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[AlphaT]

Hi, I wasn't sure where to put this, but it seems the most connected to the issue of salvation.

So I was thinking about people who have never heard of The Gospel, and I wondered what happens to them. My pastor told me that they will spend eternity with God, but that only gave me more questions.

Assuming it is true that people who have never heard of Jesus go to heaven, why do we share The Gospel with them? If we tell them about Jesus, they might not accept it and reject Christ. That means they will go to hell. But if we do not tell them about Christ, they will without a doubt be with God after they die.

Thank You for reading and answering, I've never had such a question bother me like this one.

[jimwalton]

First let's talk about the people before Christ came (only because it forms the foundation for the answer to your question). Romans 5.13 says, "for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law." In other words, people cannot be held accountable for what they could not possibly have known. Romans 1.20 lets us know that they will be held accountable for what they do know. Theologians talk about in terms of "common revelation" (what everybody can see and have a knowledge of [things such as order, uniformity, purpose, function, cause and effect, the validity of sense perception, beauty, reason, personality, knowledge, the benefits of moral responsibility, will, and love; as well as a conscience inside of them]) and "special revelation" (the knowledge of things in particular, such as Jesus). Those are different accountability standards, and the Bible teaches that God is just and will be fair with people, considering what they knew and what they did with it.

For instance, we are told that the young people during the wilderness wanderings got a free pass to the Promised Land when others were punished for their rebellion, because they didn't know any better (Dt. 1.37-40: God's people are being judged for their rebellion, but the young ones who didn't have the mental capacity to make a reasoned and moral decision like that don't get judged). Scripture teaches that anyone who is not capable of making a deliberate, reasoned decision is not held as accountable as the people who are. Don't get me wrong: they're still accountable, but in a different way and based on a different standard.

Based on Romans 5.13, I think it's fair to say that people who died before Christ was on the scene will not be judged on whether they believed in Christ or not. That doesn't make any sense. So what about people who lived in Asia, or on Papua New Guinea, or South Africa, or Alaska, who never heard of Jesus but lived and died? They will be judged fairly given their own motivations and actions. People will be judged according to the information they had, what they did with it, and their motives behind it. Every judgment will be fair based on those criteria. Otherwise, it wouldn't be fair. So if someone hasn't heard of Christianity, they can't be held accountable for Christianity. But they will be held accountable for what they do know.

Let’s go another step and talk about Jesus and his words. Jesus was an amazingly tolerant person, except when it came to salvation. As far as he was concerned, when it comes to salvation, there aren’t several roads, and whatever they are, they don’t all lead to the same place. According to Jesus, this truth was worth a thousand conversations: There is only one road. There aren’t several paths, there is only one path. And that path is Jesus himself.

In John 14.6, Jesus didn’t claim to know the way to God. He didn’t say he could teach them the way to God. He declared himself as THE WAY. He declared himself as THE TRUTH. Christianity isn’t a religion, a system of philosophy, or a collection of rituals. It is Jesus. This is no different from what was taught in the Old Testament. In Jeremiah 10.10-12 God claims to be the only true God. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, claimed the same thing in Acts 4.12, and Paul in Gal. 1.9 the same. The message is consistent all the way through.

Let me try to make logical sense out of it for you. Some people take belief in God to be like fans of a sports team: I like the Seahawks, and you like the Ravens, or shopping at a store: Walmart or Old Navy. Ultimately then it doesn’t matter what we prefer; it’s just an opinion. Or possibly people treat it like roads to a destination: If I want to go from Chicago to L.A., I can take US Route 66 or I can take the Interstate system (55, 44, 40, 15) and get to the same place. No matter; there are many ways to get to L.A. from Chicago.

The Bible, however, doesn’t treat truth as a preference, an opinion, or even a path. It is the very fabric of the universe in terms of what is real and what is false. In that sense it’s more like gravity: it’s there, and it’s not negotiable, and we have to live according to it. All of our principles of science, logic, and math are grounded on the acceptance that there is such a thing as truth (reality) and its opposite: falseness (unreality).

When it comes to religion, as you know, anybody can say anything they want. I can say I know God, or God spoke to me, or that God is green or blue. Since nothing can be proven, it’s just a matter of “he said” or “she said.” Anybody can say anything they want, and we’re back to Walmart, Old Navy, or Route 66. When Jesus came to earth, he said it’s not a matter of opinion, but of reality. He said, “I’ll prove it to you by doing something that is absolutely impossible unless there is one true God and I am Him. I will die and bring myself back to life.” Well now, that’s quite a claim. You have to admit that’s never been done before, and it’s because it’s not do-able unless some other real power is at play. And that’s exactly what he did—resurrected from the dead—as scientific, observable, historic proof that what he said is true: There really is only one God, and it’s Jesus. It’s not just a matter of what teaching you choose to believe. This guy came back from the dead as a proof that what he had said about who he is is true.

