Debunk
Relationships and “I Believe”
CLAIM: I believe that a loving, committed relationship—regardless of whether it fits the traditional mold of a man and a woman—can be just as healthy and pleasing to God as any traditional family. REBUTTAL: On the surface, it is difficult to dispute this claim. After...
Relationships Require Work
CLAIM: A good marriage should be easy. If I must work so hard to be happy, I’d rather be alone. REBUTTAL: This claim is short and to the point. I am going to venture a guess that the problem here is a flawed understanding of happiness and how we achieve it. So, let’s...
Learning from Marriage Mistakes
CLAIM: My parents got divorced, and I had to suffer through their terrible marriage my entire childhood. Why would I put myself in that situation? REBUTTAL: Witnessing or experiencing something terrible tends to make us very anecdotal. That can lead us to greatly...
Divorce Reshapes, But Does Not Erase, Marriage
CLAIM: Half of all marriages end in divorce. If marriage worked, that wouldn’t be happening. REBUTTAL: Let’s first dispense with the terrible logic of this claim. If we approached everything in life this way, imagine how silly it would be: Approximately half of all...
Beyond “The One”: A Christian Reflection on Love, Marriage, and Polygamy
CLAIM: Humans aren’t naturally built for monogamy, and the idea of finding “the one” is just a myth. In a lifetime, men may end up having multiple wives. Even in the Bible, we see that men had multiple wives and sexual partners, sometimes at the same time. REBUTTAL:...
Is a License Necessary to be Married
CLAIM: We don't need a legal document or government involvement to be truly committed to one another. Why let the state define what our relationships should look like? REBUTTAL: Correct, we don’t need a legal document or government involvement to be truly committed to...
Church Should Advocate for Childless Marriages
CLAIM: I value marriage and the happiness it brings. That being said, I wish the church spoke more positively about choosing not to have children, especially given today’s uncertainties and the harm caused when unwanted children face neglect or resentment. REBUTTAL: I...
Premarital Sex and Marriage
CLAIM: You need to sleep together before you get married to ensure you’re sexually compatible. REBUTTAL: The claim raises several questions. Does there need to be sexual compatibility to have a marriage? What happens if age or malady lessens the sexual compatibility...
Christian Disparity in Marriage
CLAIM: All the men I’ve dated were Christians and either physically abused me or cheated on me. My ex-husband even had our marriage annulled by the Catholic Church so he could marry his mistress…how is this fair for people who genuinely love God, but others seem to...
Dating Outside of the Faith
CLAIM: I’m Christian and I don’t see the big deal of dating outside of my faith. Christians marry non-Christians all the time. You don’t have to fight about it. REBUTTAL: The claimant raises four points for us to consider: How Christians choose whom to date or marry,...
Has Marriage Become Obsolete?
CLAIM: Marriage isn’t necessary these days. It’s just a piece of paper. Why involve the government? REBUTTAL: The claimant nicely broke the matter down into three points, so let’s use them: Marriage isn’t necessary these days. The statement suggests that at one time,...
Pressed into Marriage
CLAIM: My hobbies and friends fulfil me, but I get a lot of pressure from my parents to get married. I just don’t feel the need. Why should I get married? REBUTTAL: You don’t have to get married, but before you stake your future on hobbies and friends, there are some...
Priorities Before Marriage and Children
CLAIM: I want to focus on my career and achieve financial stability. I don’t need to rush getting married or having kids. REBUTTAL: It is good to have priorities. It is better to have properly calibrated priorities. Calibrating priorities can be challenging and...
Science and the Gender Spectrum
CLAIM: I feel trapped in a body of the wrong sex. If I were made this way, shouldn’t I be accepted for that reality? REBUTTAL: Navigating gender issues involves three disciplines: biology, psychology, and sociology. “Biology” refers not only to the physical traits...
Challenging Gender Ideology Does Not Disappoint Jesus
CLAIM: Really? Why not love everyone and let God deal with them in the end? Jesus would be so disappointed. REBUTTAL: Discussions about gender roles are often far more ideological than theological, even when attempts are made to spiritualize an unsupportable position....
Who Are We to Judge
CLAIM: Jesus loved and accepted everybody. Who are we to judge or tell anybody what they can or cannot do? REBUTTAL: Especially evident in the “Christian” arguments for universal and undefined gender perspectives is that the “Christian faith” and the “Christian...
Freedom to be Authentic
CLAIM: The freedom to explore one’s identity—whether transgender or not—is a fundamental right that fosters personal growth and self-discovery. Allowing individuals the space to determine who they are, what they value, and who they want to become is not only...
Religious Beliefs vs Greatness Through Love
CLAIM: Embrace your religious and spiritual beliefs while understanding that not everyone shares the same views, and that’s perfectly okay. It’s important to love and respect others for who they are in this world and in this moment, without trying to impose your...
None of My Business
CLAIM: I simply don’t care what someone does with THEIR body. It’s none of my business. What I care about is how they treat others. REBUTTAL: The argument advocating for the right to self-identify with a chosen gender rather than the one you were born with is...
Extending Life or Prolonging Death
CLAIM: Assisted suicide should be considered an option when people cannot agree on whether treatment extends life or prolongs the dying process. REBUTTAL: Nothing gets us lost in the part like the ability to make decisions. We quickly presume to be masters of our...
