If someone didn't know about "The Gospel Message" would they burn in hell?

Question

So seriously, what about those people that never have or will hear about Jesus? Undocumented tribes in South America and whatnot.

I ask bible thumpers this in debates all the time and I get one of two(or both) cop out answers.

"If you care so much why don't you go witness" (I don't, I'm just wondering what your putty is for this glaring plot hole)

and

"They can look around, see the beauty of nature, and believe in their heart that there is a God, and therefore they're saved" (Right. A god, not "The" God)

Christianity is specific in that you must accept Jesus as your Savior, or you'll burn in hell forever. Their answer for the Pygmies(or whatever) seems completely opposite to what they try and convince people every day.

But what if I believed there was some form of higher power, but didn't outright express a belief in Jesus, his Dad-Self and Spirit-Self, then why can't I go to heaven?

Sometimes I'll get "God calls us to witness to these people, so they will know"

Ok, yes he "calls you", but he can't force you to go as per he extremely kind and noble free will clause. So is he willing to send generation upon generation of people to hell just because Billy Graham hasn't made his way to the valleys of the mountainous region of lower east Venezuela?

Yes they are my beliefs, but I've been trying to get an answer thats not just a version of those 3 I posted.

I might disagree, but I want to know what people actually believe.

I was born and raised in the church, and I asked both the pastor, asst. pastor and youth pastor this question, the pastor said "If you are of Innocence(I assume this means not knowing anything) you have nothing to fear of hell."
however, from both the asst pastor and the youth pastor I got "they WOULD go to hell because of the fact that Adam and Eve was taught the ways of sacrifice, and that they would go to hell because of their ANCESTORS mistakes." (Original Sin and all that)

Answer 1

Jesus is not the one and only way to God .There are those in other lands who are doing very well without some kind of ridicules threat of hell fire which only a mental midget could come up with.This threat of hell fire is just an invention to keep people from straying away from the church and thinking for themselves for a change.

Answer 2

There are a couple things at work here that need to be considered. Too bad nobody ever gave you a good answer in the past. There are two examples in the Bible of people who are in the situation you are describing. There was nobody to preach the gospel to the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8:26 - 39 when he was truly seeking the truth. God provided someone to go and preach the gospel to him. The same situation is seen in Acts 10 with Cornelius. He was a God fearing man who did not know the truth about Jesus. God also provided a way for the gospel to go to him.

It is typical in Christian missionary experience to have tribes say that they were praying that someone would bring the truth about God to them. While this offers no proof, scripture seems to indicate that when someone is truly seeking the truth, God will provide a way for it to be preached to him.

The Bible in James 2 responds to belief only in God. It says that it is good that you believe in God, but even the demons believe that (and from the argument, the point is that this belief is not saving belief).

If you simply believe in a higher power and come up with all of your own beliefs about him, then you are not following the true God of the universe, but instead, you are following a false God or idol that you have conjured in your own mind. The Bible is full of people who had sincere beliefs in a higher power and worshipped them. It is called idolatry, and the people involved in it are rejected by God.

In John 14:6, Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the father but through me."

People may not like this exclusive claim of Christ, but just disagreeing with it does not cause it to cease to be true. I know it would be great to do whatever you want, then everyone spends eternity enjoying heaven, but quite frankly, the creator of the universe disagrees.

Answer 3

All people will have the opportunity to truly hear the gospel message when they are in a position to accept it and then they will choose whether or not to accept it. It might be in this life. It might be after. There are people that might have been around christianity their entire life but because of the way they were raised or the situations in their life they never really heard the gospel message.

It would be completely unfair for God to condemn good people just for not completly understanding or comprehending or even hearing the gospel message in this life.
I wouldnt want to believe in that kind of a God.

But then I am mormon, so we dont even really believe anyone is going to burn in hell. We believe the afterlife is more a reward system then a punishment system. After all, does anyone, even a man as evil as Hitler or Hussein, really deserve a punishment of eternal torture? Think about that. Eternity is a very very very long time.

