What if...

[Akuma]

Ah, yes, now I present to you a question long debated by...idono, some people. What if, and let's say just what if, a group of people goes its whole life without ever hearing of Christianity. What does God do with those people. Its been said that if they believe that one god created everything around them, they are believing in God Himself, thus being saved. Ah, but let us not forget: Jesus said that the only way to heaven is through him. Thus, you would have to believe in Jesus Christ as one's savior before truly being 'saved'. Ok, I'm done sounding intelligent and mysterious. Got any ideas about this?

[twistedsketch]

God is fair to everybody and since He loves those people, He loses out when anybody goes to hell. So remember that.

God has ways of reaching people. He has used nature (Rom 1:18-20), He has used dreams (haopens quite a bit in the Muslim world), He has used angels (Acts 10:1-7), visions (the Apostle Paul), and He of course has used people.

Also, consider these verses:

"From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." - Acts 17:26-27

God not only soverignly put people in the time and place where they grew up, but in doing so He gave them a fair chance to find Him. Yes, we need to witness, and we need missionaries badly, but God is not putting anyone on the back burner.

[Lynn73]

I'll say what I always say. I don't know what God is going to do with those who've never heard the gospel. But I believe He'll do what's right and that no one will be able to say that He's unjust. I don't try to figure it out all the time, I leave it with Him. The missionaries are out there in the other countries sharing the gospel, maybe someday soon all will have heard at least once, I don't know.

[IloveJesusMyFather3:16]

The Bible says that God will not judge someone for their ignorance.

ignorance - The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.

[Stinker]

The reason that missionaries are sent out.

"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent: Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead." (Acts 17:30,31)

"......when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Thess.1:7,8) There is no safety in being either ignorant or disobedient of the gospel.

[IloveJesusMyFather3:16]

In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."
I don't mean to sound rude but I kinda think this is a religious way of looking at this verse. I don't think God is going to send someone to hell just because they have heard the gospel. They wouldn't have a chance to reject him. I think this is perposterous! God is merciful. I think when it says this it means people who heard the gospel but don't know God or obey the gospel. The Bible says that when certain people knock on His door to come into heaven He will say that He didn't know them. I think this is because those certain people didn't pray or have a relationship with Him.

[Svt4Him]

Those without the law are judged as not having it.

[WesWoodell]

Its been said that if they believe that one god created everything around them, they are believing in God Himself, thus being saved.

Do you think simply believing is what saves us?

[Lynn73]

Here's what I tend to think, I don't know if I'm right. I think the Bible shows that there are different degrees of punishment in hell and different degrees of reward in heaven. The Bible also shows that it's only through Christ that anyone can go to heaven. So perhaps those who don't know or have never heard will be in hell but their position there won't be very harsh as compared to others. I don't know, God does. I only know that He said that no one can come to the Father but by Him (Jesus) and there's no other name whereby we must be saved. I also know it's imperitive to get the gospel to as many people on the earth as possible, to never stop sending people out until Jesus comes.

[Suffolk Sean]

The Bible says that God will not judge someone for their ignorance.

ignorance - The condition of being uneducated, unaware, or uninformed.
Where? I would really like to know:scratch:

[Iosias]

Got any ideas about this?
Not reall because it does not matter.

[RVincent]

Where? I would really like to know:scratch:

A sin in ignorance: Numbers 15:24-29.

(Jonah 4:9-11) And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. {10} Then said the LORD, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: {11} And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

Some Christians don't believe that works are important. They do not labor to help others know the truth. Yet, the very idea that God would set aside a thousand years to spare someone for their ignorance makes them angry.

(Rev 20:4) And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

(Rev 20:6) Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

What shall these priests do this thousand years?

(Ezek 44:23) And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

This is not Universalism, for the Scriptures make it quite clear that many will fall away afterward (Rev. 20:8).

[Reformationist]

He [God] loses out when anybody goes to hell.
I don't know that I've ever heard a less biblical statement on this message board than this one. Truly sad. :(

[Stinker]

Those without the law are judged as not having it.

I think Svt4Him is trying to use the Apostle Paul's reference to the law that the Gentiles went by when the Jews had the Law of Moses. "For when the Gentiles, which have not the Law, do by nature the things contained in the Law, these, having not the Law, are a law unto themselves:" (Rom.2:14)

Both Jew and Gentile now are amenable to the New Testament. There is no verse for the non-Christians that would read........."For when the non-Christians, which have not the New Testament, do by nature the things contained in the New Testament, these, having not the New Testament, are a testament unto themselves."??:o