Assisted Suicide as a Practical Issue
CLAIM: Elderly people who are terminally ill have a duty to die and get out of the way. Like leaves which fall off a tree forming the humus in which other plants can grow, we've got a duty to die and get out of the way with all our machines and artificial hearts, so...
Assisted Suicide Can Be Safe
CLAIM: I agree that it is murder if the person doesn't consent to assistance in dying. Signing legal papers to be assisted in suicide is entirely legal in more and more places. Those people also have to be mentally evaluated several times and have to say yes several...
Spectator Selfishness
CLAIM: I feel whatever the patient wants is best. Don’t be selfish and want them around for your sake. REBUTTAL: A few important points need to be understood with this claim or accusation: Sometimes It’s True A lifetime of relationships forms strong emotional bonds....
A Matter of Choice vs. Opinion
CLAIM: If you choose to die in excruciating pain, that's absolutely up to you. If you'd prefer to watch your loved ones die in excruciating pain, again, that's for you and your conscience. What I, or anyone else, chooses to do isn't your decision. But it is also the...
The Role of Suffering
CLAIM: The purpose of pain (suffering) is to tell you something is wrong. When possible, we fix the problem, and life goes on. When we cannot fix the problem, the merciful thing is to permit assisted suicide because suffering is only making life miserable. REBUTTAL:...
Quality of Life and the Argument for Assisted Suicide
CLAIM: Assistance in dying is a merciful way for people to hold on to dignity as they see their quality of life disappear. REBUTTAL: “If you are the Son of God,” he [Satan to Jesus] said, “throw yourself down. For it is written…” (Matthew 4:6) I have been involved...
Experience and Passing Judgment
CLAIM: People who have not personally faced terminal illness or severe suffering should not pass judgment on those who consider assisted suicide. REBUTTAL: Claims of absolute autonomy always need greater scrutiny. We value experience. We value the right to do our own...
We Euthanize Animals
CLAIM: While we mercifully euthanize pets to end their suffering, we deny humans the same right to a dignified death. Assisted suicide represents a humane option for those facing inevitable death, allowing them to exit life on their own terms with the same compassion...
A Right to Relief
CLAIM: Adults diagnosed with terminal illnesses or debilitating conditions like ALS have the right to seek relief from suffering in their final days. These individuals should be empowered to request assistance from medical professionals to facilitate a peaceful...
All This Technology
CLAIM: Technology has created these problems. I don’t want to be hooked up to tubes and wires. When it’s my time to go, let me go. REBUTTAL: In the early 1980s, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop commented on the news that parents in Bloomington, IN, refused to...
Laying the Groundwork
Dying Ends Life When we talk about dying, we must begin with the obvious because you do not wade far into this issue before the obvious is obscured by euphemisms and specious rhetoric. The result of dying is death. Death is the lack of life and is irreversible. Death...
Losing Rights Because of Pregnancy
CLAIM: I have heard people argue that the time to choose not to have a child is before it is conceived, not after, so that I could use birth control or avoid sexual activity altogether. If I have those rights before getting pregnant, why do I lose the rights over my...
Using Body Without Consent
CLAIM: The issue is that a fetus cannot survive without using someone else's body. No one - not a baby, not an adult, not a cow or lizard or dog or dolphin - is allowed to use YOUR body to help their own body without your consent. No human gets to use someone else's...
Let People Think for Themselves
CLAIM: I’m against abortion, but if the pregnancy is going to kill the mother and the baby, then the mother should be able to decide. The Bible says life begins with the first breath. I still would not have an abortion, but I’m not making that decision for her. That’s...
Forcing My Opinion on Others
CLAIM: "I’m pro-life but that does not give me the right to force my opinion or my beliefs on another individual. It also doesn’t give any government the right to impose laws that will govern my body or anyone else’s." REBUTTAL: You make two arguments. Look at your...
Not My Business
CLAIM: In my opinion, as a male, which is always secondary to the woman, the bottom line is the decision always needs to be made by the woman not any government law. This decision of life and death is very personal and involves many considerations: each persons...
Giving Women a Choice on Abortion
CLAIM: WHEN RESPONDING TO WOMEN WHO WERE ABUSED AND FORCED TO GET ABORTIONS TO COVER IT UP: Isn’t that the point of pro-choice? Women can choose if they want an abortion or not. You’re saying, isn’t it awful these women didn’t have a choice? Well, that applies to both...
IVF Blessings Do Not Outweigh Drawbacks
CLAIM: A truly pro-life stance would recognize that the lives created through IVF outweigh its potential drawbacks. REBUTTAL: The term “pro-life” is always intended and generally understood to define the desire to protect any human life that would be in danger....
Is It Okay if a Woman Dies?
CLAIM: Women are dying because they’re being refused the medical care they need. So, it’s okay if a woman dies? REBUTTAL: It is never OK for a life to be lost. It should trouble us all. It is difficult to imagine why medical staff would refuse care for someone who...
Abortion as a Necessary Evil
CLAIM: I'm a pro-life Democrat, but isn't early-term abortion a necessary evil until someone has an answer for what we're going to do with an extra one million plus unwanted children, considering most of those in our terrible foster system don't get adopted already?...