Answer 4

Ok, I am a Christian and I DO NOT believe that people who have not heard about Christ are going to burn in hell for eternity. From what I have seen in the Bible, God will only judge people according to the information they have been given. If they did not have the ability to know God through His word or His son, it does not mean they are going to hell. The Jews prior to Jesus coming to earth did not really KNOW Jesus, But many of them will be in eternal life.

Also, this burning forever thing is just not very scriptural. There are a few vague references which could be construed as eternal torment but the time I was looking at the scripture, it seems that the eternal torment thing was meant for Satan and not for humans. Humans have taken the term eternal destruction to mean eternal torment and it is not so. Destruction means destroyed. Gone, bye-bye....not to exist anymore. This will happen by fire because Revelations mentions the lake of fire, which is the second death. (notice the term Death) not eternal torment. There is a lot more evidence in the Bible for complete destruction of the sinner than there is for eternal torment.

Answer 5

It is not the province of human beings to judge who will be judged. We are warned against such behaviour by Jesus in the Gospels and the Epistles, especially the Book of James.

I am a Christian, but I believe as do the Jews that the righteous of the world will be saved.

I am not totally convinced that it was Christ's intention that everyone embrace his teachings. He came to reform Judaism and ended up founding a new faith.

I believe that God is far more concerned with what we do that what we believe. A faith without action is worthless. Or as the Dalai Lama put it "It is not enough to have compassion, you must act."

VB8

Answer 6

Every man, woman, and child that has ever live on this earth has been given a certain amount of Light from God.

If anyone responds to the Light they have been given, God will move heaven and earth to make sure that they hear the gospel.

I wouldn't worry so much about the people who have never heard of Jesus, they will be alot better off on judgement day than someone who has heard the gospel and rejected it.

Answer 7

The concept of hell, is one of different levels, Hades existed before JC opened the Heavens, people who died before JC and believed in God, existed in Spiritual form there, Jesus freed the the souls there.
Those who have never heard of God and Jesus have the Parousia, the final calling when judgement will be made by God himself.
God want's salvation for everyone.

Answer 8

First of all God knows all and he is not going to let them just burn in hell The book says he is mercy full and of all things i am sure you have heard ... ask and it will be given In fact you say you don't care so what makes you wander about it. There is only one God The God of all Gods. It is your choice to accept or not !!! so why do you wander about it and everyone has their own beliefs do not judge

Answer 9

There is something called the AGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY. This is different for different people. This is the age when a person is able to understand well enough to consciously accept or reject Christ. That means babies and little children go to heaven if they die. Perhaps this also applies to adults who are mentally impaired and to those who don't have enough knowledge and understanding to make a decision about Christ. But don't worry. God's judgment in those situations will be perfect.


By the way, I believe HELL is the worst possible place a person could end up. However, I'm not convinced that it will be an ETERNAL TORTURE chamber. The torment and gnashing of teeth will not be because of torture but because of the HOPELESSNESS of being eternally separated from God and knowing that you rejected Him. God will not force a person to go to heaven against their will.

The Bible does talk about a LAKE OF FIRE to describe hell but it also says that Jesus will come back with a sharp two-edged sword in his mouth.

"Repent of your sin, or I will come to you suddenly and fight against them with the sword of my mouth."(Rev 2:16)

Christians don't believe Jesus will literally have a sharp sword in his mouth. This is symbolic.

Also, God is said to be a CONSUMING FIRE. That's a way to describe His holiness. It doesn't mean He's literally a ball of fire.

Answer 10

This is a good question. One cannot be punished for what they do not know. God knows hearts. I personally believe that if one dies without the knowledge of Jesus they are judged on their heart. God is just, He wouldnt punish someone for something they had no concept of. Hope this helps and isnt a cop out to you. Gods peace :)

Addendum to your add details: For those who are called to the mission field and deny their calling God will judge them accordingly. It wouldnt be a salvation issue; however we are still judged on our actions once we pass away from this earth.