[Theresa]

So you are saying that "all of humanity was excluded from salvation before Christ came, and that much of humanity (which has not had the opportunity to hear the Christian message until recently) was doomed to be eternally separated from God. This would imply a very cruel and elitist God. Our belief as Christians and Catholics is that God desires the salvation of all people … even those who are not Christian. How he achieves that, however, is a mystery. But we know that our God is a loving God who would not allow people to suffer on account of an ignorance that they were not responsible for."

An ignorance they were NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR!!!!!!! Try to understand this. It is not that hard.

[texson66]

I agree mostly with what you say. He is a soverign God, and how He deals with those cases you mention is not revealed in scripture. Before Christ, Abraham was justified by faith alone. Now that Jesus has paid for all of our sins, Jesus is still a decision that must be made once a person has heard the Good News. We, who have heard the Good News and accepted Christ, have a new responsibility: to spread the Good News to the corners of the earth. Notice I said spread the Good News. Individuals MUST still decide if they would accept God's gift of salvation through His Son, Jesus.

[rdb3]

An ignorance they were NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR!!!!!!!

Only one exclamation point is necessary.

At any rate, sure people are responsible for this ignorance. You bet they are. Why? Adam.