Can someone like a Buddhist ever go to Heaven? No one out of his own reservoir of knowledge and wisdom can emphatically state how God is going to judge any specific case. . An illustration might help here. the Lord reached the Gospel to those that perished in the flood, or rather had been chained, and to those kept "in ward and guard"? It doesn’t seem fair to condemn those to hell who have never heard the gospel. Irenaeus Against Heresies book 2 ch.6.2 p.365 “However, if people die without getting the chance to hear and respond to the gospel, I suspect they were never elect. b) All people have some truth, from nature (Romans 1:20) and their own conscience. How Shall They Be Saved : The Destiny of Those Who Do Not Hear of Jesus. A brave fireman appears, telling them to follow him to safety. God can give all the opportunities He chooses, and when He chooses. According to this view, those who die in ignorance will still go somewhere when they die (because their soul is immortal). Post-mortem for little children: In addition, scripture suggests that infants and little children who die can go to Heaven (2 Samuel 12:23; Luke 18:16), even though they never put their faith in Christ or believed the Gospel while on earth. Paul reveled in it (1 Tim. They saw we should not sing "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world", and not tell people that God loves them. . (John 14:6). An idea commonly held by many evangelical Christians, and often promoted by some who focus on end-time prophecies, is that the Second Coming of Jesus cannot occur until every person in the world has been given the opportunity to hear and respond to the Gospel. The cross of Christ is the only way: So all desperately need a Savior, and Jesus is the only hope for the whole world. There has always been opportunity: Since the Fall to Abraham, from Job to now, whenever and wherever anyone has lived, God has given people the opportunity to call out to God to save them (Titus 2:11; Acts 10:34-35). Ultimately God will do whatever it takes to try to reach us because He loves us so dearly and desires a relationship with us, as 2 Peter 3:9 shows. You choose not to go near the man. Q: Can other religions lead to Heaven too? If we assume that those who never hear the gospel are granted mercy from God, we will run into a terrible problem. When people who have never heard the gospel die, their eternal fate is not determined by whether or not they rejected Jesus. (John 1:9,16,29; Hebrews 10:1-10,19; 1 Corinthians 6:20; 7:23). What about those who died before hearing the Gospel? If, then, the Lord descended to Hades for no other end but to preach the Gospel, as He did descend; it was either to preach the Gospel to all or to 1:15): “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am foremost of all.” Calvinists interpret these verses to mean none of the elect. a) Nobody has any salvation, except through Christ C.S. Let's examine this issue in depth by answering some questions that arise about the details. Either this pleases God or it displeases God, but it cannot be both. Don Richardson also mentions an Emperor of the Incas, who believed all the idols were wrong, and there was only One True God, who existed as a Trinity. Before Jesus’ ascension into Heaven, His disciples wondered if that moment was the time when Jesus would bring His Kingdom to Earth. Thus, according to Calvinism people in Hell believed this truth: Jesus did not love them or die for their sins. This does not mean that every single individual person who ever lives will have had the opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see a light ahead, and it appears to be a parked car with a man outside. But how? By calling upon Him, even before the coming of our Lord, men were saved both from most wicked spirits, and from all kinds of demons, and from every sort of apostate power." f) A person�s salvation does not depend on their works of obedience, or our works of preaching, but ultimately on God. godswordforyou.com acknowledges that God exists, that He loves us with an incredible love, and that He has spoken and continues to speak to us in the Bible, his written Word. Matthew 24 gives us signs of the times. (Hebrews 11:39-40; 10:1-3). Millennium choices: Another complementary view is that some have choices to make during or after the Millennium. The gospel is about God’s salvation of sinners by His sovereign grace. For it was suitable to the divine administration, that those possessed of greater worth in righteousness, and whose life had been pre-eminent, on repenting of their transgressions, though found in another place, yet being confessedly of the number of the people of God Almighty, should be saved, each one according to his individual knowledge. It is not when you first met the good fireman that is important, it is whether you trust and follow Him that matters. b) Whatever God intended to communicate 1 Peter 3:19, Jesus preached to the spirits in prison, and "for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." While God is understanding of someone who only had very little light, people are still condemned if they are in darkness because they themselves "blew out the candle". An