So what happened to people in China a few years after Jesus died for our sins. Obviously they could not know what he did for us and could not accept him into their hearts. Did they go to hell for that lack of knowledge? How would they get into the kindom of heaven if they had no exposer to christianity?
2007-08-12 18:19:20 · 16 answers · asked by Jerrid 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
its not clear ... to those that never heard they may be given a chance to accept after they die ... i think its a matter of how a persons heart reacts to and accepts the truth ... it either accepts it or rejects it and its not based on miracles either .. anyone can see a miracle and get wowed but the heart is going to be the same ... in other words rejecting the truth by nature until u die and see there is more after this life and then trying to fake it wont work ... the heart condition will still be one of rejection of righteousness ..
2007-08-12 18:27:10 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
We just have to find some way to get people into Heaven, don't we? So we make them not accountable, along with babies and developmentally deficient adults, and everyone else has a choice.
Where is God in all this? Sitting on the sidelines, a mannequin in a mall as you shop for Him, and if you go into the wrong store or don't enter the mall at all, it's ok, mannequins don't do anything anyway but stare at you. Go into the store though, and if you don't buy anything, that mannequin will come after you. What a way to look at Christianity.
Israel, Jerrid, was a remnant, a chosen people out of a world of those who did not know the Lord. Christians today are a new remnant, many of whom (regrettably) deny being chosen, and deny being a remnant, out of a world of people that do not know God because they were not chosen to be His. Can a King not decide who He will allow into His own Kingdom? We can't just put on our Sunday best and decide that we belong in Heaven. We can't look at our neighbor, or our family member, or Chinese for that matter, and say they can walk on into the Kingdom claiming an address there. No, we have to be GIVEN that privilege, authorized by God, signed and sealed in baptism, loved before we were ever able to love back. Heaven is not a right, Jerrid. No one gets to write their own invitation.
2007-08-13 03:32:30 · answer #2 · answered by ccrider 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
OK, picking your question apart: Is accepting Jesus into your heart Biblical? - Not really. We don't tell God what to do. Our hearts are naturally clouded with sin anyway. Can anyone show me in the Bible where someone accepted Jesus into their heart? - Some people infer this from verses here and there, and you're right, it doesn't fit with God's sovereignty. If we don't find people accepting Jesus into their heart for salvation, then why do some people do it? - Because it looks good on paper, that's why. If I am correct, Paul was writing to a saved church in Romans 10:9. Why would he tell saved people how to get saved? - Exactly. Also, if you say baptism is not part of salvation and is "works", then can you explain how saying a prayer and accepting Jesus into your heart is not a "work". - Cheap grace. "All you have to do" salvation. Yup, I agree. We can go even further with this. Why would Jesus (in John 3:5) refer to water as part of the new birth, yet it be symbolic? - No kidding. It must be a covenant, after all. This would mean our Lord was refering to the Spirit as literal, yet be refering to water as symbolic. This is senseless. - Not sure what you're getting at, but baptism CAN also point to a pouring (get it?) out of the Holy Spirit. The Jews were familier with water as part of Old Testament salvation. If they didn't wash with water in the temple they would be killed. - Baptism's waters point to cleansing of sins through the propitiation of Jesus. So yes, you have a point in the seriousness of it. Nicodemus was obviously familier with Jewish customs, so he could understand Jesus referance to water to be literal, not symbolic. Acts 2:38 backs up John 3:5 - What's the gift of the Holy Spirit? Glossalalia? Or a new life in Him? I'd go for the bigger picture.
2016-05-21 03:43:45 · answer #3 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Salvation (going to heaven) is by faith through grace. All of the Old Testament good guys didn't have Jesus as Lord and Savior, what they had was faith that God would provide a Messiah.
"Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse" Romans 1:20
Everyone has a "god-consciousness", an awareness that there is a spirit realm and that there is "something bigger than them out there". God says that if you seek Him you will find Him (see Deut. 4:29). If you read about tribes in the Amazon or deepest Africa, they all have some sort of beliefs of spiritual things. Someone seeking their creator will surely find Him.
I exhort you to read and study and learn the truth for yourself in God's Word the Bible.
2007-08-12 19:04:21 · answer #4 · answered by redeemed 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually it says "Jesus" told his followers after he arose from the grave that he would return within their life time. Those folks waited till their deaths for something that never came.
The belief that a cosmic jewish zombie who was his own father can make you live for ever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him that you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a woman that was created from a man's rib was convinced by a talking snake to eat an apple off of a magical tree is an amazing thing wrap your life around and believe in.
2007-08-12 18:34:41 · answer #5 · answered by Just keep breathin' 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No, dude. The idea of people going to hell if they do not accept the J man into their hearts is not necessarily Biblical. There are many verses that cover people who are not Christian that allows them to go to heaven. If you read your Bible and look for those verses you will find them. Good luck.
Read the parable of the Sheep and the Goats. Read it carefully and you will see the truth. People who do good deeds are the sheep, people who don't do good deeds are the goats. Religion/belief has nothing to do with it.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2025;&version=31;
2007-08-12 18:35:19 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Those who have not heard about God, have not learn or have not read and known to the words of God in the bible are exempted, for the have no knowledge about God. but if they have heard and preach about the teachings of God but refuse to accept God and deny everything about God, they will not be forgiven. The will surely go to hell with the atheists who have no God.
jtm
2007-08-12 18:28:41 · answer #7 · answered by Jesus M 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
From my understanding, the ones who never heard the gospel will be judged according to their works. But the ones that have heard and rejected are the ones that are condemned.
2007-08-12 18:30:44 · answer #8 · answered by ? 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You are trying to be logical. Stop that (sarcasm). It's like wondering how the penguins and the buffalo and the panda bears all walked over to the Ark and then back again when the flood was over.
2007-08-12 18:24:36 · answer #9 · answered by Alan 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
No no, silly, the Bible says that people are going to be judged based on what they have been exposed to. For Jews, it'll be the Mosaic laws. For people who have heard the Gospel, it'll be their relationship with Jesus. For people who have heard of neither, it will be their inner sense of God and what He is all about, i.e. loving others and such.
2007-08-12 18:23:54 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