Did the history of God's interaction with man start with Christ or perhaps earlier, like, say, when the first humans were created by God? Adam and Eve certainly knew God (Genesis 1-3).
Homo sapiens have been on the planet somewhere in the range of 200,000 years, give or take a few thousand.
Oh. Some say a million, I've also heard 46,000. Regardless, all such statements are absurd, with no substantiation whatsoever, and cannot be taken seriously.
Scripture gives us a warrant for at least 6,000 years of human history, starting with Adam and Eve.
In other words, the overwhelming number of humans who ever lived never heard of Christianity.
But everyone has heard of God. Everyone has seen the created order and knows there must be a God. Faith in God's Promised Redeemer prior to the cross, and faith in God's Provided Redeemer after the cross, but always, faith in God's Word, His promises. Christianity as an organized religion goes back to Christ, but Christianity encompasses all of human history.
Would a loving God -- who created all things and knows the facts above because it's how He set up the world -- really condem the vast majority of all humans ever born to hell because they never knew of Jesus?
No one will be sent to hell for failing to believe in a person whom they never heard of. God is just and will do right by every human being He has created. People condemn themselves by refusing to acknowledge and respond to the light they have been given. God rightly holds each person accountable for the truth they have received, starting with the most basic revelation (the created order), the opportunities given that person, and what that person did with those opportunities.
First, briefly addressing the topic, my thoughts go out to the Reeves' young son. I cannot imagine what he's going through at such a young age, and hope he's in good hands. That is, good EARTHLY hands.
Second, I have many reasons for rejecting the Christian theology, and statements such as yours above (and elsewhere in this thread) only confirm that rejection. For I cannot accept any of today's unsupported-by-evidence preaching as a "light" that I have been "given." My life has been interrupted on occasion by Christians "witnessing" something they admit happened 1900+ years before they were born. Like you, they speak with courtesy, passion, conviction, and familiarity with whatever they believe in. What's lacking, however, is any trace of EXPLANATION. Hint: "Just look at the world! It HAD to have been designed by a God, it JUST HAD to," and "Oh, you just gotta have faith, just make that leap and you'll be saved" are not much in the way of explanation. I DO respect your beliefs and mean no rudeness at all, but my only response to such a "light" would be a polite request to quit shining it in my face. And most definitely in the faces of those who recently lost loved ones.