Idol #1

I thought the final show was missing the 'moment' that the judges seemed to have found in Crystal's last song. That being said, I do think Crystal won the night and, therefore, retained the overall top score for the season. THAT being said, I still think Lee appeals to a broader base and will probably get the most votes tonight.

54 Crystal Bowersox (271)
50 Lee Dewize (266)

Q&A for Today

My small groups are working on developing some evangelistic materials. We are interested in being prepared to answer the kinds of questions that non-Christians might have about God. I started with a list of 20 questions and then got more questions from Christians and non-Christians alike. I thought I'd simply share the questions we've gathered so far...

Questions of Philosophy
Who made God? How could He just exist?
Where does God live? How about Jesus?
Why does God need to be worshiped?
Does God intervene in our lives?
Aren’t monotheism & trinitarianism incompatible?
Why does God allow so much pain and suffering?
How could a loving God send people to Hell?

Questions of Creation
Haven’t science/evolution made God obsolete?
Would the discovery of E.T. destroy Christianity?
Is the earth is young? If so, why do I see stars?
Wouldn’t there be evidence of Noah’s flood?

Questions about the Old Testament
Isn’t Genesis 1-11 just a fairy tale?
Is God racist for picking 1 people group (Israel)?
Isn’t the OT God somewhat of a monster?
Why do some Christians ignore some OT laws?

Questions about the New Testament
Can you prove that Jesus actually existed?
Why worship Jesus if he never claimed to be God?
Why should I actually believe in the resurrection?
Why should I care what Paul says?

Questions about the Christianity
If it’s true, why is Christian history so bad?
Why are there so many denominations?
What about those who have never heard of Jesus?
Shouldn’t I wait until I am absolutely sure?

Questions of Comparison
Are Christians actually happier than others?
What makes Christianity superior to other religions?

Feel free to suggest more questions

Idol #3

It was April 20th, on my blog, that I first predicted that Lee should & would win American Idol this year. And I think that prediction has been vindicated by his recent performance. Even without the comments from the judges, I gave him two 9 out of 10's.

37 Lee Dewize (216)
33 Crystal Bowersox (217)
28 Casey James (202)

Earlier in the season Crystal built a pretty big lead by my stat system, but now Lee is within 1 point of her. In other words, whoever performs better next week deserves to win. Unless, of course, it is Casey. He doesn't even deserve to be in the top 6, let alone the top 3. If he doesn't get voted out tomorrow I'm moving to Canada.

Idol #4

I agree with the judges that the duets were way better than the performances this week. I think everyone was just sorta average.

21 Crystal Bowersox (184)
20 Lee Dewize (179)
20 Michael Lynch (175)
20 Casey James (174)

Casey should have gone home before Michael, but I'm not upset about that since BOTH of them should have gone about before Shiabjon (spelling?). In either case, it should definitely be a battle b/w Lee & Crystal. In that case I wouldn't be upset either way, but I think Lee will win.

*Programming note: After Idol is over, my next series will be a chapter by chapter review of Richard Dawkins "The God Delusion"

Idol #5

After Tuesday's show, I really think it's got to be either Casey or Aaron on their way out. The other three were either too good last night or are too good overall. I will not be sad to see either Casey or Aaron go. Whichever one doesn't get voted out, the other one should go next week. I predict Casey will go first.

19 Lee Dewize (159)
17 Michael Lynch (155)
15 Crystal Bowersox (163)
14 Aaron Kelly (140)
13 Casey James (154)