A hypothetical question regarding religion...?

Question

If a child grew up in the wild, think like the jungle book. A feral child perhaps, but a hermit essentially who is cut off from civilisation. He lives a simple life, mainly because his time is spent constantly struggling to survive. He kills to eat but not with malice or cruelty. However, because of his environment, he does not believe in religion (perhaps through lack of mental capacity, perhaps because he has never been exposed to it). After a long and full life, the adult this child has become dies, and assuming 'religion' (by which I mean all forms and types) is true... how would he be judged, if his eternal soul exists and is destined to go somewhere... where would it go?

Its something I have been thinking about, I will add to this question with further questions and comments so perhaps we can make a debate of it as it is something that interests me.

Q2.

OK, I have had some great responses, for which I am very grateful. Now, if I can, I would like to add complexity to it.

Now, lets remove the child the child from the jungle, and put him in a civilisation (one which I should clarify, I dont believe exists in the contemporary world). However, this is a civilisation that for whatever anthropological reasons is defined as evil and goes against the grain of whatever 'religion' says is right - think for instance it practises human sacrifice, child mortality, incest etc.

This child then grows up in this civilisation and because of where he is, actively is engaged in the 'evil' - although for him it is the norm simply because he does not know any different. The aspects of it that are wrong are all he has ever known, he has never questioned it not because he is unable to, but because this is fundamental to his upbringing and who he is.

When this individual dies, how is he judged now?

Q3.

Lastly, what if this person lived in a society where there was no dominant path, instead there were many in constant conflict - in essence all seem good in idealogical senses, but in practise and history at best it seems there has been a mix of good and bad in everything... and when it has been bad, its been very bad. It does not seem like there are any have not been guilty of this at some point.

For this person, the evidence and counter evidence for the right path is not clear, and all paths are mutually exclusive. Finding the way, especially the right one, is more a chance - a gamble - of being the right person from the right environment and entering the right group then examining the evidence and making a choice. What chance does he have then?

I ask because this is how I see the real world, and that person is me. It just doesnt seem like any route or path is clearly the correct one, yet I am expected to find one and hope it is the right one?

Do I stand a chance?

Answer 1

A person who dies has 'wiped the slate clean' regarding his past deeds. Once resurrected, he will eventually be judged on the actions he performs AFTER he attains knowledge of God's will.

(Acts 24:15) There is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.

(Acts 17:30-31) God has overlooked the times of such ignorance, yet now he is telling mankind that they should all everywhere repent. 31 Because he has set a day in which he purposes to judge the inhabited earth in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and he has furnished a guarantee to all men in that he has resurrected him from the dead.

Learn more:
http://watchtower.org/library/w/2005/5/1/article_02.htm
http://watchtower.org/library/we/article_05.htm

Answer 2

I'm directing my answer at your closing comments:-
Yes you do stand a chance if you really are searching for truth instead of blindly sitting by & expecting the answers to come to you.

You obviously recognize the God-given spiritual need inside you. All you have to do now is fill that need with the truth of God's word. The bible is God's handbook to us. Unfortunately, many claim to represent it but do not back up what they say with scripture.
Email me & let me prove to you who the true God is and his purposes for man & the earth (using the scriptures of course)
Be be open-minded & check everything up for yourself - then you might "stand a chance"

I just noticed your comments in one of your previous questions (which is now closed) about feeling abandoned by a creator with no guidance. The guidance is there but you need to examine it. So, yes, it would be your fault if you did not do so.
You cant blame the manufacturer for your DVD player not working if you cannot be bothered to read the instruction booklet can you?

Answer 3

Assuming the fails are correct & that their is a God, I think its soul would go on whatever path is best for it.

If their is a God it must be a loving & living God (to be anything else would in my view mean that it was an 'it' rather than God) & as such it would do the best for the child. That the child did not 'know God' was not its 'fault'. Consequently the child soul would be looked upon with compassion & make its way to heaven...

Answer 4

Both parts of your question are interesting, and well thought ou. The answer is simple. God will judge according to the knowledge and circumstances the person has. In both instances, this hypothetical person has never had any opportunity to learn about God, I believe therefore he would be judged as an innocent, and admitted to heaven, as will all young children, and cognitively impaired adults, all of whom are unable to choose due to a lack of knowledge. :-)

Answer 5

God doesn't judge you on how religious you are or how many times a day you pray. He judges you by the purity of your heart. Religion is not the gateway to heaven. You need to be pure, good, righteous. God doesn't teach us these things to make himself happy. He teaches these things so that we can live in harmony with each other and in the world. If this child was cut off from civilization then he would not know sin because there would be no one there to teach him. He will go to heaven.

Answer 6

I can see where you are coming from. I believe there is just one God but many different religions. My god will judge him as a good person. What else can he do? He has had no guidance to follow or thwart?
A similar dilemma is one I put to a Jehovah's Witness. They say that God MUST be called Jehova or you will not get into heaven. So I asked "If a man was living on a desert island and, by chance, happened to live his life EXACTLY as a Jehovah's Witness would but no-one had told him he had to call God Jehova, would he go to heaven?"
The Jehovah's Witness told me he wouldn't!
This is why I don't believe in religion.. only God.

Answer 7

I have a weird belief... Every Heaven/Hell is real. The Jewish people go to their Heaven/Hell, the Christians to theirs, the Buddhists to theirs (do they have one? I'm not sure...), etc. Atheists go where they think whether its to become part of nature, rebirth, whatever. Get my thought process?
So, the child, not having been taught religion, may simply go back to the wild he lived in or be reborn, or perhaps, if he had been baptised, would go to his parents' Heaven. If he were Christian baptised, I would like to think that God would look at him and say "He knew nothing of Me, but he has lived a good life" and allow him into Heaven where he could be with his family.
Cool?

Answer 8

As to me religion is but a number of allegories to lead people to a life of both personal and social acceptability, someone who has lived a life separate to any other human (understanding all of that which is described in your question), then surely that person could only ever be considered as a good person.
I do not necessarily agree with the formulaic approach as we understand our life and the classic tones of Heaven and Hell to be, but would say that if there were a body of such virtuous spirit capable of such, that can and will judge us, this person as described could only ever rise, not fall. Simply because the person is either one of low mental capacity or because he has never be taught, cannot ever be a negative against that person.

To add for addition:
If that person causes pain to another person or animal, whether they be devoid of authority or not, whether it be by physical or mental means (human nature is such that to be human means to have empathy with those creatures around yourself). Then to that means alone I would have say that the person in question has stepped outside of the zone as such. Stepped into a zone of evil, defined as such as it steps outside of the empathic state and therefore I personally cannot see any form of Virtuous Spirit in any religious mode being able to look favorably on that person.

Answer 9

this is something that i struggle with all the time as well....because i was raised in a baptist home/church, christian school and i was taught to believe that if a person doesn't accept Jesus / God into their hearts and get saved...htat yes they will be judged and altimately without salvation, there is no way inot heaven. But this doesn't sit well with me either and i moved out of home at 18 and have never been back to church since. i'm still a good person/citizen/friend and whatnot....but consider myself spiritual...when someone asks me what religion i am. i don't know if this is the answer, if God who claims to be so loving can be so cruel as well...so i think i'm in the same boat as you man. let me know if you figure it out...lol

Answer 10

God loves all of us so unless he did something terrible, and lives his life in a 'malice and cruelty' free way, then i think that he'd go to heaven.
I also think that all religions are versions of each other, so that there is one God, with different names, and different stories. So if someone grew up as a christian, he would be judged in the same was as if he grew up as a muslim or jew, maybe not on the specifics of his life, but on how he lived...