One of the things that I love about living in a different culture is the exposure to new friends and different ideas. I am energized by sitting down and discussing two opposing viewpoints. Over the past few months I have been compiling a list of questions that have arisen during conversations with various friends here in Spain. Some of those are as follows:

• What if Jesus is just a helpful liar, giving people a false hope so they live better?
• Why do bad things happen to good people?
• What if religion is just a filler for the one human constant – uncertainty?
• Didn’t God just force Judas to betray Jesus?
• Should humans have a responsibility in protecting animals from extinction?
• If God knew that the first people were going to sin, why did he give them a choice
• If God is clearly known through creation, why don’t people realize it?
• What is the difference between an animal and a human?
• And many more

What I would like to do is periodically take some time to write out my response to the question as I would probably say it in the discussion. I am tagging this as “WikiTheology” because I am not going to be writing research papers, but giving a popular level response. That means no footnotes (or few!), no research beyond what I have already done, and more in a conversational tone.

I will also be trying to post them in Spanish.

On Monday I will be giving my WikiTheology answer to: Why did God create man as he did and not differently?