogan is an assertion: that the sincerity of affection is enough to justify any relationship, especially same-sex relationships, and that’s enough for that relationship to be called “marriage.”

After all, who’s to say who can and can’t love each other? And why should people who are in love, as long as they are consenting adults, be prevented from being married if that’s what they want? And why should consenting adults be prevented from being married if that’s what they want?

However, “love is love” assumes all kinds of things about love that just aren’t true.

Colson Center #transphobia #interphobia whatwouldyousay.org

An argument that is often used to justify radical ideologies about gender and sexuality today is the existence of so-called “third” genders in various cultures throughout history. “Third gender” refers to individuals who did not fully conform to the male and female norms of their cultures.

What Would You Say?

The next time someone claims that “even ancient cultures encouraged trans-identities,” remember these three things:

1. The label “third gender” is an anachronism forced upon people who actually presumed the reality of biological sex, gender roles, and the so-called “gender binary.”
2. Like so-called “third genders,” modern transgender ideology also relies on the “gender binary” that it claims to reject.
3. Ancient cultures didn’t always get it right.

Shane Morris #fundie #homophobia #transphobia #sexist #psycho whatwouldyousay.org

You’re in a conversation and someone start talking about rights: “human rights,” “women’s rights,” “gay rights,” “trans rights,” or maybe they refer to things like healthcare, income, or a job as “rights.”

What would you say?

Definitions matter. In conversations, we often find ourselves using the same vocabulary as others, but not the same dictionary. To have good conversations, we must first clarify our definitions.

So, the next time someone uses the word “rights” without defining it, here are three things to remember:

1. A “right” doesn’t mean “something I really want”

2. Rights come from God, not from the government

3. There is no right to take away someone else’s rights

Shane Morris #transphobia #forced-birth whatwouldyousay.org

As a Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson was asked to define “woman.” She responded, “I’m not a biologist.”

That was just a week after a biological male won the NCAA women’s swimming championship.

Ironically, many who remained silent on what a woman is during the NCAA championship have not been silent regarding the potential loss of the so-called “right” to abortion.

Megan Almon #forced-birth #fundie whatwouldyousay.org

Three of the most common objections to the pro-life position are…

Abortion is a woman’s private choice.

Even if a fetus is human, it’s not a person.

And, if you ban abortion, women will be forced to get dangerous, back-alley abortions that are medically unsafe.

What would you say?

These arguments are known as the “privacy” objection, the “personhood” objection, and the “back-alley” objection. Often, abortion advocates will rattle them off all together, making their case seem strong. It’s not. The next time these objections come up in conversation, here are three things to remember:

1. The claim that abortion is a woman’s private choice ignores the status of the unborn.

2. “A fetus is human but not a person” is an assertion, not an argument, and it undermines human equality.

3. The “back-alley” objection,” is based on a lie, that it assumes the unborn are not human, and that it is demeaning to women.

Brooke McIntire #fundie #homophobia #biphobia whatwouldyousay.org

You’re in a conversation and someone says, “The Church cares too much about sex. I love God too, but I don’t think He really cares about who I sleep with. He just wants me to be happy.”

What would you say?

Today, sexual freedom is considered an absolute. We’re told that nothing should threaten or constrain our sexual choices.

That’s why, in this cultural context, the historic view of Christianity, that sex belongs only in the context of marriage between one man and one woman is seen as antiquated, unrealistic, and even dangerous.

Does God really care about who we sleep with? The next time someone asks you that question, here are three things to remember:

1. God cares about who we sleep with because He cares about us, and sex affects us deeply.

2. God cares about who we sleep with because of what He designed sex to do.

3. Jesus is for you, and even his difficult directives are for your good.

Colson Center #transphobia #enbyphobia whatwouldyousay.org

You’re in a conversation and someone says, “People can decide if they’re a boy, girl, or nonbinary because sex is just something assigned at birth.”

What Would You Say?

When confronted with this comment, remember that neither science nor logic support the idea that sex is assigned at birth and here are three reasons why:

1. A person’s sex is acknowledged, not assigned.
2. Sex is determined by our reproductive system.
3. Disorders of sexual development do not create new categories of sex.