jbarr wrote:Kinda new here, so please be gentle...
How would you respond to this scenario?
Say a person walks up to a street and someone standing there tells him not to cross the street because if he does, he will get hit by a bus. But the guy says, "Not an issue. There's simply no choice to make because I don't believe in the existance of any bus." Now, one of two things will probably happen: He walks across the street and reaches the other side without incident, or he walks across the street and gets hit by a bus.
Ok, YOU obviously know that streets have vehicles traveling on them all the time, so maybe the illustration is a bit absurd, but consider the scenario further: What if you had never heard of cars or trucks or busses or any vehicles. Would you listen to the guy on the street? What if you HAD heard of busses, but the concept of a bus simply didn't jive with what you believe to be possible.
Being a Christian, my perspective is simple using my above analogy: I believe that the street exists. I understand and believe, based on what I have learned and experienced, that busses do exist. And to make things more ineresting, I even have a copy of a bus schedule that not only explains what the bus is, but that a bus is soon to pass by. So, being the guy on the street, when I see someone about to cross the street, I feel compelled to tell them that a bus is coming by soon. He can choose to ignore me or choose to heed, but from my perspective, it really doesn't matter what his choice is because the bus is still coming.
Of course, this scenario presupposes the existance of roads, busses, and bus schedules. From the Christian perspective, that's basically what we believe. My point in this is summed up in a paraphrase of quote from somewhere I can't remember: "If a Christain is wrong [about things etermal], what will he lose? Nothing. If a non-Christian is wrong, what does he lose? Everything."
My prayer is that you don't get hit by the bus.