my great grandparents has never heard of christianity in their lifetime, are they definately in hell now?

Question

clear answer please, they were never 'born again' so are they roasting?

Answer 1

No. There is no Hell. It is only a nasty Christian fairy tale.

Answer 2

No. Hell as a place of torture is not a Biblical concept. Never was, never will. What does the Bible actually say? Eccles.9:5, 10 and Ps. 146:4 tell us the dead know nothing, can feel nothing, have no memories. So how could they be tortured?

Also the Bible promises a resurrection of both righteous and unrighteous. (Acts 24:15) This does not mean those willfully evil, but those like you say never had a chance to hear. There are many of these people deserving a chance at life. Some will take advantage of it, some will not. It will be their decision.

Answer 3

We can only find the answer to this question by looking into the character of God.  Being a just God, He can not hold us accountable for something we couldn’t possibly have known. And yet Jesus said that no one can come to the Father except through Him. (John 14:6)  That means that everyone has to have had some opportunity to know God during his or her lifetime. In Romans 1:18-20 Paul wrote that the creation makes God’s existence so obvious that men are without excuse.  No one can say, “I never heard of you.”  2 Peter 3:9 says that God doesn’t want any to perish but for everyone to come to repentance. Jesus said that everyone who seeks Him will find Him. (Matt. 7:7-8).  How or when it happens is not important.  What is important is that God has promised it in His word. The only solution is that every one has to receive at least one bonafide offer of pardon in his or her lifetime.  No one can die in ignorance.  The fact that we don’t understand how this could happen is irrelevant. God’s character demands it, His love requires it and His power is sufficient to make it happen. But why the concern about the people in India or the Amazon Rainforest? Where is your concern about your own eternal future? You have heard about Jesus and you've asked enough questions here to realize what's at stake.

Answer 4

Everyone goes to hell. I'm a believer and I will go to hell when I die. Lemme splain. The notion of an eternity in a burning, sulfuric acid lake while being tortured by demons is a pagan notion that has no support in the Bible. Really, I challenge you to find the me the scripture that implicitly says persons not of God will be tortured for eternity in a lake of fire. There is a lake of fire..and at judgement some will be consumed by that fire to perish forever. No one lives forever in a "hell" type place. This false doctrine was taught by the Catholic church and carried on through Protestant teaching because of the use of the term "hell" which is actually the norse name of the god of a mythical underworld of the dead. Hades is the Greek equivalant of that place. However, according to mythical tradation...neither the pagan hell or hades were described in legend as be "a lake of fire"...just the abode of the dead. So where did the term come from in the Bible? The original hebraic word is "sheol" which means grave...literally..."to be covered over". If you go through and, except in a few places where Christ was referring alagorically to a literal place called Gehenna...you can replace the word "hell" with "grave" or "pit" and it works nicely and even in some cases makes more sense. As far as Gehenna is concerned...that was a literal place...a garbage heap outside the city of Jerusalem that was perpetually burning all the time to consume the cities mounds of trash, dead carcasses and the bodies of those who were exicuted by various means and had no money to be properly buried. Jesus uses this place to describe the state of the world at the time of the Judgement when all the thing of this life will be destroyed and all those who do not acknowledge Him along with it. Now, I don't know what situation your relatives were in that they never heard the gospel but at the time of the resurrection men will be judged. None may enter into eternal life except through Jesus Christ means that His blood saved all sinners and it is up to Him to judge a persons heart.


1 Corinthians 4:5
Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.

Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Love in Christ, ~J~

Answer 5

I find it hard to believe that they 'never' heard of Chrisitianity. The fact that you obviously are using the interwebs I doubt you are two steps removed from an indiginous tribe in the remote jungles of Africa. But pretending they were the apostle Paul states we are all judged by the knowledge we have of God made evident through the natural word. So it doesn't matter if they never heard or Christianity, only how they responded to the creator (God) they saw through creation.

And knowing of God is different than serving God. If God desires us to worship and serve Him than it does entail some form of moral responsibility, despite what the previous idiot stated. He has obviously not read anything clearly stated in the Bible. And it is not arrogant to be surprised that your grandparents heard nothing of Christianity. It is a matter of odds. First off did this person ever know their own grandparents? If not then how can he speak for them. And if this person did know them then that puts this person in an age range that makes it literally impossible for anyone living in America, Europe, Middle East, Coastal Africa, and most of Asia to have never heard of Christianity. It is a good hypothetical, theological, realistic question without someone making up facts to make it seem like a personal question.

Answer 6

According to the Christian faith, there is only one criteria for which of the two extreme afterlives your grandparents would get: Did they worship the Christian God or not?

It would not matter if they lived saintly lives...Biblegod condemns everyone who does not worship him. Period. He gives free passes to everyone who does worship him, regardless of their moral quality. Period. This is explicitly stated in the Bible.

In real life, though, there is no reason to believe any such thing. There is no evidence beyond the Christians' say-so. No one knows what will happen to anyone after death...if anything at all.

As for the folk who express surprise that your greatgrandparents had not heard of their god...I can only be amazed at their arrogance. As hard as it is to believe, there really are other religions in the world whose followers believe at least as fervently as any Christian believes in their own dogma. It is also entirely possible for someone to live their entire life without hearing a single whisper of Christian dogma. This possibility only increases the further back in history you go.

Answer 7

I think you're lying about them. Unless they lived at the bottom of a well for their entire lives, they could not have missed the great protestant revivals of the 19th century!

I wonder just how much conversation you had with them, though. There were 3 generations between you and them. You had to have been young or not born yet when they died.

How do you know that they were not born again?

Answer 8

Is hell like a fiery hotel in the center of the earth or something? I seriously doubt your grandparents are worrying about anything at this moment.

peace

Answer 9

There is no hell, unless you mean a "hole in the ground" or grave. Your grandparents' spirits are probably still around you. They're perfectly fine, and you'll see them again when you cross over.

Answer 10

Hell is not a place.
Anyone who pretends to definitely know the answer to the question is a fool. Only God, in his infinite wisdom, mercy and compassion can answer correctly. If you feel strong about it, pray to God. It certainly cannot hurt.

Answer 11

No. That would be unrighteous and Jehovah God is a loving God.
The Bible tells us there will be a resurrection of the righteous and unrighteous (Acts 24:15).
That includes everyone who never had the chance to learn the truth about God because they never heard or couldn't hear and understand due to mental illness, age etc.