What about those who have never heard of Jesus?

I have to say that this is often actually a red herring. People throw it in as a smokescreen without actually being concerned about the fate of such people. It becomes essentially an excuse to not listen. If you are tempted to ask this question, also be honest enough to admit that you have had the opportunity to hear …

		First point: salvation comes only through Jesus Would God have allowed Jesus to suffer on the cross if there had been another way? This is unthinkable. I don’t know how this is mediated to someone who hasn’t heard of Jesus Christ but I can trust that it is within God’s power. Genesis chapter 18 deals with the destruction of Sodom & Gomorrah. In verse 25 Abraham expresses the belief that God will exercise perfect justice and spare the innocent. This surely has something relevant to say to this situation.

		Second point: a missionary faith Jesus made it clear to his followers from the very outset that they were to take this message to the “all nations” (Matthew chapter 28, verse 19). The aim = to make sure that everyone has an opportunity to hear this message Sometimes progress has been slow but there are churches in every nation (even North Korea) and the aim is to begin Bible translation into every minority language by 2025.

So … the reality is that most people do have an opportunity to hear – either personally from people in their community or by Christian radio. Strenuous efforts are being made to communicate the message in the heart language of each person.

Finally, at the end of the day, God is the judge. It isn’t up to us to say who is ‘in’ or who is ‘out’. Our job is to point simply to Jesus, who said he was the only way to come to God the Father (John chapter 14, verse 6). We leave the results to God.

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Six Big Questions Rev John Hibberd sixbigquestions@throughfaithmissions.org