DEATH: people who've never heard Gospel?

Romans 1-2 answers this question fairly succinctly. I recommend that you read over these verses very carefully...

" 18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

19Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

20For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

21Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened...

25Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.

..32Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

Chapter 2

1Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

2But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

3And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

9Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile;

10But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile:

11For there is no respect of persons with God.

12For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law;

14For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

15Which shew the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)

16In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

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God made the conscience to "bear witness" of sin, to warn about what He disapproves of so that we can please Him with all our thoughts and actions. The bible says that after death “every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” [Rom 14:12] God will judge all men by His commandments to not lie, lust, and hate. He will also see if they obeyed His GREATEST COMMANDMENT, to “love God with all of your heart, mind, soul, and strength.” [Matt 23] Of course you have failed because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” [Rom 3:23]
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God "has appointed a day when He shall judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He has chosen." [Acts 17:31] The Man spoken of in this verse is Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who lived sinlessly on the earth. At the judgment all men will be compared to Him and anyone found less righteous than Jesus will be damned to hell forever, because “they which commit such things are worthy of death.” [Rom 1:32] and “The wages of sin is death.” [Rom 6:23]

This is fair. God is so pure and just that it is unthinkable for Him to “accept” sinners who hate obeying Him. In fact, “God is angry with the wicked every day.” [Psm 7] All men have rebelled against their conscience, so “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and sinfulness of men.” [Rom 1]

HOWEVER... John the Baptist and King David's child are at least two instances of babies and infants that were apparently regenerated at a very young age. This means God enlightened them to their need and softened them to receive the new nature. But, lest we question if some aboriginal has been born again in the boonies, we know that all who have the Spirit proclaim that Jesus is the Christ. If they deny Him before men, they were not saved. Anyways, the preaching of the word seems to be His only approved method for cognizant individuals outside of Mr. J. Baptist.

Hope this helps!!

Many people will say many things, but "let God be true and all men liars."

Romans 1:18-21 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

I'll leave it up to God to judge the hearts of men...

There is no other name in heaven or in the earth from which to be saved.

Talk to trible missionaries for the in depth but they will tell you the same .

Sinners go to HELL.They need Jesus!Thats it!

Natural revelation is not enough to save a man as it only condemns him further because he changes the glory of God into idols.

Man must hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ as the One who sets men free, as ther is no other name given under Heaven by which men must be saved.

If we say that creation is enough to save, then Christ died in vain, if we say that keeping the Law can save then Christ died in vain. It is Christ and Christ alone who can provide the righteousness God requires to justify a sinner.

Also to say that creation can lead us into a relationship with God is not much different than pantheists who say the same, and believe that God is in everything, and everyone.

This is why Paul says the following-
Rom 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Rom 10:14 [b]How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
Rom 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent?[/b] as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

So we are concerned whether the person who never heard the gospel will be condemned to hell? As I understand Romans 1, God reveals himself through nature and if a person will listen to that revelation, God will illuminate that conscience even more, bring that person to himself. There are testimonies of this very thing happening. We must not limit God to man's limitations.

As an example of the above, we hear reports how Jesus is revealing himself to Muslims via dreams. I just heard a report of an imam in a nearby city whom the LORD is speaking to by dreams. There is a book "I Dared to Call Him Father" by Bilquis Sheikh who details her conversion. She lived in Pakistan when she came to the LORD.

A companion question to the origianl one might be: do we then assume that everyone who hears the Word will repent, come to the LORD? The obvious answer is "No." It is my understanding of the nature of God that He knows who will respond and who will not and those he knows that will, he will provide for them an opportunity to come to him.

My thoughts...

ginnyrose

I'll leave it up to God to judge the hearts of men...

I think this is all we can do. I used to find this sort of thing very interesting, now I see it differently. I am called to speak the Gospel, we are called to take it to all nations - what we do/don't do, we will answer to God for. As for those that have or haven't heard it - they will also answer to God on that Day - which is coming soon enough, then we'll all know!

If we say that creation is enough to save, then Christ died in vain, if we say that keeping the Law can save then Christ died in vain. It is Christ and Christ alone who can provide the righteousness God requires to justify a sinner.

I think the issue comes down to [i]response to revelation[/i]. How does an individual respond to the light they have? If they respond rightly they will receive more revelation- if not, that which they have shall be taken away.

Case in point; Cornelius. Here was Gentile doing alms to try to please the Lord as best as he knew. What did God do? He sent Peter to preach to him. If a person responds rightly to the revelation they have God would make a river in the desert getting a preacher to them. The Ethopian Eunuch comes to mind also. God knew the spot and time to meet this man- and he was saved. God has not changed. He is still doing these things. The problem is not that folk have not heard; the problem is that they have loved darkness and shunned even the little light they had.

In response to the question itself:

30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”
Acts 17:30-31

If God send those who have never heard the Gospel to Hell, it won't be because they don't have Jesus, but because they've sinned against God in thought, word and deed.

by pm4Hisglory on 2007/7/21 7:04:37

I've heard many people respond saying 'they aren't held accountable for something they have no knowledge of"

Unfortunately, the logical outcome of this thinking is also religious pluralism, as it asserts that a society's view of "God", no matter how idolatrous and far removed from worship that is "in spirit and in truth", is sufficient for salvation.

Secondly, it suggests that the holiness of God is ultimately dictated by human knowledge. I cannot see such a view as being anything less than blasphemous as it portrays God as essentially being empty and it's our job to "fill him up" in our worship, as opposed to God's glory being in actuality overflowing to the point that it just overwhelms and completely drowns those who encounter it.

by ginnyrose on 2007/7/21 11:20:16

So we are concerned whether the person who never heard the gospel will be condemned to hell? As I understand Romans 1, God reveals himself through nature and if a person will listen to that revelation, God will illuminate that conscience even more, bring that person to himself. There are testimonies of this very thing happening. We must not limit God to man's limitations.

As an example of the above, we hear reports how Jesus is revealing himself to Muslims via dreams. I just heard a report of an imam in a nearby city whom the LORD is speaking to by dreams. There is a book "I Dared to Call Him Father" by Bilquis Sheikh who details her conversion. She lived in Pakistan when she came to the LORD.

A companion question to the origianl one might be: do we then assume that everyone who hears the Word will repent, come to the LORD? The obvious answer is "No." It is my understanding of the nature of God that He knows who will respond and who will not and those he knows that will, he will provide for them an opportunity to come to him.

My thoughts...

ginnyrose

As much as I do believe that the gift of prophecy is for believers today and that it can indeed manifest itself through dreams and visions, the problem is that scripture itself does not contain an account of someone being brought to salation through this means. While there are indeed examples of non-believers having dreams that were prophetic in nature (e.g., Joseph and Pharoah), I'm yet to find one where the dream lead someone to salvation.

Now many will say "Paul on the Road to Damascus!", but also bear in mind that this vision also contained an apostolic calling.

Just my $0.02

I agree with RobertW:

I think the issue comes down to response to revelation. How does an individual respond to the light they have? If they respond rightly they will receive more revelation- if not, that which they have shall be taken away.

If a man obeys the natural revelation God has given him and seeks God, even if the man doesn't know God, God will reveal Himself more and more to that man. I do not believe anyone whole heartedly seeking God will die without hearing the gospel.

Nile