interesting illustration was given by C.S. Because, as Romans 1:18-32 strongly teaches, we have all rejected, corrupted or distorted this revelation of God which freely available to us through creation, in order to be saved we must first hear then believe the good news of Jesus Christ [Romans 10:8-15]. a) Only One Way: Imagine, before Jesus' terrible torture and crucifixion, Jesus praying in the Garden in Gethsemane saying "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me", and God the Father saying, "Your dying on the cross is not needed to take away people's sins, we're just going through all this for fun." Even up to the time of Paul's preaching to them, God overlooked times of ignorance for Gentiles according to Acts 17:9. But, what will you do? God understands and can take into account the ignorance of babies, children, and / or those who never heard and still save them through Christ. Justin Martyr (138-165 A.D.) Those who did which was universally, naturally, and eternally good are pleasing to God, they will be saved through Christ in the resurrection equally with the righteous men before them, such as Noah, Enoch, Jacob, and others. - Part 1" for more info. Muslims refuse to worship Jesus and are taught to fight against Christians. It really does not matter which road you take on the island, or which way you go, as long as you do not want to leave the island. The narrowness is not due to God's lack of love, or withholding information, but due to people's rejection of God (Romans 1:18-21) and not combining what they know with faith (Hebrews 4:2). And, as I think, the Saviour also exerts His might because it is His work to save; which accordingly He also did by drawing to salvation those who became willing, by the preaching [of the Gospel], to believe on Him, wherever they were. They will go to hell. The worst thing we could do would be to share the gospel with a person and have him or her reject it. While Moses did not hear of Christ, Moses actually suffered for Christ according to according to Hebrews 11:26. A person doesn’t go to hell because they haven’t heard t… All God's Word For You Bible Studies are written from a reformed, conservative, evangelical perspective that upholds the historic fundamentals of the Christian faith. On the other hand, God is not compelled to give people more truth if they already rejected the truth about Him they have. How close you are to being directly between Heaven and Hell depends on the knowledge you have been given. We have not been told. God says He is just, and has mercy, but we do not know, except that we are given the task of reaching as many people as we can. Therefore, there must be an explanation of the Bad News before explaining the Good News. e) Everyone who trusts in Jesus will never be put to shame (Romans 10:11b) Matthew (Matthew 24:14) says it shall be preached "in the whole world, for a testimony unto all the nations" (ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ εἰς μαρτύριον).This literally took place, as far as the inhabited world was concerned at that time, before the destruction of Jerusalem. Those who hear after they die include Old Testament saints who faithfully followed the truth they had, and evildoers who rejected the truth they had. While the previous illustration is OK, for some there is a more appropriate illustration. Jesus justly judges all (2 Thessalonians 1:6; John 5:22,23; Matthew 12:36; Romans 2:16; 2 Timothy 4:1). No native Greek-speaking Christian can be found who denied that Christ died for all. Lewis wrote otherwise near the end of his book, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. The Case of Cornelius. All who die rejecting Jesus are separated from God forever. We do not need to be perplexed about their fate. Others, regardless of whether they met him before or not, do not trust him, and perish in the fire. I suspect not. What is common to God's arrangements is combining what they heard with faith (Hebrews 4:2; Romans 4:3-4). e) We have been given an urgent task, of preaching the gospel to the whole world. Finally they got through (perhaps at the Khyber Pass) and they came to their homeland near Calcutta. You need to hear the gospel to be saved. 5. While Scripture is silent on if those who did not make any choice can make one after they die, the early Greek-speaking Christian Clement of Alexandria (193-217 A.D.) taught that they could, based on 1 Peter 3:19 and 4:6. (Yes/No) Would it be possible for God to ever give anyone an opportunity after they die? Your Conclusion: When you come to your own conclusion about those who died before hearing the gospel, you have to answer two questions Click here to: To the Ends of the Earth Proclamation and the Second Coming. We simply labor and strive to make that group as small as possible. Accordingly the Scripture says, "Hades says to Destruction, We have not seen His form, but we have heard His voice." Q: Do we have any evidence of other people believing the truth of God prior to hearing of Christianity or Judaism? Lewis is wrong. If not, then is there no way for those who never heard? God invites us all to cross the bridge He has provided for us and escape. In John 8:56 Jesus said Abraham looked forward to see Jesus' day and was glad. When they woke up, they knew they were naked and felt ashamed. Revelation 5:9 says that people from every tribe and nation will be in heaven. See Eternity in Their Hearts (p.41-44) for more info. For example, many Hindus desire to rejoin an eternal life, die for the last time, lose their individuality, and be absorbed in a cosmic consciousness. This is true even if, like Abraham, Job, and many Old Testament believers, they first hear of the Gospel after they die. (Titus 2:13-14; 1 John 2:2; 3:8; Hebrews 2:9; 1 Timothy 2:4-6; 4:10; Acts 4:12; John 1:29; 3:17; 8:24; 10:7-8,14-16; 14:6; 6:45; Galatians 1:6-9). What about those since Christ who died before hearing the Gospel? 