Something I've been thinking about lately. I'll start off with a few key points.

1) God doesn't send to hell those who have never heard of Jesus. It wouldn't be just. Suppose there is a village of people over in Asia who've never heard of Christianity, never heard of Jesus or concept of sin. They can't be held accountable for rejecting Christ, because they never heard of Him before. It even says in Revelation that Christ wouldn't return until all have heard the gospel.

2) By exposing people to the gospel, you give them the opportunity to reject God, therefore sealing their fate in the bowls of hell.

So basically, less people would get sent to hell if the Christian religion were to die out, because a just God wouldn't judge people as though they rejected Him, when they were never given a clear opportunity to form an opinion on the matter.

Does this not mean that ultimately, spreading the 'Word of God', according to its own beliefs, results in more people being eternally damned???

I regret to inform you that they would be needlessly sent to hell. Apparently, it's so evident that the Judeo-Christian god created the universe, that even if you had not heard of Jesus or his teachings, and even if you have never even heard the tenets of Christianity, you would still be compelled to direct yourself to the Christian god; if you did not, then you're a sinner who has deliberately refused god, and thus will burn in hell. What a wonderful religion, huh?

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." -- Romans 1:18-20

Praise the Lord!

[This message has been edited by Rust (edited 03-08-2006).]

All people are accountable to God whether they have “heard about Him” or not. If we assume that those who never hear the Gospel are granted mercy from God, we will run into a terrible problem. If people who never hear the Gospel are saved…we should make sure that no one ever hears the Gospel. The worst thing we could do would be share the Gospel with a person and have him or her reject it. If that were to happen, he or she would be condemned. People who do not hear the Gospel must be condemned, or else there is no motive for evangelism. Why run the risk of people possibly rejecting the Gospel and condemning themselves – when they were previously saved because they had never heard the Gospel?

tuned

quote:Originally posted by Rust:

I regret to inform you that they would be needlessly sent to hell. Apparently, it's so evident that the Judeo-Christian god created the universe, that even if you had not heard of Jesus or his teachings, and even if you have never even heard the tenets of Christianity, you would still be compelled to direct yourself to the Christian god; if you did not, then you're a sinner who has deliberately refused god, and thus will burn in hell. What a wonderful religion, huh?

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." -- Romans 1:18-20

Praise the Lord!



Jesus loses... again.

The Bible is mostly myth.

And after having given the matter a great deal of thought over the past forty or fifty years, I have concluded that Christianity--taken all in all--has done much more harm than good.