Justice for the ignorant?

[Wertbag]

I heard a discussion which stumped a Christian which peaked my interest.  The conversation had gone like:

"Do you believe God is loving, just and merciful?"

"Of course"

"And salvation is only through a belief in Jesus?"

"Yes"

"What do you believe happens to people who have never heard of Jesus?  The African tribesman who has never seen a white man?"

"Umm, well God would judge them upon reaching heaven, they would know Him after death"

"So being an atheist due to ignorance is not automatically punished by hell?"

"I wouldn't expect so, God is just"

"So if no one in the world had ever heard of Jesus then we would all be free from judgement until after death?"

"..."

 

Paraphrased to hell, but basically the idea.  As with any subject I'm sure Christians won't agree on the rules, but really if God won't punish the ignorant because He is just and merciful then burning all of the worlds bibles and not teaching anyone would guarantee more people are saved...  the alternative is that He burns all non-believers for not believing in something they never knew existed.

Am I missing something that Christians believe that would fill this gap?  Is ignorance the best defence?

[Lucy]

That reasoning is a big part of why I never wanted to try to convert other people. I always felt like the ignorant would be judged less harshly than those who knew the Truth™.

 

Some Christians I knew believed that when a person without exposure to Christianity died, god would explain everything to them then and ask them to accept or reject Jesus before sending them to heaven or hell. I never believed that, but if that were your beliefs then you should try to NOT spread it because the choice would be much easier to make coming from god himself instead of some missionary.

[MOHO]

I've always heard that topic explained as Jesus being the ONLY way to salvation and that goes for those who have never even heard of him. I'm guessing that's mostly an effort to get dumasses unsuspecting indroctinees to proselytize all over the globe.

[Geezer]

I think it was Shermer that wrote the book Why Smart People Believe Bizarre Things. I think a more appropriate title might have been Why Smart People Believe Stupid Things. 

 

 

[bornagainathiest]

When I was a Christian I was taught that Romans 1 : 18 - 25 covered the fate of every human who had never heard of Jesus.

 

18  The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 

19   since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.

20  For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that  people are without excuse.

21  For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 

22  Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 

23  and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised.  Amen.

 

Therefore, nobody has an excuse for not knowing God.

But now that I'm an Ex-Christian and look upon scripture critically, I can see something new.  The apostle Paul describes how everyone can see and know God.  But what he doesn't describe is how they can see and know the only person of the Trinity who can offer them salvation - Jesus Christ.  Salvation doesn't come through knowing the God the Father or knowing the God the Holy Spirit.  Those two persons of the Godhead cannot save you.  Only God in the form of Jesus Christ can save you from eternal hell fire.

 

So is the God being described by Paul in verses 18 to 25, Jesus Christ?  

 

If that were the case, then wouldn't Paul have openly said so in his letter to the Romans?  

 

But if the God Paul is referring to above isn't Jesus Christ, then what does that mean for the billions who've lived and died, never knowing that name?