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Can Somebody Not Saved Make It To Heaven?
Posted by JasonP on 4/20/2008 9:15:38 AM
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I am new to this site. and maybe I can finally get a question answered that I have had for a while. In Romans 2 it says "...it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified" then it says "For when the gentiles who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires..."
Now for my question. Does this mean that even those who "do not have the law", (which I intepret to mean the Word of God, the Bible), can make it to heaven based on their obedience to an inward predisposed knowledge of the law???
I guess this is a long way of asking, "Can somebody in the jungle who has never heard of God make it to heaven?"
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I don't want to sugarcoat the truth or water it down in any way - faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to be saved. It's true -- and this is what Paul is saying in Romans -- that everyone knows the law, but despite that, none can be saved by it. We all fall short. (Romans 3:23). Sometimes there is confusion about works, since the letter of James talks quite a bit about the importance of works. But it's clear from the whole of Paul's writing that we are saved by grace and not works (i.e. obedience to the law). James is simply saying that our obedience to Jesus is the way we know our faith is real (James 2:14), but it is not that obedience that saved us in the first place - it is grace by faith.
However, I'm getting off topic.
I think that someone can know Jesus and be saved without knowing the exact details - that is to say, without knowing the Gospel as we understand it.
Imagine a native in the South American jungle who does his best to understand and obey the law as God put it in his heart - he will fail and not be able to do it. His guilt (through the Holy Spirit) will convict him. Yet, if this man earnestly seeks to please God, he will see that he cannot obey the law and will be thereby convicted, so he and will pray to God to save him. I believe that Jesus will hear this sincere cry and this man will be saved. What saves us is this - a true desire to please God, an understanding that we are a sinner and cannot saves ourselves and then a sincere cry out to God to save us. This is available to anyone who seeks and loves God, even if we do not initially understand that it is the son who saved. If we earnestly seek the Father, he will reveal His plan of salvation through the Son.
This takes nothing away from the importance of preaching the Gospel - if we do not preach it, then many, many people will not understand the call of God, or will not heed it. We cannot take a chance that people might find salvation on their own - we must do the work Christ asked us to do.
You may also find this article helpful, it goes into a little more detail:
Do People Who Don't Believe in Jesus Go To Hell?
Accepted Answer
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arsindelve-
4/20/2008 6:39:43 PM
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Thank you. I am starting to understand that God will judge us based on our intentions rather than specific actions. If our actions are coming from a heart that is trying to follow God, or in the absence of knowledge of Jesus, a wanting to follow what we feel is good and right in our heart, then God will judge us on that. Anyway thanks for your answer, it was very helpful. I will check out that article.
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JasonP-
4/20/2008 11:24:23 PM
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