But even 2,000 years later the Church does not come close to evangelizing "all nations". What does that say? In addition, you appear to be saying that pure luck (i.e. chance environment) is a large determining factor of one's eternal destiny. IF you believe in an all-powerful God, then how can you say He loves everyone equally, if something as important as Heaven vs. hell for eternity is largely decided by luck? You can't. Either He does not love as your side claims, OR, He is not all-powerful.
Perhaps if all the Evangelicals stopped trying to evangelize Christians in Russia and Latin America and instead risked their lives for faith in areas inimical to Christianity, the success rate in China and Indonesia, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, Iran and other places would probably be better.
We're already there. My own pastor just got back from a mission trip to China. Christianity is actually doing much better there than most people know. However, we also love and care about lost people in countries that you claim you "own". We are happy to witness Christ to the scraps that you all don't have time for, so that's what we're doing.
Did God put a timeline? Look how long it took before the Hebrews received the Law. Look how long it took from that moment to the appearance of Christ. We could just as easily argue, form the reformed point of v view, that it took 2,000 years because God wanted it to take that long and that you have no business speeding up the clock. :)
IF you believe in an all-powerful God, then how can you say He loves everyone equally, if something as important as Heaven vs. hell for eternity is largely decided by luck? You can't
And if you believe in a transcendent God then why does it matter if it took 2,000 years; His salvation should be timeless.
And if you believe in predestination and God's plan then it must have been planned to take this long...
We're already there. My own pastor just got back from a mission trip to China.
China? Why not go to Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan and Israel where a conversion would be good in that Islamic fundamentalists would no longer threaten Israel and would cease supporting terrorism and the Jews would find brotherly love with former Muslims in Christ? :)
After all, isn't it the Evangelicals who love Israel because they expect the Jews to convert to Christ? Are your pastors trying to evangelize the Jews and Arabs? I think they are a lot closer to Christ, being Abrahamic, then the Chinese.
But China, being oppressive and all that, allows missionaries whereas Saudi Arabia and Israel have much less tolerance for the same.