What happens to those who have never heard of Jesus?

[Ave Maria]

Hi everyone. According to John 14:6, Jesus is the only way to Heaven. I believe this with all my heart. Here is the verse by the way:

[bible]John 14:6[/bible]

We also find that whoever believes will be saved but whoever does not believe will be condemned or is condemned already according to the following verses:

[bible]Mark 16:16[/bible]

[bible]John 3:18[/bible]

Ok, so we know two things. The only way to Heaven is through Jesus. You can only go to Heaven if you believe in Jesus. Now, what about those who have never even heard of Jesus or the Gospel. What will happen to them? Will they be sent to Hell or will God be merciful upon them? Will God somehow give everyone the required saving knowledge of Jesus before they die? This is something that has confused me for some time. Thanks in advance!

 

[NewToLife]

In short we are not truly able to answer the question you pose. It is in God's hands, if he chooses to have mercy on them then he will have mercy on them.

 

[Rich48]

In short we are not truly able to answer the question you pose. It is in God's hands, if he chooses to have mercy on them then he will have mercy on them.

Very true. We do not know. Some will go here to try answer the question:

Rom 2:14 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 2:15 Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another

I know that this does not answer your question, but as New TpLife said, it is in God's hands.

Rich

 

[muffler dragon]

Hi everyone. According to John 14:6, Jesus is the only way to Heaven. I believe this with all my heart. Here is the verse by the way:

[bible]John 14:6[/bible]

We also find that whoever believes will be saved but whoever does not believe will be condemned or is condemned already according to the following verses:

[bible]Mark 16:16[/bible]

[bible]John 3:18[/bible]

Ok, so we know two things. The only way to Heaven is through Jesus. You can only go to Heaven if you believe in Jesus. Now, what about those who have never even heard of Jesus or the Gospel. What will happen to them? Will they be sent to Hell or will God be merciful upon them? Will God somehow give everyone the required saving knowledge of Jesus before they die? This is something that has confused me for some time. Thanks in advance!

If you would like to see what Y'shua meant, in a Hebraic sense, when he made the way/truth/life statement in John 14:6, then please feel free to check this out.

http://www.christianforums.com/t789140

It might give a little clarification.

To answer your OP, I think Rich alluded to it very well. That those who do not know of G-d will be judged according to their conscience.

Shalom,

m.d.

 

[Colossians]

those who do not know of G-d will be judged according to their conscience.
In your using "G-d", are you implying that we are insensitive to God if we leave in the "o"? Or that perhaps we are not as respectful to Him as you are who use a hyphen?
Or is it just that you are sensitive to God, and we are just as sensitive only we don't eat alphabet soup?

 

[muffler dragon]

those who do not know of G-d will be judged according to their conscience.
In your using "G-d", are you implying that we are insensitive to God if we leave in the "o"? Or that perhaps we are not as respectful to Him as you are who use a hyphen?
Or is it just that you are sensitive to God, and we are just as sensitive only we don't eat alphabet soup?

Don't read into my writing this type of sentiment.

http://www.jewfaq.org/name.htm

It's not a matter of contention, pride, haughtiness or any other negatively charged emotion or consideration that can come to mind. Read the link, and you'll understand.

Other than that, do you have any comment on the OP?

Questions of this sort (that you are asserting above) are something that you can address with a person in a PM, because to find out that you are wrong in public is not all that flattering.

Shalom,

m.d.

 

[Colossians]

One does not live in a bubble. If you type to others, you may not claim sanctuary from implying sentiment.

Your sentiment is noted, regardless of your lack of desire to declare it.
Signing off with "shalom", only fortifies the point. We are English speakers, and not Judaisers. Perhaps you would feel more at home on the MJ section of this site which allows no criticism of its doctrines, and no participation by non MJs.

 

[Colossians]

Holly,

Now, what about those who have never even heard of Jesus or the Gospel. What will happen to them?
The problem here lies in the understanding of what it means to "hear", of what "Jesus" means, and what the Gospel means.

King David had technically never heard of Jesus, yet he was saved.
The gospel is that which promises both abundant and eternal life in exchange for the autonomy over one's life. That is, one has, by definition, heard of Jesus when one's life is submitted to the God and Father of Jesus Christ, for Christ is the image of God, and an image cannot differ in representation from the substance.

