Can Those Who Don't Know Christ Be Saved?
A frequent questions I have been asked is, "How can a tribal person in the jungles of South America be saved? They don't know about Christ and never will. How can they trust in someone they've never heard of?"
The typical answer has been, if someone in the jungle needs to hear about Christ, God will send a missionary. That seems to me to make God a small God, if He is dependent on human missionaries.
People don't need a missionary to know God. The Bible tells us that God has put the knowledge of Himself within us. We can even feel it--it's that empty hole in the center of us that longs for someone to fill it.
Yes God can send a missionary. But God doesn't need us (we need Him). If there is someone He wants to save, He'll do it. Here's a great story from the book "The Purpose Driven Life" (page 21) by Rick Warren.
"Andrei Bitov, a Russian novelist, grew up under an atheistic Communist regime. But God got his attention one dreary day. He recalls, 'In my twenty-seventh year, while riding the metro in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) I was overcome with a despair so great that life seemed to stop at once, preempting the future entirely, let alone any meaning. Suddenly, all by itself, a phrase appeared: Without God life makes no sense. Repeating it in astonishment, I rode the phrase up like a moving staircase, got out of the metro and walked into God's light.'"
The typical answer has been, if someone in the jungle needs to hear about Christ, God will send a missionary. That seems to me to make God a small God, if He is dependent on human missionaries.
People don't need a missionary to know God. The Bible tells us that God has put the knowledge of Himself within us. We can even feel it--it's that empty hole in the center of us that longs for someone to fill it.
Yes God can send a missionary. But God doesn't need us (we need Him). If there is someone He wants to save, He'll do it. Here's a great story from the book "The Purpose Driven Life" (page 21) by Rick Warren.
"Andrei Bitov, a Russian novelist, grew up under an atheistic Communist regime. But God got his attention one dreary day. He recalls, 'In my twenty-seventh year, while riding the metro in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) I was overcome with a despair so great that life seemed to stop at once, preempting the future entirely, let alone any meaning. Suddenly, all by itself, a phrase appeared: Without God life makes no sense. Repeating it in astonishment, I rode the phrase up like a moving staircase, got out of the metro and walked into God's light.'"
posted by BrickBalloon
Read This Post In Our: Christianity in America Blog Archive
9 Comments:
Where in the Bible are we told that God has put the knowledge of himself within us?
"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who supress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For 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
"I will put my laws in their minds, and I will write them on their hearts." - Jeremiah 31:33
That's pretty clear - the bible says that the laws of god are put in our minds are written on our hearts, and we are without excuses when it comes to knowing them.
Why worry with missionary work at all? Those illiterate jungle tribes already know what's good for them - might as well let 'em fry :)
That's an excellent question.
I could discuss how God has given us free will to make our own decisions, and the better informed we are (the more information we have about Christ and the Bible), the better the decisions we'll make. In other words, because of missionaries people are better equiped to apply the knowledge God has given them.
However, let's get to the Biblical root of your question--with something you may not be aware of. God has told us that He has decided who will be saved and who will not be saved before He created the universe. Whether or not we go to heaven or hell is predestined.
Before you come to a conclusion, please hear me out. This is one of the most difficult questions in Christianity and it goes to the root of your question. I could have never brought it up, and I'd guess you'd not be aware of it, but I think it's something that needs to be addressed in order for there to be a complete answer to your question.
Here is one verse that tells us about predestination:
"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 to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ..." Ephesians 1:4
So now the question becomes, if God has already decided who goes to heaven and who goes to hell, what's the point of sending out missionaries?
By the way, there are many other questions that come out of the doctrine of predestination, but I'll just be dealing with this one question in this comment.
The #1 answer to the above question is: because God told us to. Because of our love for God we obey Him, and that pleases God (it makes Him happy). And really, that's the only answer we need. We desire to do things that make God happy.
But I still ask the question, why?
No where in the Bible does God answer this question. He does not tell us why. So we can only guess (we can't read God's mind), and look at evidence that can lead us to a conclusion.
Fact 1: We do not need to bring the Gospel message to other people in order for them to be saved.
Conclusion 1: There must be another reason why God wants us to do this.
