but that does not mean that God does not know what path we will choose to follow.

Of course, but there’s a difference in knowing and having a hand in the decision. The former allows for free will, the latter doesn’t.

You seem confused at what “denomination means”. Baptist, Catholics, Methodists are all different denominations even though they are all technically “Christians” (note: in large part, people identified largely identified with their specific denomination as opposed to the generic Christian term until very recently). Aside from the major religions, there are any number of fringe cults, local worships and even cargo cults that still exist.

Secondly, I don’t care that you’re tolerant. Does the Catholic Church think the Jews are going to heaven with Jesus? Do Muslims think Methodists get 72 virgins in heaven? You may think what you think, but it is at odds with what is being preached by your church.

Thirdly, you have more in common with them than me? How? My life is probably very similar to yours, just without going to Church on Sunday (which a shockingly large number of Christians don’t do). I’d say your similarities to those around is FAR more cultural that religious.

Nothing infuriates me more than these phony pious-types who talk down to nonbelievers. Their condescending tone just oozes out of them, yet they pretend they REALLY care about your “soul” being “saved.”

No. They don’t.

It’s just an opportunity for them to gloat and imagine that we’re all gonna be burning in a lake of fire while they frolic with the angels.

As Bill Hicks said: I just wanna go to the place where they’ve got the better music.

That’s not true. Might want to do some research on that. And by research I don’t mean Kraukaur.

Judisiam, Islam, & Christianity all worship the same God. Which eliminates half of the differing religions in the first place. With the exception of a few nutcases that exist in all organizations..most religions are very respectful and tolerant of the other. After all we have more in common with each other than we do with non-beleivers

Reverend Lovejoy: Homer, I’d like you to remember Matthew 7:26. “The foolish man who built his house upon the sand.”
Homer: [pointing a finger] And you remember
[thinks]
Homer: Matthew… 21:17.
Reverend Lovejoy: [confused] “And he left them and went out of the city, into Bethany, and he lodged there?”
Homer: Yeah. Think about it.

Not recognizing Simpsons referenecs is downright un-American!

What if I (as a believer) am right and you (as a non-believer) is wrong?

Nothing changes? As a non-believer, the person would go to “hell/hades/wherever” after death, so for them the situation doesn’t change at all.

The problem is that so many of the tenets of Christianity (or any Judeo-Christian faith) are paradoxical. If God has predetermined everything as mentioned above, how can we have free will? If we don’t have free will (due to predetermination), what does it matter what we do in life if God already has a plan? Let alone how do we reconcile an all-powerful, all-benevolent, all-knowing god with evil in the world?

“What if I (as a believer) am right and you (as a non-believer) is wrong?”

Anyway, yes. Two answers:
#1. I’m a moral man. Faithful to my wife, I give to charity, I treat others well, my appalled by atrocities and geniunley think the world would be better if we were all more equal. If I’m going to be sent to hell just because my life didn’t include going into a church every Sunday and praying to a God who never proved himself to me…so be it. A God who would do that doesn’t really seem like the type of God worth worshiping. Being moral out of fear of God’s wrath isn’t real morality at all.

#2. This question kind of sounds like the lottery slogan: you gotta play to win! To paraphrase Jon Krakauer, there are over 10,000 religious denominations in the world, *most* (not all) of which think the other 9,999 are agents of evil. I could very much ask you the same question. What if *you* are wrong. What if only Maronite Christians get to go and those Baptists at condemned to hell. Or what if the Ancient Greeks were right and you’re just making Zeus madder and madder every day.

I should conclude with a disclaimer. I have no problem with religious people. You should be able to go to church all you want without my critics. My problem is when that religion is used to justify abhorrent actions and justify things I don’t believe. When someone justifies an opinion on the basis of their faith, then they are bring their faith into it, not me. If your faith justifies something I disagree with, I will question your religious beliefs along with your political ones.

Again, I have no issue with answering the question. I have a very big problem with “seeker” and being “on the right track” and “not as agnostic as you think” stuff. That is *not* answering the question. Plenty of commenters answered this question without resorting to these cute belittling phrases. This is the tone used on little kids when figuring out a math problem…so yeah, I think it’s pretty offensive.

I will concede your over aggression point. I probably should have refrained from “get fucked dude” and a couple of other terms.

So, in summary: apologies for overly harsh tone. No apologies for criticism of content in initial post revolving around people “getting on the right track”.

