Patrick C

I keep hearing that God loves everybody the same. Even if you say that God loves all GOOD people the same, then what difference does it make that he gave his "only son" for everybody else? Why would the death of Jesus Christ mean more to God than the death of, say, Saint Paul or Saint Christopher or Mother Theresa? (Keep in mind that Christ himself said that he was an imperfect man.)

My ex-wife just called to tell me this had happened in her room at my house. I feel completely betrayed in my trust of them. At this point, my gut instinct is to completely cut off contact between them and take away her cell phone and internet priveliges. I've been a pretty easy-going dad up until now, but I've completely had it with this kid's rebellious behavior, and this is the final straw. Any advice from somebody who has experience with either side of this?

describing ways to ostracize people with leprosy, but has no information on curing the disease--or at the very least, preventing it? It's not terribly hard to prevent, just a matter of a bit of extra hygeine. Did God not know how to prevent leprosy?

My ex and I share joint custody of our 8-year-old son. She came into my house yesterday evening and started telling me that when she and her boyfriend (an unemployable pot-head) "ground" my son as punishment, that the grounding should extend to my house.

I asked that, in that case, I be consulted before the punishment be handed down. I told her explicitly that I'd probably go along with it, just that if I'm going to enforce a punishment, I'd like to be a part of the decision. Honestly, I was being calm and reasonable (I always am with her, because I'm scared she'll try to take custody of the kids, one of whom lives with me full time, but who I have no legal rights to because she's got a different father).

Anyway, my ex started screaming at me and insisting that I was trying to control how they raise my son, then grabbed my son and stormed off, refusing even to allow me to apologize. I think she's gone completely off the deep end.

What do you think?

Today in the news, a teenager fell six stories from a hotel balcony and lived. His sister says that this shows that God is real. In other news, a five year old boy was fishing with his grandfather when he was killed by a stray bullet fired by a police officer trying to shoot a snake. What does this say about God?

About two and a half years ago, I agreed to take my friend's dog because my friend was moving into an apartment where he couldn't have pets. The dog was eight years old at the time. Now my friend is moving into a place where he can have pets, and (per our agreement) has asked for his dog back. But the dog is happy with me--I've got other dogs and kids to keep him company, and he gets to sleep with me at night (my friend puts him in a kennel). He's also begun to show signs of age, and I'm worried that leaving his "adopted" family to go back to my friend is going to be really hard on him. My friend lives 800 miles away, so sharing the dog is out of the question. Any thoughts?

If a vampire loses his soul when he becomes undead, and a ghost is a manifestation of the soul of the departed, doesn't it make sense that he could haunt himself?

I wish somebody could explain the difference so that it made sense.

The phrase "God Bless" seems to follow some of the most hateful things said on Yahoo questions. What's that about?

I keep hearing this from the Religious right, like a mantra: There are no happy gays. But--I'm gay and I'm pretty sure I'm as happy as the next guy. Am I really the only one? I suspect that if gays are less happy than anyone else, it's because they're subjected to the hateful rhetoric of conservative Christians every single day of their lives. What do you think?

When you heat a pot of water to boiling, before there's any sign of bubbles, the water begins to make a sort of metallic hissing noise. What causes it?