Josephus,
You wrote:
Last I heard, there weren't any "Yellow Pages" in Afgahnistan. What if I want to move to Afgahnistan? Heck, what if I was in Afghanistan already? Does God care that all people there have access to the Inglesia Ni Christo? Or just God care that they simply recieve Him as their Lord and Savior?
Only the Bible can give you answers to your questions my friend. The Bible says Christ purchased the church with his own blood (Acts 20:2
. The Bible says Christ gave his life for the church (Eph. 5:25). The Bible says Christ is the
savior of the church (Eph. 5:23). Jesus says he who enters the fold by him
will be saved. The Iglesia Ni Cristo is that church my friend. There are Iglesia Ni Cristo members all over the world trying their best to share what I'm sharing with you in this board. You reject what I'm saying and go to a place where you cannot meet any Iglesia Ni Cristo member, you won't have a second chance. If Jesus comes tonight, all I can say is tough luck, you blew it!
However, if you could show me where in the Bible it says that one can be saved by
simply recieving Jesus as our Lord and Savior, then I would simply go back to my old Baptist friends and have a party.
You wrote:
Heck, what if I lived on the space station, or was assigned to live on Mars for the duration of my life? Do I just go ahead and invent an Inglesia Ni Christo while I'm there - especially if I'm the only member?
You are lucky you are not on Mars and you were given the opportunity to learn about the true church of Christ. You don't have to invent any church because it is already existing. All you have to do is learn everything you want to know about it then make an intelligent decision. You have nothing to lose.
You wrote:
Ridiculousness doesn't seem to suit an infinite God. I prefer to lean on the side that God makes his salvation available to everyone, even when a preacher isn't around. This is promised to everyone on the planet, the American Indians, African tribes, remote jungle villagers, - all people who thoughout time it was not physically possible for them to hear the gospel message - are you saying that God predestined them for hell? Or is the bible correct in saying that "no one is without excuse" for knowing God? Romans 1:20.
The Bible tells us that there are only two classes of people. Those who are INSIDE the church of Christ (they are called IN Christ) and those OUTSIDE the church of Christ (they are called the WORLD). Those who are OUTSIDE, God judges (1 Cor. 5:13).
Those who are INSIDE or IN Christ will meet Jesus in the air and will be with him forever (1 Thes. 4:16-17).
Your belief that God makes His slvation available to everyone even without a preacher is
false. Apostle Paul asks in Rom. 10:14-15, "How then shall they call on him whom they have not
believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not
heard? And how shall they hear without a
preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are
sent?"
But don't worry about the WORLD in remote areas my friend. Jesus promised that "...this gospel of the kingdom will be
preached in all the WORLD as a witness to all the nations, and then the
end will come" (Matt. 24:14). Jesus' promise
does not say that ALL the WORLD will believe the gospel and will be converted before the end comes.
The gospel has been preached to you. You are not expected to believe before the end comes.
Ed