Delve Into Jesus : Questions : About Jesus

Comments

Thanks so much for your questions, Jimmy. Let me start by assuring you that this website is all about the hard-hitting questions. People have every right to ask tough questions. It's not about having a lack of faith, it's about ensuring that our faith is grounded on something solid. So, please ask anything you like.

I'd like to start by pointing you toward articles that address some of your questions. You may find these articles helpful, and if so that's great. If not, I hope you will come back and let us know where we can give you some more answers. All the articles can be found from the menu above by going to "Discovery" and then "Articles"

You asked about people who never hear the Gospel - there is an article called, " Do People Who Don't Believe in Jesus Go To Hell?". I think this is the best place to start looking for answers. You've also expressed some concern about the fairness of hell, and you might find some answers in the article, "How Can a Loving God Send People to Hell?" You've provided your email address to me, so I will send you links to those two articles.

I don't want to pretend that these articles are going to magically make all your doubts disappear - you've asked some very deep and very excellent questions - but I do think it's the right place to start. I hope these articles are helpful, but if not, please don't hesitate to come back and post a comment here to let us know. These are important issues, Jimmy, so please know that our staff and members will continue to try and answer all your questions for as long as you wish. These articles are just the place to start.

arsindelve- 9/14/2007 9:32:11 AM

The bulk of your question concerns the fact that people are most likely to adopt whatever religion they are raised in, or whatever religion to which they are first exposed. This seems really unfair in the light of the idea that only Christians are going to Heaven. Does this not put the Muslim or Hindu at a severe disadvantage, having not been raised in or exposed to the Christian faith? These are excellent points, and we do not have an article on the website to explain it. I will take some time and ponder these issues and write an article to try and tackle these questions because I think it's very important.

arsindelve- 9/14/2007 9:39:47 AM

Jimmy,

I think that you have to decide whether you think God is fair or not fair before you go any further. If you think God is unfair, then God is not a great God at all. If He is fair, then He took into consideration when making man that there would be the problems with geographical regions, etc. and people being born into families who were unbelieving.

A few things that I strongly believe: One, I do think that everyone is chosen to go to heaven but not everyone chooses God and therefore those people who choose to reject God are free to do so. I do think that in circumstances where someone is not being preached to directly or does not have direct access to a church, etc. that God displays His love and His presence through creation--the trees, the hills, the mountains--everything speaks of God's hand. I also think that since we were created in God's image- that He has also written on our hearts--our being has been made to seek God, therefore, even if we are from another culture or have been brought up in an atheist home--our whole being will continue to search for that missing void.

I agree- some people seem to have a better shot at hearing God's word than others--that is why missions work is so important. However, I know of many people who grew up in Christian homes and later went on to reject everything they heard while growing up. Just being brought up in an environment that promotes it does not make it easier--in fact, a lot of these people claim that it was never real to them and that they were "spoon fed" the doctrine and they want nothing to do with it. On the flip side, I do know people who were brought up in homes that worshiped the devil, were full of evil practices and they did come to God with such a passion and desire to know more that it would put the guy who grew up in a Christian home to shame.

Another thing to remember- the bible talks about generational sin. In other words, unfortunately, the family we grow up in, can have sin from generations long ago that has been passed down from generation to generation. God allows families to choose their direction they want to go in since He must allow us to have free will.

The last thing too is that I really believe that God works even harder to speak to those who are lost. That person is the lost sheep, wandering off on his/her own. God does everything possible to draw near to this person. Everything but make the decision for them. Many people have no idea how many angels they have run into during the normal course of their day or who God has placed into our lives to draw us closer to Him. In the worst of times, God can actually be the closest.

The bible gives us all sorts of other examples too of individuals who have a very difficult time finding God, including those who are wealthy or powerful. I think we often forget about those people because we can rationalize that wealthy or powerful people can buy whatever they want or find out whatever information they want. However, due to their wealth and power, they often have a very difficult time admitting that they really do want or need God in their life. I think it is equally important that we spread the gospel to those who are wealthy and powerful.

In the end, while we can not totally ever completely understand God, if we choose to believe in Him and the message, then we must also believe that He is wise enough to have considered all the things that boggle our human mind. We also must believe that He loves us so much that he would not want "even one" to perish (as the bible says). Therefore, God will call everyone and seek everyone out. Everyone, though, has a stumbling block in their life--the devil makes sure that we all do--it is just different depending on who you are, where you are and where you are in your point of your life.

As far as Adam and Eve, I think the idea is that any human in that situation would have sinned sooner or later. It is in our nature to sin because there is evil on the earth. We can't "blame" our situation on them--because they only symbolize what each of us have done in our own life. Temptation and evil are part of a natural world but they are not part of heaven. When God created the earth, He allowed natural, earthly laws to take effect. The only other choice He had was to create the perfect world with perfect humans who worshiped him but then He would have created puppets. We can't show God true love if we are "forced" to show Him this love. That is submission because of fear but not because of love. To truly show God that we love Him is for us to choose God over all the other choices we can make--tempting choices, choices that "seem" alluring. That holds so much more weight than us just blindly saying "ok" like a robot.

I think the things you are questioning and thinking about are those things that every Christian has asked themselves--that every human has even asked themselves. That's because our human brain can't understand God's vast wisdom or all of His ways. Our version of "fair" is what our human brain can conceive of as fair...we can not possibly know how God has worked in someone's life or spoken to their heart. We can, though, spread God's word as best as we can, planting seeds that can grow in someone's heart. While we are not responsible for anyone's salvation, we are responsible for our actions and accountable for how we spend our time on the earth.

I don't know if any of what I said addresses your questions or some of your questions but I hope that helps.

Sam- 9/14/2007 5:52:45 PM

Just to let you know - I have not forgotten about your question - I will be working on the article tomorrow night which I hope will address most of your issues. I'll post here again when it's all done.

arsindelve- 9/19/2007 7:32:14 PM

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