John Baptist also had 'heard' of Jesus in the womb: if he hadn't, he wouldn't have jumped for joy at the approach of Mary.
Cornelius (Acts 10 or thereabouts) had heard of Jesus: he was declared as acceptable to God by Peter as precursor to his sermon.
Both would have been ushered into heaven had they died at those moments.

 

[brotherjim]

What happens to those who never heard of Jesus?

Don't worry about it. That's God's problem, and He is sufficiently able to handle it.

OUR responsibility, on the other hand, is ours.

"Sufficient onto the day is the evil [still in us] thereof."

Our part, after being born-again, is "simply" to seek koinania fellowship with God (AKA walking in the Spirit), asking Him to specifically reveal to us what evils/idols/impurities still remain in the heart unknown to us, which are really enemies to the Cross of Christ Jesus, and whose continued existence prevents us from receiving the further Graces needed whereby God perfects us in His Love (whereby we then, and only then, qualify to one day inherit eternal Life--Luke 10:25-28, 1 Jn. 2:3-5, 1 Jn. 4:16-18, Rev. 22:14, John 14:21-23, Luke 13:6-9, etc).

And then we commit to Him in the Law of the Mind (Rom. 7:21, 25) to be delivered over and over again from each remaining impurity one by one, and then receive in their stead each Virtue of Christ in all its fullness and Power until all Graces are received.

Contary to popular, contemporary, "Christian" opinion, the above is not an option but the only Way to eternal Life in Christ Jesus. Read the Word for your own self, asking God's Spirit to unveil Its Truths, as well as deliver you from the beguiling traditions, deceptions and self-justifying pure fantasies of men, in Jesus' Name.

"And hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His Commandments.

"He that says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His Commandments, is a liar, and the Truth is not in him.

"But whoever keeps His Word, in him verily is the Love of God perfected: hereby we know that we are in Him."

And of course it must ALL be by God's Spirit, by Grace, by Faith in Jesus' Name.

Give up, let Him, bro. jim

 

[Ave Maria]

Hey everyone! Thanks for the explanations! I guess it just kind of bothers me that God doesn't give us a clear answer as to what happens to those who have never heard of Jesus in the Bible. It just bothers me.

 

[muffler dragon]

Hey everyone! Thanks for the explanations! I guess it just kind of bothers me that God doesn't give us a clear answer as to what happens to those who have never heard of Jesus in the Bible. It just bothers me.

I think that is completely understandable Holly.

I'm sure most everyone on here has thought about this question.

One thing that I have kept in mind from my learning over the last six months or so: the Jews were afforded salvation without the sacrifice of Y'shua. You can see it all throughout the Tanakh as it discusses present-day salvation for believers. Therefore, I have more or less dropped off my concern for others. Not because of a lack of love, but because of the simple fact that G-d is much higher than little ol' me.

Shalom,

m.d.

 

[MizDoulos]

Reminder: A complaint has been received in regard to responding rudely. Please remember to respect each other's opinion and to treat one another kindly. When personal conflicts arise, use your private message option to resolve matters rather than taking it to the public forum.

Thank you.

 

[brotherjim]

. . . I guess it just kind of bothers me that God doesn't give us a clear answer as to . . . It just bothers me.

Greeting, Holly.

Please do not take this personally, as some judgment of you be me or anything--after all, I know nothing about you. What I will offer you in way of explanation is a generic statement that applies to virtually all Christians.

When we come to Christ and receive the New Birth, we have a tendency to then self-validate our entire life, thinking that because God gave us the born-again experience and forgave our sins, that He then automatically approves of our entire life. We don't realize the God Loves us DESPITE who we still are--He doesn't Love us because of who we are. For there is still much work to be done in us.

Remaining in the heart of the Christian, mostly unknown to us, are varied lusts still needing to be ripped out. One of these lusts is the lust of the mind: WE WANT TO KNOW!!!! And we usually want to know NOW! And while the human, intellectual thought process tells us that there is no harm, and even nothing but good, in us knowing as much as is possible to know, God's Wisdom speaks otherwise. God said we would only "know in part," so since He is perfect and true, and we are imperfect and liars, even liars to our own selves, we can be certain that God knows what He is doing by revealing only what needs to be revealed.

(I'm wondering if what happened with Adam and Eve was not also--in part and beyond the main, traditional teaching--an acting out of this lust of the mind??)

