Suppose I was on a deserted island...

[DarkProphet]

with no way to communicate to the rest of world and I had never heard of the Bible. Would it be possible for me to accept Jesus under those conditions? If so, how? If not, how does God view such people?

 

[Lehr]

Well it depends, have you been exposed to the teachings of jesus christ? If not then you would probly be curious but there would be no way for you to learn him further so you might keep the name but that about it.. and what do you mean how would god view such people???? i really want to answer you but you gotta be more detailed.

 

[DarkProphet]

This is a hypothetical so suppose I've been on the island my whole life and have never heard anything relating to Christianity, including the name Jesus Christ. What am asking is basically if I'm never taught anything about Christianity would it be possible for me to accept Jesus? If it is not possible then how does God view people who do not accept him, not because they rejected God, but because they simply were never taught to?

 

[Lehr]

God still loves them, it says in the bible that those who reject god would go to hell and those who accepted him would be saved.. Well think about this, you have to have been exposed to christianity to fall into one of those categories. So if you die and you where never exposed to christianity then you will still go to heaven. hope that helped and if it didn't please tell me what i missed and hopefully i can better answer your question..

god bless you!

 

[DarkProphet]

I suppose the only problem with that is that if that is true then it would be better, in terms of number of people saved, that there be no religion because by exposing someone to that choice you give them the choice to refuse.

 

[Lehr]

Well if you reject god then you chose to go to hell, god doesn't condem you to hell. If you reject god then you are outside of his grace and mercy.. But why not know god, why not know who created you and you died to save you? jesus brings me peace and a better life, if i didn't have a religion then i would be lost and basically i would have killed myself along time ago... God is the one who convinced me not to kill myself...

If there was no religion, you would have a way way higher amount of suicides and an even higher rate of depression.

 

[DarkProphet]

If there was no religion, you would have a way way higher amount of suicides and an even higher rate of depression.

I hear that a lot but I never see any proof of that, other then testimonials. In fact the only statistical analysis I could find on the subject shows no correlation between suicide and religious belief.

The United States exhibits typical rates of youth suicide (WHO), which show little if any correlation with theistic factors in the prosperous democracies.

Journal of Religion and Society

In any case, to summarize your answer to my original question.

Those who do not learn of Christianity will go to heaven automatically as there is no way to give them the choice to accept or refuse God. Is this correct?
​

 

[BigNorsk]

It seems to be indicated by the Bible that basically your hypothetical really doesn't exist. There is also the matter of general revelation which brings people to the knowledge that there is a God though it seems that general revelation can only reveal law and not the saving gospel.

Anyway, that's the problem with hypotheticals they are usually just ways to avoid speaking of the real issues. For instance, what about you, you are not on a deserted island (of course it wouldn't be deserted if there were people living and having children would it), you are not ignorant. Let's try this hypothetical, you are standing in front of the judgement throne and you are asked why you rejected God, you say.....

 

[DarkProphet]

Let's try this hypothetical, you are standing in front of the judgement throne and you are asked why you rejected God, you say.....

I should make one thing clear, I cannot reject God because I cannot make any claim to God's existence or none existence. What I reject is religion, there is a difference. In any case I would say "I rejected Christianity because I saw how Christians are and I said to myself, 'I could do better'".

 

[Digit]

I don't think it can be a hard and fast rule in this regard. People are still exposed to morality, and just because you have never heard of Christ, does not mean you have a get into Heaven free ticket. God did not reveal His plans for these people in the Bible, so I believe they are judged on different grounds.

To answer your question, no, you cannot accept Jesus, if you have never heard of Him. That's like saying, can you know what a lemon tastes like if you have never tasted it before, regardless of the form it comes in.

Digit

 

[DarkProphet]

People are still exposed to morality, and just because you have never heard of Christ, does not mean you have a get into Heaven free ticket.

Does this mean that morality is separate from religion?

 

[Digit]

Does this mean that morality is separate from religion?

Depends what your definition of religion is?

Like I said, God has not revealed His plans for people in this situation. Perhaps through God's Will you are always exposed to Jesus at some stage in your life. I cannot say.

Digit

 

[DarkProphet]

Perhaps through God's Will you are always exposed to Jesus at some stage in your life.

I find this hard to believe, partly because everyone who is a Christian would have had to have been taught how to be a Christian. If you are removed from that then you have no chance to become a Christian.

 

[Digit]

That's assuming you know God's plan. Which you don't know, no one does. I find it hard to believe that more people are not Christians, giving what it has done for me, yet that doesn't change the fact that it is so. Just as you find it hard to believe that God reveals himself to everyone at some stage, also doesn't make it so.

If we had a clearly defined passage where God reveals how this situation is handled, then we could effectively debate it, but only in another forum as there is no debate here. So that's my answer.

Digit