[David Sklansky]

"I said it isn't necessary to believe for salvation. But it's in the Bible. If the Bible is the infallible word of God, if predestination is in the Bible, how can I deny predestination? I effectively deny the divinity of the Bible."

Thank you for that very good question. Father David will now explain. Remember when talking about dying with no afterlife you said, "but the Bible seems to say otherwise"? With such a statement comes the admission that there are parts of the Bible that are not crystal clear. Perhaps that is due to faulty translations. Perhaps it is due to reading comprehension issues. Whatever. Just because the Bible is infallible, doesn't mean your interpretation of it is. Do you really think that those Christians who interpret the predesination issue differently than you are all blatently lying to themselves about absolutely clear cut passages? Surely there is some legitimate ways to come to different conclusions about those passages.

Its like a contract bridge problem. Sometimes there is much to gain and nothing to lose by assuming the unlikely possibility that an opponent has, for instance, no hearts. It s OK to profess your doubts my son. But realize that if you don't make that assumption, you marginalize yourself and lose much of your power to persuade others of the more important aspects of Christianity. Do you think God wants you to waste your talents that way? Now you are lumped in the same boat as udon'tknowmickey. Do you want that? It's not like I am suggesting you become Catholic or something equally terrible.