You might be thinking, "God never came down and whispered in my ear what I can and can't do. So why do I get punished for doing something I don't know is wrong?" That doesn't work either. It is undeniable that we are all born with a conscience. Con means with, science means knowledge. Therefore conscience means with knowledge. We sin with knowledge. Your conscience makes you feel guilty every time you sin, but since we are in a sinful state, our conscience aren't working properly. We are able to ignore them. God also gave men the 10 Commandments as our guidelines to what sin is. If you have lied you are a liar. If you have stolen something no matter the value, you are a thief. If you have been unjustly angry at someone, you are a murder at heart. If you have looked at someone with sexual desire, you are an adulterer at heart. These are only four of the commandments, there are still six more. God looks at our thoughts, not just our actions. The Bible tells us that no thief or adulterer will enter the Kingdom of God and that all liars will have there part in a lake of Fire (aka Hell).
According to the 10 Commandments and the Bible, nobody is worthy of heaven. Everyone has sinned and is deserving of Hell. There will be a day of judgment where you will be brought to trial with God as the judge, and you will be judged for every thought and every action. What can you do. You know that you are a liar, a thief, an adulterer, and a murderer. You know that you are guilty of breaking God's Laws and are deserving of Hell. Like a good judge, you cannot bribe God with good works. You cannot earn God's favor by anything that we can do. It is like telling a judge in a court of law, "yes honor, I killed that woman and stole her car, but I give money to charity. Could you please let me go." The judge would be insulted and would give you your sentence in prison.
You now know that God cannot be bribed, and your eternity is starting to look pretty bleak. But there is still hope. God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to live a perfect, sinless life, and to be the perfect sacrifice for our sins. This is similar to back in the court of law. You realize that there is nothing that you can do because you cannot afford the fine, and therefore will have to serve your prison sentence. But Jesus, dying for our sins, is like someone who you don't know, coming into that courtroom and laying down the million dollar fine. He tells you that he loves you and that he sold all of his possessions so that he could come up with money to pay the fine. The judge looks at the money, sees that the fine has been paid, knows that justice has been served, and releases you. All you have to do to receive Christ's gift to you is to repent of your sins and to place your faith in Jesus. Repent means that you apologize to God for your sins and turn away from them. Then you put Jesus Christ on as you would put a parachute on if you were jumping from a plane. You trust Jesus with all of your life.
In conclusion, people do not go to Hell for not believing in Jesus. They go to Hell because they are sinners and deserve to go to Hell for braking God's Laws. Everyone is on a highway to Hell, and the only way to escape that terrible fate is through Jesus Christ. You now know what must be done to become a Christian and have everlasting life. You should realize that God is not some big bully sending people to Hell, but his a righteous, holy, and just God that proved how much he loved us by sacrificing His Son while we were yet sinners.
Amazing Grace
How Sweet the Sound
That Saved a Wretch like Me.
I once was Lost,
But now am Found,
Was Blind, but now I See.
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8 comments:
You never really answer the question of if people go to hell for not believing in Jesus. Your answer "parrots" Ray Comfort's explanation which I think is inadequate. Don't get me wrong I like Ray and his ministry and I am a christian. Biblically I think the answer is in Romans 1: 19,20. God's invisible attributes clearly seen in creation itself.
The question is answered. Read the last paragraph. The final paragraph sums up the whole post and simply answers the question.
Romans 1:19,20 in no way contradicts my answer. If anything, I expand on that idea. I don't understand how my answer is inadequate if I expand on what you think is adequate.
Your conclusion states the people don't go to hell for not believing in Jesus but because they are sinners. Then a few sentences later you say that the only way to escape Hell is through Jesus (I would assume that would mean a belief in Jesus). This seems to be a contradiction. You either have to believe in Jesus or not. The native in remote Africa who never hears the gospel will not know who the person Jesus is. But he might "discover" the Creator through creation itself (Romans 1:19,20). Is he then saved even though he never heard of the person Jesus? Would not God judge someone on what he knows and what evidence is presented to him even if it’s just creation and not the gospel itself? Dr. Craig answered this question on his Reasonable Faith site. It's an interesting answer if you want to check it out
Yes, the only way to be saved is through Jesus Christ, but the reason people go to Hell is because we have all broken God's Law. God requires perfection. People go to Hell because we have all fallen miserably short of God's standard. I realize that it is confusing, but that doesn't mean that it is wrong. Maybe you are right. I guess we will find out once we enter Heaven. We can agree to disagree.
However, Jesus said that He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Nobody gets to the Father except by Him. I know that it is in God's power to make Himself known to people in the middle of a jungle, but I don't know of any evidence for it. The closest thing to it in my opinion is when Cornelius sends for Peter. Cornelius worshiped the true God, but didn't have the knowledge of what Jesus Christ did. In my opinion, if an aborigine knew about the true God of the Universe he would not understand salvation, unless God sent a missionary to him. How would they understand what Jesus Christ, God Himself, did to redeem us wicked sinners. They wouldn't understand the concept of a Savior. At least that is what I believe.
Example: People don't go to jail for not paying their fine. They go to jail because they have broken the law. Jesus paid our fine for us, but people go to Hell, because they have broken God's Law.
Your reference to Cornelius is a good one, I never thought of that one. This kind of question I get asked all the time by skeptics of christianity and atheists alike. Yes, its a tough question to answer without making christianity sound arrogant. Yes, Jesus is the only way to the father, no doubt. In romans it says the creator can be known through creation. Jesus is the creator of all things that were created through him and for him (Colossians 1:16). So, to know that creator, by observing creation, or by a missionary is still knowing Jesus (the Creator of all things). The bible says on judgement the unsaved will be without excuse. The aborgine stands before God on judgement day and says no one (a missionary) told him about Jesus and salvation. But,(this is my opinion) he is still without excuse because the things of God can be know by the creation around him. Because a missionary didn't get to him with the gospel before he died (and there are people in this world who fit this category)is not an excuse because the unsaved will be without excuse on judgement day. Being without excuse means EVERYBODY had an opportunity to repent and be saved.
I agree with everything you have said. I think that there has been miscommunication somewhere, because as far as I can tell, we both believe the same thing.
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