2. ), and destroyed the rest in a flood. Those saved during the tribulation, then, are those who had never heard the gospel before the rapture. A: This seems like one of the most frequently asked questions. 2 Therefore, atheists are still without excuse 8 in rejecting God. d) No scripture says anyone would be more likely to accept the gospel they first heard after they die than if they heard it while they were alive on earth. c) When is an earlier time? What about people who died before Christ was born, and babies? A: Let's explore five points that relate to the Gospel message. Beyond this, Christians hold to one or more of the following views. Firstly you can't take the bible literally at all, because in biblical times hardly anyone knew how to write down anything, so people would pass the bible stories on orally, plus the fact that the parables of the Bible were written over a perion of hundreds of years, not all written in a couple years. Dennis Bratcher. This doesn’t mean that they don’t know God. God's Word For You acknowledges that God exists, that He loves us with an incredible love, and that He has spoken and continues to speak to us in the Bible, his written Word. Another view is that those who hear the gospel and reject it before the rapture cannot be saved. c) Sacrifices a person sincerely might make to idols, are sacrifices to demons, not God. - And the gospel must first be preached unto all the nations.St. Hippolytus (222-235/6 A.D.) "He [Jesus] who is become the preacher of the Gospel to the dead, the redeemer of souls, and the resurrection of the buried;" Fragment from Commentary on Psalm 19 or 20 p.170. Lewis. Evangelism & the Sovereignty of God. However, if no early Greek-speaking Christian was known to understand the Greek this way, then that modern Greek interpretation is highly suspect. Look at what Paul says in Romans 10:13–17. Regal Books 1981. He created two persons, a man named Thanai and a woman named Eeu, and placed them in a garden with seven kinds of fruit trees. Never get over that! Today, when a person hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ, they will respond positively to it if they are humbling themselves before God. For example, did Judas die lost? There is … Q: How does the death of people who never heard of Jesus on earth relate to the Gospel? A: No. The gospel is the good news that God saves sinners. It would be very difficult to imagine a genuine Christian saying Jesus' great agony and suffering were not necessary to anyone to be saved. God Does Not Send People to Hell Because They Haven’t Heard the Gospel. That is, they are guilty and deserve to be punished. Buddhists want to go to Nirvana, where among other thing, there is no love or joy. 5-point Calvinists today believe there is no opportunity for many people. Consider someone who lived surrounded by a pagan, idolatrous culture, but obeyed the one command God gave him, and whose name was Abram. However Mt 18:8; 25:41,46 and 2 Th 1:9 show that this speculation of C.S. There is no second chance after death for people who reject Jesus. Many passages indicate the opposite. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” This site affirms that God has provided in and through Jesus Christ his eternal Son, a way of forgiveness in which we can live in his presence guilt free, acquitted and at peace. Five points show how these examples reconcile with the teacher with the Bible. One person once asked me what happens to the innocent aborigine deep in the jungle who never had a chance to hear the gospel. On the other hand, Clement of Alexandria (193-217 A.D.) in Stromata book 6 chapter 6 taught that 1 Peter 3:19 and 1 Peter 4:6 imply even adults who never heard have an opportunity after they die to make the same choice they would make when alive. I think Cornelius in the bible is a good Example: On the other hand, if any of them end up in heaven, then it would be … Revelation 5:9 indicates that people 'from every tribe and language and people and nation' will be saved. The First Possibility The first possibility is that those who never get to hear the gospel will be okay. They are: Don’t worry, they will be okay. Scripture also implies that babies and little children can go to Heaven too (2 Samuel 12:23; Luke 18:16). Will Everyone Hear The Gospel. Today, about 2 billion people, and perhaps the majority of non-Christians, live in countries and cultures that have killed countless Christian witnesses. God holds everyone responsible for the choices they are able to make and the truth they are given. Sgaw Karen people of Burma: the almighty, all-knowing God named Y�wa created everything. 