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Answering Zach Wahls’ Case for Same-Sex Marriage to the Iowa House of Representatives (You Tube Video)

This video has received 15 million + views so far and its compelling. But does Zach Wahls succeed in making his case for same-sex marriage based on commitment? Watch his video and then ask yourself how you would respond? Then watch the outstanding response by Alan Shlemon (below) who walks you step by step through Zach’s argument / speech in a winsome way and responds with clear thinking.

In the coming weeks Alan, who is an author and national speaker for Stand to Reason, will be guest blogging here at the Think Christianly blog responding to common arguments for homosexuality & same-sex marriage. There will be no hateful rhetoric here–only clear thinking on issues that are really important to our society. Stay tuned and please share this post with your friends and family. We need to engage this issue with clarity and confidence.

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Is the Bible Culturally Outdated? And Other Questions…

Recently on the Janet Mefferd show I was asked how to respond to the charge that the Bible is culturally outdated…how would you respond? You can listen to how I responded to this and other tough questions in my interview with Janet here.

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Sound Bites and Slogans: Intelligent Design is nothing more than an argument from ignorance

“Science will eventually explain the gaps in our current knowledge of the physical universe; Intelligent Design is nothing more than an argument from ignorance.”

First of all, let me affirm that humanity has greatly benefited from ethically practiced science. But in this case I think you have misunderstood the claim that proponents of Intelligent Design (ID) are making. ID is not an argument from what we don’t know, but an inference from what we do know. When it comes to explaining any structure or phenomena in the physical world, we have three basic options: (1) Physical Necessity, (2) Chance, or (3) Design. So, for example, if hikers come across Mt. Rushmore they have a choice to make as to how this curious rock formation occurred. Is this pattern here because of some law of nature (i.e., it had to be this way)? No. Could random forces like wind and erosion produce this given enough time? No. The first two options are ruled out because they are not reasonable inferences to draw. But this rock formation has faces on it that correspond to four American presidents. These rock faces fit an independent pattern and indicate design. Just as it is entirely reasonable for an archeologist to distinguish between a rock and an arrowhead using the process above so to the molecular biologist is justified to infer design when looking at the language and information contained in DNA. Our repeated experience tells us that information is always the product of a mind. So ID is not an argument from ignorance, but an argument from evidence.

*The Design Inference I described above was developed by Dr. William Dembski. You can read more about this and ID in his accesible book Intelligent Design Uncensored: An Easy-to-Understand Guide to the Controversy