I’ll use my brother as an example. He’s a physics professor, earned his PhD by age 28, and is smarter, wealthier, better groomed and is genuinely superior to me in every single way. He also goes to Church Sunday and believes a magic man in the sky created everything and had a kid who was crucified and is the savoir of all humanity. See, not an issue of intelligence because he’s a fucking genius.

Early in pro baseball history, playing on Sunday was banned by “blue laws” prohibiting commerce on that day. Apparently, the devout souls of the time found professional baseball to be a vulgar and corrupt way to spend the Sabbath. Eventually, these laws were repealed, though not until 1934 in Pennsylvania. A couple of blog posts I found on the subject:
http://baseballhistoryblog.com/tag/blue-laws/
http://www.philadelphiaathletics.org/history/sundaybaseball.html

Sandy Koufax refused to pitch Game 1 of the 1965 World Serious because it was on Yom Kippur (October 6). MLB has solved that problem by moving the World Series to the end of October.

BTW, remember the stink in Cincinnati when the schedule came out, and the Reds’ home opener was to be today?

I think the question isn’t so much a Christian one, per se, but one about the presence of faith in a believer’s life. And that varies for everyone.

He reconciles our free will (to live life as we wish, being responsible for our choices) with God’s ultimate decisions (even determining the result of a coin flip).

is impossible. One cannot have free will if the results are already determined.

So..just reverse that question and see why I think it is silly. You also can’t prove god. Secondly, I *don’t* believe fervently in it. I just have no proof of anything, so why would I worship something I don’t is there or not (and allow me to point out that literally 10,000 other religious denominations have just as much *proof* as you). What i do have is *doubt* and heaps of it. In an effort to not do the exact thing I’m ranting against, I’ll drop it here.

Secondly, there is a huge difference between responding to a question and writing a one paragraph thing about someone being a “seeker” and being “on the right track” and “not as agnostic as you think”. That is that arrogant stuff that drives me up the wall. Are you really that obtuse to what you are saying or how fucking offensive it is to those who don’t agree with you? And then you get upset because someone says something equally as offensive? Really dude?

Thirdly, please, pray for me all you want. Your arrogance knows no bounds. To say that is not humble at all. It’s an attempt to show you obvious superiority due to your belief systems. Not terribly “christian” if you ask me…

The author of Ecclesiastes struggled and empathized with the connection between life’s joys and struggles and their meaninglessness as much as many of us have, Christian or not.

But Paul alluded to the theme of ‘meaningless things we do in life’ relating to living life as a practicing Christian in his letter to the Corinthians… he admitted “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial.” And he ends 1 Corinthians 10 with “so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”

As mentioned in a comment above, Paul and the early Christians in the book of Acts did meet non-believers where they were depending on the culture. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians was harsh because the church of Corinth was corrupt with hypocrisy and pride. But Paul’s interaction with the Greeks was very different (reasoned, argumentative), as the Greeks believed in reason and debates in determining who/what is God/god (much like contemporary society). And even as Philip was talking to the traveling Ethiopian about Jesus, he did so only by explaining a passage that the Ethiopian did not understand.

So I firmly believe that practicing evangelical Christians can apply their faith and life to baseball as that is the culture we are currently in. The Bible does instruct us to store up treasures in heaven, and not on the things of this earth. So just as our lives here on earth (Christians believe) will pass, so to will baseball.

But while we understand that the meaning of life isn’t intertwined completely with baseball, that doesn’t mean we don’t glorify God or ‘practice our faith’ by enjoying baseball. God gave us pleasures to enjoy life, and gave others skills and callings that relate to sports.

That’s why I don’t have a problem with Tim Tebow or Jeremy Lin giving thanks to Jesus when they win — what doesn’t often get preached is that Christians also give thanks to Jesus when they lose (or, equivalently, lose our jobs or experience a death of a family member). Because just as in the story of Joseph, who proclaimed “you intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done,” so to do Christians find comfort in that we believe God works through good, through evil, through big things, through small things (yes, even baseball). Winning/losing in sports as it relates to our spirituality and faith isn’t as zero-sum as many believe.

At the risk of being bombasted by other commenters, I would highly recommend “Your Plans: God’s Plans” by Tim Keller. Keller is a pastor in Manhattan, and he frequently meets our young/single/unbelieving generation where we are when he preaches. He reconciles our free will (to live life as we wish, being responsible for our choices) with God’s ultimate decisions (even determining the result of a coin flip). http://sermons2.redeemer.com/sermons/your-plans-gods-plans

1 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2 For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

So, the admonition from Christ is not to never make judgments, but rather to make sure that your own house is in order first and to realize that you also will be judged by the same standards that you apply to others. Make sense?