5g. That way is Jesus Himself. the Hebrews only. If you are going to the same place as all the other religions lead, or you can go to a different place, where Jesus leads. Those who have heard the gospel of Jesus Christ and have refused to believe have rejected Him, and, as such, will fall under the condemnation of God, because they have rejected His provision for our disobedience. Q: Can anyone go to Heaven if they did not hear the Gospel while they were alive? One kind they could not eat, though. He told them not to worry about such things but to go into the world and preach the Gospel (Acts 1:6-8). On one hand, Augustine and Ambrose said only baptized infants would go to Heaven. (2 Peter 2:20-22; John 15:22-24) Others have not met him before, but they heard that if in the future they had a fire, a fireman would help, and they at that time choose to follow him too. This is affirmed by Jesus in Matthew 24:14 which states that 'this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.'. If you want to go to God�s house, you cannot just go any way, you have to go God�s way. 1. Some hear before they die, and some after. If they die without Christ, they have no other recourse but to pay this penalty in hell forever. Post-mortem until �: How old does a little person have to be before the previous no longer applies? There is only one way (through Jesus), but God has had more than one means. The evil Lita tempted them to make rice beer and pour part of it on the ground as an offering to Satan. However, all who have the knowledge are responsible for what they know. Irenaeus of Lyons (182-188 A.D.) "And on this account all things have been [by general consent] placed under the sway of Him who is styled the Most High, and the Almighty. There is a narrow bridge connecting the island to the mainland. People do not go to heaven when they die, they rest in their graves until the resurrections when Jesus comes back to get those who have died in Him. 5a. 5f. Of course there are people who have never heard the Gospel. Those who far from Heaven and Hell, if they reject what they know have a lesser punishment, and those who believe the little truth they have been given have fewer opportunities for rewards. So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ" (Romans 10:13-14, 17, emphasis added). If you want to escape the hurricane though, you have to cross the bridge to the mainland. d) However, God desires that none perish (2 Peter 3:9; Ezekiel 18:23,32). Mu-kaw-lee persuaded them to eat the fruit of the tree of trial. Erickson, Millard J. Also, First Apology of Justin Martyr (c.150 A.D.) ch.63 p.184 mentions that those who died are "yet in existence and men belonging to Christ Himself." If people who never hear the gospel are saved, it is logical that we should make sure no one ever hears the gospel. There are two theoretical possibilities, neither of which is affirmed by Scripture. . (John 3:3-8; Romans 8:29-30) Do not [the Scriptures] show that. 4. For those who die unreached, that is God�s department, not ours. Saved from godswordforyou.com. God actively seeks: God directs missionaries to all who by God's grace seek Him. d) However, all ignorance is not necessarily innocent ignorance. And it has been shown also, in the second book of the Stromata, that the apostles, following the Lord, preached the Gospel to those in Hades. This is a very brief answer to the question: 'Will everyone hear the gospel before they die?' Under the Mosaic Law people put their life in God, hoped for the Messiah, and lived their faith through observing the law. Are there other ways to God as some say, contrary to what Jesus taught? This is a very brief answer to the question: 'Will everyone hear the gospel before they die?'. Also First Apology of Justin Martyr ch.46 p.178 If you are concerned about those who have not heard today, then accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, become a foreign missionary, and go preach to them. Jesus said, "no one comes to the Father, but through Me." He does not hold people responsible for the truth they do not have, as Romans 4:15; 5:13 says (Sin is not counted where there is no law). Because Jesus loves us so much, upon the cross He gave His life as an atoning sacrifice for the whole world (1 John 2:2). We talk a lot about unreached people. Over and above all, this site affirms that God, in a manner totally contrary to how we would think and act, has provided in and through Jesus Christ his eternal Son, a way of forgiveness in which we can live in his presence guilt free, acquitted and at peace. C.S. An Emperor of the Incas. .   