But it requires something of a miracle for the Christian to be brought to a place where they are willing to accept as Truth the possibility that their quest for knowledge could actually be little or nothing more than a sinful lust: like the existance of ANY sin in us, it requires God to specifically, supernaturally reveal it to us, for we will always self-justify our sins otherwise.

For one neg. thing: "knowledge puffeth up [someone with pride and its resultant arrogance]."

Much can be learned from the basic Christian principle given hint to in John 2:23-25.

But the Word also warns that we "are destroyed for a lack of [revealed - by impl.] knowledge," so the object is for us to allow God to bring us closer to Him so that we can obtain the Wisdom needing to be combined with the knowledge, whereby we can then eternally profit from it rather than be harmed.

bj

 

[Archangel]

Hey there!

Yes it is true that Jesus said No man can come to the Father but through him. And yes there seems to be a problem, what about people who live like Tarzan? or who are cut of from the gospel, well there are a number of reassurances to us.

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made so that men are without excuse. [Romans 1:20]

If a person has never heard of Jesus, they can still know God, and not face eternal wrath. God can be seen in nature and creation and people can see this when they look at nature. For example a group of natives could tremble when there is thunder and worship 'a great spirit' because they know that there is a creator, someone bigger and higher than them.

When Paul went to Athens, he noticed an alter amoung all the alters of the day saying "To the unknown god" [Acts 17:23] These people felt they had to statisfy every god, and although they had many pagan gods, they were still concerned incase they had left a god out. The point is, they as humans still lacked the fullfillment of worship to God in their lives.

Also, this question could go along with the still born babies one. Will a baby who is born dead be denied access to the Father? Of course not! The child is below the age of understanding, the could not possibly understand the gospel! The same is true for those who have never heard, they are without understanding because they lack the truth.


I suggest you read Romans 1 with this question in mind, and you may realise that those who have never heard of God and are living righteously will still enjoy eternal life.


The next question is, what can be done about these people?

Well, let me tell you a true story. A lady from a partner church visited our church. She is involved with outreach to Muslims. She told us that there are areas that christian missionaries cannot get to to tell Muslims about Jesus. But even though no christians or bibles could get to them, no message of Christ, these people still became Christians. How? What?
Well, they muslims that had converted reported conviction through dreams of a man dying on a cross for their evil, they followed him.
The news is that Jesus is going to those people we can't get to! Woaw!

But what can we do? Well, if we can get to these people then lets go! I suggest Holly, that if you feel you have compassion for these people, maybe God is pointing you towards something in your future?

Pray that Jesus can use people to witness to those who have never heard his name, and be prepared, the answer to that prayer might be you!

 

[Everglaze]

Hi everyone. According to John 14:6, Jesus is the only way to Heaven. I believe this with all my heart. Here is the verse by the way:

John 14:6Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

We also find that whoever believes will be saved but whoever does not believe will be condemned or is condemned already according to the following verses:

Mark 16:16He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.

John 3:18He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Ok, so we know two things. The only way to Heaven is through Jesus. You can only go to Heaven if you believe in Jesus. Now, what about those who have never even heard of Jesus or the Gospel. What will happen to them? Will they be sent to Hell or will God be merciful upon them? Will God somehow give everyone the required saving knowledge of Jesus before they die? This is something that has confused me for some time. Thanks in advance!

Yep, those verses mean JUST that, there are no buts or other excuses because if God was merciful towards them then that would mean there would be no punishment for their sins. God doesn't just let anyone into the Kingdom of Heaven, we're all BORN sinners and it is justification through Faith that we are saved. Jesus said that if you are not born-again, you will not enter the kingdom of Heaven. No one gets a cheap pass around this to enter the kingdom of Heaven when they have not repented of their sins and put trust in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. As tough as that may sound, it's biblical over man-made theories or excuses. He is a Just and Holy God, not a corrupt God. You can't take God's grace for granted and think, "Oh, just because this person didn't hear the Gospel, God will have mercy on him and he will enter Heaven." Nor can you jump to that conclusion because then, Jesus would be lying about what he said.

 

[MizDoulos]

Due to disharmony resulting from complaints and no cooperation to try and resolve matters, this thread has been closed.

A new thread may be started on a similar topic if desired.