I don't begrudge God saving anyone, anywhere, anytime. No one deserves salvation. If He chose to choose these Khmer as one of His, what gripe do I have?
I thought humans, not God, chose salvation or damnation with their free will.
Will their victims go to Hell forever?
Why would you presume such a thing?
I don't, but isn't that what Scriptures say will happen if you are not redeemed?
Do you think it likely that some of the 2 million victims might have converted to Christianity had the Khmer not murdered them?
Possibly. But that has little to do with where their souls are now.
I don't follow that. If they died without accepting Jesus, doesn't the N.T. say they're going to Hell forever?
I am not a fundamentalist who believe one must profess the name "Jesus" in order to go to Heaven. (If one is prevented by good cause from knowing the Gospel.)
Does Scripture make such an exception, or is that your opinion?
No, that's not correct. There is an element of free will involved, but it is more proper to speak of God as the Actor, the Instigator. We are the lost sheep. God is the Good Shepherd who finds us.
I don't, but isn't that what Scriptures say will happen if you are not redeemed?
Yes, but why would you assume the Khmer's victims were irredeemed?
I don't follow that. If they died without accepting Jesus, doesn't the N.T. say they're going to Hell forever?
We believe in a just and merciful God. Overly-literal readings of the Scripture tend to reduce God to something less.
We believe all are saved through Jesus, through the Cross. This need not be overtly recognizable to all. If God chooses to redeem an untouched tribesman in the remote wilderness, what business is it of ours?
Does Scripture make such an exception, or is that your opinion?
I believe God's sovereignity is on display in Scripture. It is a well-established Catholic doctrine that while God provided the Church to act as the normative means of communicating His Salvation to us, He is free to save those who are "invincibly ignorant" of the need for Jesus and the Church.
This is not saying all who are putatively ignorant are thereby saved. Far from it. The presumptions would be against such a thing. But God is not tied to the rules He imposes upon us. If He sees fit to work through and save an ignorant one, so be it.
SD