@AlbertoT:
predestination is a no-brainer if you believe in causal determinism and God being all-knowing and all-powerful.

@PHeMoX:
He's not punishing free-will itself. if your kid is grounded and you leave them home-alone, it is their free-will whether or not to honour your commands. if they don't and you find out, aren't you going to punish them? are you punishing their free-will or their abuse of free-will?

ultimately, i believe Christianity is the only path we can choose to take for salvation (don't try dispute that with a "predestination -- Christians believe they don't have a choice" thing, cos that's rubbish; our choice and God's sovereign choice are compatible), but God will be fair to those who never get a chance to hear of Christianity.

for those who reject; that's their choice but it doesn't make it a good choice. for those who reject blindly without giving it a second thought (not pointing fingers; a lot of people here show interest in learning from these discussions) that's their stupid choice. -- look up Pascal's Wager. anyone who then says "but being a Christian would detract from my life" doesn't understand that Christianity is simply believing. no rules. we who follow "rules" do so out of a love for God and the understanding that doing otherwise isn't exactly good for our lives, or the faith of those around us.

@jcl: sorry for contributing to this thread's devolution into just another Christianity thread.

julz