So, yes: believing in Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the dead is the only way to get to heaven. He lifted the discussion out of the realm of opinions and paths into reality and truth. On two occasions, Jesus was asked about the criteria for heaven. He offered four teachings:

Love God with all that you are
Love your neighbor
Do God’s will by obeying his moral commands
Make the commitment to follow him with your whole life

Jesus called people to believe in him (as did Paul [Acts 16.32; Rom. 10.9-10]), but he defined “belief” as these four items. Believing is certainly a first step, and a continuing step. But as you can see from what Jesus said, there’s more to it. Paul agreed, of course. He said that we must know God, follow him, and do what is right. James agreed also (“faith without works is dead”). They all agree. So there is a simple and a deeper answer. Is acceptance of his sacrifice all a person needs to do? Yes. It’s a small step to take to accept a free gift. But there is a much deeper answer, for to accept his sacrifice is to follow in his footsteps (deny oneself, take up your cross, and follow him).

From John 14.6 we understand that God in the Bible claimed to be the only true God, and that Christ claims to be the only access door to him. As much as people would like to believe that all reasonable roads lead to God and heaven, there's madness in that method. According to the law of non-contradiction, it's just not possible that all belief systems are equally valid. If that were the case, the person who thinks they're all equally valid is just as right as the person who thinks they're not, which is just nonsense. The religions of the world contradict each other in significant ways. If we have integrity in our definition of truth, it's just not possible that all religions are equally true and are different roads to the same divine state.

But what about people from other religions, maybe people who have never heard? As far as worshipers of other religions that have not heard of Christianity, that's a different matter. That goes back to what I started with. Justice requires that people be treated fairly, taking into account all the surrounding circumstances of their situation (motives, resources, decisions, etc.) We learn from Romans 5.13 that there is no moral or spiritual accountability where there was no spiritual input. They will be judged according to the information they had, what they did with it, and their motives behind it. Every judgment will be fair based on what information people had, what they knew, what their motives were, and how they behaved given what they had access to. Otherwise, it wouldn't be fair. So if someone hasn't heard of Christianity, they can't be held accountable for Christianity, but they will be held accountable for what they do know. As C.S. Lewis said, "We do know that no person can be saved except through Christ; we do not know that only those who know Him can be saved by Him."

Sorry, but it’s not true that people who have never heard of the Gospel get a free ride to heaven. There’s nothing in the Bible that teaches that. You’re right that if that’s true, the church should shut its doors and shut their mouths, because sharing Christ then marks rejecting people for hell. The way to heaven is Jesus, but those who have never heard will still be held accountable for the information they had and what they did with it. Everyone is accountable (2 Cor. 5.10); no one gets a free ride except babies and children who die.

Sorry this was so long.

[AlphaT]

Sorry for the late response.

You've helped me to make sense of this issue more, but I'm still hung up on something. You say that those who have not heard will be judged on "what they know". Well, what could they know? They haven't heard of Jesus, or The Gospel, so what information is available to them for which they can be judged?

[jimwalton]

Romans 1.19-20 tell us about something theologians call "Common Grace." God makes himself known to everyone who has ever lived, at the very least through the natural world. For instance, the universe and world are place of order, uniformity, purpose, cause and effect, the validity of sense perception, beauty, reason, personality, knowledge, the benefits of moral responsibility, free will, and love. They are all part of our world, and all speak against the opinion that the universe is a place of stark chemicals, chance, and impersonality. (That's Paul's argument, anyway.) Paul argues that these attributes of creation evidence the coincident attributes of God. It's not complicated, and anyone can see it. Paul claims that the realities of our world speak against the obvious falseness of mythologies and polytheism. Henry Van Dyke, in The Upward Path, "There are a hundred touches of kindness that come to us every day to tell us that we are not orphans or outcasts upon the earth. Every trace of order, every gleam of beauty, every provision of bounty in the natural world, is an evidence that it is God’s house." Nature itself tells us there is something beyond nature.

In addition to that, people have a conscience. All people do. Look at Romans 2.14-16 for an explanation of what I'm saying. The Gentiles are without the Mosaic Law, but they have a God-given conscience that tells them about rights and wrongs. Their inner knowledge of God in their consciences establishes a law for them.