I have a sincere question, if there is a person that lived in India or somewhere and never heard the gospel of Jesus say years ago, what about that person, what kind of God would put that person in hell because that person simply lived in a remote area. thanks for your answer
My own personal belief is that Jesus is the Way, but he has saved even people who don't know about Him. There's a verse - don't know the cite off-hand - where he tells the disciples that he has "other flocks." People who are drawn to the good are by definition drawn to Jesus - the ultimate Good - whether they've actually heard of Him or not. At the same time, Christians have a responsibility to introduce others to Jesus because He wants to enter into relationship with all people.
I can only say what my religion teaches: Those who never had a chance to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ in this life shall be given a chance in the hereafter to acknowledge the Savior and accept His saving sacrifice on their behalf. Those who have the chance in this life to know the Savior, and reject it, will not have that chance. We have an obligation to take the gospel to all the world but the Lord does not punish those who never have the chance to know it in this life.
You could just as easily ask what kind of God could put that person in India. But your question implies that you get to say who is God and how he should act. If you are God, then he is not.
Ravi Zacharias.
The Catholic doctrine of "Baptism of desire" covers this. It holds that if someone wants to lead a good life and would have received Baptism had they known about it, they can be saved.
The saying "Outside the Church there is no salvation" has to be interpreted as the Church interprets it. Father Feeney was excommunicated for teaching that non-Catholics couldn't be saved. What the saying means is that the only route to salvation is that preached by the Church: repentance for sin and reform of your life. The reason for being in the Church is that the Sacraments help you to repent and reform.
Your question is a good one.
We aren't in a position to know the answer, except that God always gets it right. However, we are certainly in a position to GUESS.
C.S. Lewis took a stab at answering this question in several ways and places. One of the most interesting was in the last book of the Chronicles of Narnia. In this book a good person who nevertheless worshiped the wrong god died. He was met by Aslan (the Narnia version of Jesus) and saw the truth. He immediately repented and asked for forgiveness, which he received.
As I heard once, even the people in the deepest, darkest, jungles who have never seen a preacher, know that there is a higher being than them that makes the sun rise and set. That makes the clouds and the rain,... etc.
That is a good question. What does Scripture teach?
Romans 3:10 as it is written:
None is righteous, no, not one;
11 no one understands;
no one seeks for God.
12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;
no one does good,
not even one.
13 Their throat is an open grave;
they use their tongues to deceive.
The venom of asps is under their lips.
14 Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.
19 Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
The question is often asked (I'm not saying you are doing this) as if to put God on trial. How could a just God condemn people to eternal punishment merely for their lack of knowledge of God? The answer is that they are not sent to hell for their ignorance of God, but for their sins. That is, they already have enough knowledge of God to be justly and righteously held accountable by Him for their rebellion against Him. See Romans 1-3.
Cordially,
1257 "...God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.
1260 "Since Christ died for all, and since all men are in fact called to one and the same destiny, which is divine, we must hold that the Holy Spirit offers to all the possibility of being made partakers, in a way known to God, of the Paschal mystery." Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity."
To get a fuller idea, it's best to read this in context:
http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/p2s2c1a1.htm#1259
You ask a reasonable question and there have been some good answers given (and a few not so good). I will tell you this from experience though... most people who ask this question are either:
1. seeking to put God on Trial (as another has already mentioned), or
2. Seeking to find some sort of excuse to get out of following Gods command to spread the Gospel.
You see, I have met people who say "Why should I go tell others about Jesus if God is going to let those who have not heard the gospel get a free ride into heaven?" Many will use this as an excuse to get out of evangelising or get out of funding missionaries.
I don't always agree with Hank Hanagraaf (a.k.a. the Bible Answer Man), but he makes a good point that God has made sure that we are all exposed to some sort of "light" of the Gospel. It is how we respond to that "light" that will determine what happens next. We will either turn toward that light and seek it more, or turn our back to it.
Your person in India may have not heard the Gospel, but he has the evidence of creation surrounding him. How do they respond to it? Will they ask questions and start seeking God, or turn their back on it?
That's why we have missionaries.
If you do not know of Jesus but lead a moral and good life, heaven is for you, iirc.
I don't believe God puts them in HELL. If they have never had the chance to hear about Jesus, I believe God will receive them, if they have lived a good life. They may never see God in all His Glory, as they would through a relationship with Jesus, but I don't believe they are sent to Hell.
I believe Hell is of our own making; when we turn ourselves away from the Light of Truth and keep making the choices that move us further away, unless we repent of our sins and work hard to get back, we consign ourselves to an eternal darkness, and we'll never see God. To me, that is Hell.
The bible has an answer for that question. The quick answer is that God gives everyone a chance to believe on his son. The person in India who never heard the gospel of Christ will hear it during a general resurrection, when everyone who never was called by God during their lifetime is called:
Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
"Judged" is a period of judgment, a trial, a period of time when the gospel is shared and taught from the "books"...the books of the bible. Their response, their works, to the books of the bible. They will believe and act accordingly or not.
My way of understanding this, is that salvation is in a Person, Jesus, NOT an intellectual system. Jesus is more righteous, loving and just than we can imagine--and He will deal rightly with those who've never heard the good news of His coming.
Even though I don't understand how, I trust the character of my Lord.
First text that comes to mind
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 show 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;)
They had the law written on their hearts before it was preached to them.
Rev 18:2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. Rev 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Rev 18:4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
God's people will be called out prior to the end
Jesus' own words
Mat 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Luk 12:47 And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. Luk 12:48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.
The last two texts tie in to Diego's story.