Fact 2: How we live in this life effects the level of reward or punishment we receive after we physically die. It is our belief or non-belief in Christ as our savior that determines whether we go to heaven or hell. It is the fruit of our belief--what we do--that results in greater or lesser rewards in heaven. It is the fruit of our non-belief that results in greater or lesser punishment in hell.
Possibility 1: By bringing the Gospel to those who have not heard it we may lead them to Christ sooner than what would have happened otherwise. As a result some may be able to have a greater reward in heaven.
Possibility 2: Exposing non-believers to the Gospel may change their behavior for the better resulting in their having less punishment in hell. In you look at history, through its ups and downs, Christianity has been the greatest force for advancing civilization.
Possibility 3: Missionary work may be for the benefit of the missionaries. Christ teaches us that we are to be servants. Missionaries are servants and through their service they are growing closer to God and more like Christ. Missionary work may be God's way of teaching us how to be more like Christ.
Conclusion 2: We don't know the answer. My personal feeling is possibility #3 is the main answer -- I think sharing the Gospel with others is God's way of helping us to grow to be more like Christ. That's one theme that runs throughout the entire Bible, from Adam up until the present time -- God has been working to teach us to be like Christ.
I see support for my conclusion in my observations of those who have returned from mission trips. They are spiritually energized and have grown significantly in Christ.
So let me get this straight - God has already decided who gets into heaven and who goes to hell and there's nothing we can do about it.
However, the way we conduct ourselves in this life will influence the extent of the rewards we get if we are predestined to go to heaven. Likewise, it may limit the amount of punishment if we are headed for hell.
Have I understood you correctly?
Yes, you have summarized what I said correctly. However, there is more to it and, if you are interested in digging deeper, a numner of other questions that need to be answerd. For example:
The Bible tells us we have free will. If our ultimate fate (heaven or hell) is destinated by God, how can we have free will?
Also, there are two schools of thought concerning what predestination means.
1) God has not determined our future. Using our free will we will determine our own future. However, since God knows the future our ultimate fate is known to Him as though it had already happened.
2) God has determined our ultimate fate from the beginning. However, since we all are sinners, we all deserve hell. Who are we to object if God, our creator, decides to save some, who do not deserve to be saved, from that fate?
And then, of course, there is the question: If our fate is predetermined, why bother trying to be good? Why not just have a good time, ride out life enjoying it to the max, because no matter what we do it makes no difference? The answer to this question can only truly be understood by Christians, because to everyone else it appears to be foolishness. The answer is: love.
It's not that unbelievers don't understand love.
It's not the unbelievers don't love others.
It is that unbeliebers have not experienced a loving relationship with God.
But to me the really big question/comment is: it's not fair that God has chosen some and not others! Don't I get a say in this? The Bible gives the answer to this several times throughout scripture (for example Romans 9:21) with the story of the potter and the pots he creates. Can not a person who makes clay pots create some pots for a long term purpose, while other pots he has created he decides to break and discard. He made the pots, he can decide what to do with them. The pots don't tell the potter what to do.
hi there can anyone answer this one how could god have created light for day and the darkness for night on the first day genesis 1 but not make the to greather luminarys the sun and moon till the fourth day were did the light come from on the first day
Just as the light of God's glory will illuminate heaven (Revelation 21:23) the light of God's glory illuminated creation before the sun and moon were created.
A good book that discusses this is "Starlight and Time" by Dr. Russell Humphreys, Ph.D. It includes a layman's discussion of creation as well as two detailed scientific papers for those who wish to go deeply into the physics.
Okay tell me if any of you know about this:
Of course, we all know that missionaries go to tribes like those in South America. They usually stay there a while living with the tribe, getting to know their customs and figuring out how to relate the Gospel to the tribe. But there are times where a missionary goes into a place where there has never been white men. They start telling them about Christ and then the tribe members say "Oh, we actually know this already. We just haven't known the name of God- Jesus." There are many stories like this where Jesus has actually revealed himself to tribes like this and the missionaries have to do very little to explain the Gospel. But just about everything lines up with Jesus of the Bible. It's amazing to see how God has shown himself to tribes!
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home