1. He Sends People to Hell Because of Their Sin. If the Jew who knows the Old Testament (which all of it pointed to Christ) and still denies Christ, they will die in their sins. (see 24:3-13) The preaching of the Gospel is the most positive event Jesus talks about. Five points to support this answer. Read Romans 1:18-20 and Psalm 19:1-4. Everyone does not all worship the same God, because God does not have multiple personality disorder! Luke 16:26 also shows there is an impassable chasm. This Emperor died before the Spanish came. Irenaeus of Lyons (182-188 A.D.) "It was for this reason, too, that the Lord descended into the regions beneath the earth, preaching His advent there also and [declaring] the remission of sins received by those who believe in Him. On the judgment day, what will God’s response be to those who never had chance to hear the gospel? Even infants who died before they sinned still need sanctification before they could go to Heaven. Acts 17:30 says that God overlooks times of ignorance. (Romans 10:14-15) They ate and became subject to sickness, aging, and death. Everyone will hear the gospel of Christ, even if it is after they die, for every knee will bow to Jesus. The Bible says, "For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). Will everyone hear? This is a very brief answer to the question: 'Will everyone hear the gospel before they die?' b) Even Old Testament sacrifices only covered over sins until Jesus came. 17:12; Acts 1:25). This presumably includes tribes whose members all died off before any of them heard of Christ. b) Nothing in scripture proves that aborting or otherwise killing a baby automatically sends the baby to Hell, or to Heaven. Therefore, they are “without excuse” (Romans 1:20). In a world estranged from God, a world where sin is prevalent, the preaching of the Gospel is always relevant. While God overlooked times of people's ignorance (Acts 17:30), all are commanded to repent and obey the gospel of Jesus. People who think other religions lead to the same place forget that everyone does not even want to go to the same place. Tom: We are continuing with the gospel of John and we are looking at salvation verses from this important book.As Dave mentioned earlier, if you’ve not read the Bible before, this would be a place to start.Anyway, we are on John 5 and we are going to start at verse 25, but we are going to read more than that verse, and Dave, I really want to back it up to 24.So we will go 24 through probably— A: God is just to do so based on five points. A Muslim who wants to come to Christ has to realize that when Mohammed fought against Christianity, he was against the Triune God of Christianity. (Romans 11:20; Matthew 13:14-15; 23:29) In fact, for those who reject the way of truth, the less they know the better off they are. They also are the closest to Hell, and receive the greater punishment, if they reject Christ. So those with the understanding of little children have hope of Heaven through Christ, while adults who reject the truth they have do not. Against this, 2 Peter 3:9 and Ezekiel 18:23,32 say that God desires that none perish. Christians have given different views. Clement of Alexandria: (193-202 A.D.) answers about those who never heard the Gospel. One thing we can say for sure though, it is God who draws the line. Read the fascinating book Eternity in Their Hearts by Don Richardson for more info. But the good news for them is that God still keeps sending some missionaries, because He loves those lost people, even enough to sacrifice the lives of some of His missionaries. Romans 1:18-20 shows that people can suppress the knowledge that they have. Man's sin: Even as to what they know, everyone falls short of the perfect standard for God's Heaven. So we have an urgency to obey God in sharing the Gospel, not to empower God, or make Him just, but to express His love by asking all to accept the gospel, confident that God works out everything according to His plan. However, the Bible teaches that many who lived in earlier times still went to Heaven through Christ, even though they never heard of Him. Some believe that more-or-less everyone, except the very worst sinners, will end up in heaven. Second Peter 3:9 reads, “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Tertullian (198-220 A.D.) mentions that Christ went to Hades "that He might there make the patriarchs and prophets partakers of Himself." When you move toward the light, doesn't the light get brighter? (Revelation 5:9; Acts 10:34-35). For people like Abraham and Noah, God could move the heavens and the earth to make a means for them to find the One Way. Even those without the Law are still under this curse. This does not mean that every single individual person who ever lives will have had the opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. That means there is no such thing as a truly “innocent” person or a truly “innocent” heathen. Some people might be way to the left or right of the two points, again some closer to Heaven and some to Hell. What happens when people die, if they’ve never heard about Jesus? If someone approves of killing of Christians, how many more missionaries do you think God is obligated to send them? But there is a revelation of God that is universal - a revelation that every human being is confronted with every day of their lives, and that challenges everyone to believe in God, and leaves everyone without any excuse for unbelief - God's self-revelation in creation, in the things that he has made.

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