Free Republic

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Many thanks.

God bless.

JAG

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I truly understand how you feel and I am with you 100% in spirit — however many Christians are NOT willing to live with the following:

ARE YOU?

Supplement to the article:

What about those in non-Christian lands in say 1600 A.D. who died
having never heard a single world of the gospel message? Is God
good and just to abandon such persons to Gehenna? And does He
actually do that?

It is important to find a reasonable solution to the problems raised
by these three questions because the notion that God consigns to Gehenna
for all eternity all people (past, present, and future) who lived and died
without ever hearing the gospel, characterizes God as unreasonable,
mean-spirited and cruel (which He most certainly is not).

Many who hold the view that God does do exactly that, have not paused
to seriously consider what they so readily believe about the character of
God.

Akua Adisa was born in 1600 A.D. in Africa and he lived to an old age and
died without ever hearing a single word of the gospel.

Are you going to proclaim that God will consign Akua to sternal Hell and
at the same time tell everybody that “God is love?”

Remember, on the traditional view of Hell, when Akua has suffered in agony
in Hell for 999 trillion (to the power of 500) years, he is no nearer to the end
than when he first entered Hell. It is not possible to reconcile such as this
with 1 John 4:8 “God is love.”

Thought Experiment:
How long is an Eternity of agony in Hell? Let us say a sparrow is magically
assigned the task of cutting the Earth in half and the sparrow is to fly by
the Earth every 100 years and brush one of its wings against the ground
surface of the Earth. How many years would it take the sparrow to cut the
Earth in half? For argument’s sake let us say it took in years 999 trillion to
the power of 999 trillion. So? So Akua Adisa, after being in agony in
Hell for as long as it took that sparrow to cut the Earth in half, would be no
closer to the end of his agony than when he first entered Hell.

Such as this is not possible to reconcile with 1 John 4:8 “God is love”
or with the general character of God as presented in the Bible.

We need a solution to this problem and a good start in finding one is God’s
Middle Knowledge as presented in this article.

JAG

[]

Supplement to the article:

What about those in non-Christian lands in say 1600 A.D. who died
having never heard a single world of the gospel message? Is God
good and just to abandon such persons to Gehenna? And does He
actually do that?

It is important to find a reasonable solution to the problems raised
by these three questions because the notion that God consigns to Gehenna
for all eternity all people (past, present, and future) who lived and died
without ever hearing the gospel, characterizes God as unreasonable,
mean-spirited and cruel (which He most certainly is not).

Many who hold the view that God does do exactly that, have not paused
to seriously consider what they so readily believe about the character of
God.

Akua Adisa was born in 1600 A.D. in Africa and he lived to an old age and
died without ever hearing a single word of the gospel.

Are you going to proclaim that God will consign Akua to sternal Hell and
at the same time tell everybody that “God is love?”

Remember, on the traditional view of Hell, when Akua has suffered in agony
in Hell for 999 trillion (to the power of 500) years, he is no nearer to the end
than when he first entered Hell. It is not possible to reconcile such as this
with 1 John 4:8 “God is love.”

Thought Experiment:
How long is an Eternity of agony in Hell? Let us say a sparrow is magically
assigned the task of cutting the Earth in half and the sparrow is to fly by
the Earth every 100 years and brush one of its wings against the ground
surface of the Earth. How many years would it take the sparrow to cut the
Earth in half? For argument’s sake let us say it took in years 999 trillion to
the power of 999 trillion. So? So Akua Adisa, after being in agony in
Hell for as long as it took that sparrow to cut the Earth in half, would be no
closer to the end of his agony than when he first entered Hell.

Such as this is not possible to reconcile with 1 John 4:8 “God is love”
or with the general character of God as presented in the Bible.

We need a solution to this problem and a good start in finding one is God’s
Middle Knowledge as presented in this article.

JAG

[]

Your view ends up, history wide worldwide, with tens of billions of humans that will scream in agony for all eternity in Hell.

Question: How do you reconcile that with “God is love’?

My friend there has to be a way for us to remain orthodox and at the same time find a solution to this problem.

Best

JAG

But we do not have to conclude from Romans that they are going to be sent to Hell.

See my PS down below:

____________

The problem, for the Bible believer, regarding the question: “Can people who have never heard the gospel be saved?” is not going to go away.

The traditional view is that God puts then into eternal Hell.

But that does not harmonize with “God is love.”

Or with common sense.

So?

So we have to find a solution to this problem and the OP is a good place to start.

Best

JAG

[]

PS

Is it not reasonable to believe that the person who responds favorably

to his limited knowledge of God revealed to him in natural law and
conscience in the absence of the gospel in his part of the world

and in his time in history, would also respond favorably to the gospel

preached in our world today?

My view: Yes it is reasonable to believe that.

Nobody is going to do any research based on what you said in your post.

And the problem, for the Bible believer, regarding the question: “Can people who have never heard the gospel be saved?” is not going to go away.

The traditional view is that God puts then into eternal Hell.

But that does not harmonize with “God is love.”

Or with common sense.

So?

So we have to find a solution to this problem and the OP is a good place to start.

Best

JAG

[]

PS

Is it not reasonable to believe that the person who responds favorably

to his limited knowledge of God revealed to him in natural law and
conscience in the absence of the gospel in his part of the world

and in his time in history, would also respond favorably to the gospel

preached in our world today?

My view: Yes it is reasonable to believe that.

`
Free Will.

Best

JAG

[]

(I’m not sure I get your point) ?

`

`

The OP does not say what you assume it says.

I do not hold the position that you incorrectly assume I hold.

You either did not read the OP, or you are not interested in doing the mental work required to understand what the OP actually says.

Best

JAG

[]

`
The OP does not say what you assume it says.

I do not hold the position that you incorrectly assume I hold.

You either did not read the OP, or you are not interested in doing the mental work required to understand what the OP actually says.

Best

JAG

[]

`

Good point.

God bless.

JAG

[]

`

I love Deut 29:29 “The secret things belong to God.”

and

Now we see through a glass darkly

and

“It is not for you to know”__The Lord Jesus
I think in Acts 1:11

Best

JAG

[]

`

That’s true, but the OP offers a HOW God goes about doing that.

I think the points in the OP solves this problem.

Best

JAG

[]

`

That claim can not be harmonized with what the Bible actually says in John 14:6 and elsewhere — but I think the OP solves the problem.

Best

JAG

[]`

``I understand.

The OP raises the question about a man born in 1600 A.D

Best

JAG.

[]

I understand.

The OP raises the question about a man born in 1600 A.D

Best

JAG.

[]

`

“In him [Christ] we were also chosen, having been predestined according

to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose
of his will.”
Ephesians 1:11

_______________________________________

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed

us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he
chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless

in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through

Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of

his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Ephesians 1:3-6

__________________________________________

“On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night
there. The glory and honor
of the nations will be brought into it.

Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor
will anyone who does
what is shameful or deceitful, but only
those whose names are
written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
Revelation 21:25-27

________________

The great and mighty Calvinistic Theological System is gaining
new converts daily on the world wide web and will be up and going strong long after its detractors are lost and gone in the sands of time.

Best

JAG

[]

`

The OP would fully agree with that.

Best

JAG

[]

`

John MacArthur is a good Calvinist.

Best

JAG

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