Christiangirl0909 said:
You must remember that God could have sent us all to hell, because we're all sinners. However, he (lovingly) sent His son to die for us so that we might have a chance of getting to Heaven. In this instance, he has already been incredibly merciful, and shown his amazing love for mankind.
I couldn't agree more.
I believe that even people who are born into areas of the world who don't know Christianity still have a pretty good shot at Heaven. Because those of us who were fortunate enough to be born in a place where "Jesus" and "Christians" are everyday words, have been commanded to go out to all peoples and to help them understand the Word, to bring them the message of God's amazing love.
Yes, we have been given this commandment and it's extremely important that we obey it.
How do you reckon that the majority of people on earth will spend an eternity in torment? I'm nearly positive that most everyone in the world have heard about Christianity.
Well, for starters, there were the people who lived during the 2000 year period of time prior to when Christ lived. Two thousand years is a fairly substantial period of time, and an enormous number of people lived during those years.
Secondly, what about the billions of people who lived hundreds of years ago in places Christianity had not yet reached? True, Christianity became the state religion of the Holy Roman Empire fairly early in its history, but there were parts of the world where Buddhism or Hinduism, for example, were the only religions known and practiced. I'm talking about the billions of people who lived in 3rd century China or India, or the jungles of Africa. What about the hundreds of thousands of native Americas who lived on this continent for centuries before Christiantiy was introduced here? Christianity didn't spread to some of these places for many centuries.
Thirdly, do you have any idea at all what literacy rates were in medieval Europe? Only the tiniest fraction of people could even read. Furthermore, had they been able to read, it would have done them no good whatsoever. Until the printing press was invented, the Church had sole access to the scriptures. The Bible was not even available to the common man. How could someone who was unable to read at all be held accountable for reading, understanding and living according to a book that was not even available to him? Many of these people were "Christians" because they had been baptized as babies, but that's certainly not the same thing as saying they had any kind of a choice in the matter.
What about today in countries like Iraq where being a Christian is a capital offense? Millions of Muslim children are indoctrinated against Christianity from long before they are old enough to make an informed decision themselves. How is a ten-year old kid going to know anything other that what he's been taught? Is knowing "of" Jesus Christ the same thing as "knowing" Jesus Christ? And speaking of children, what about the millions who died as infants, before they could possibly have understood who their Savior was? If they were incapable of understanding who He was, they could not very well have recognized the significance of His sacrifice, could they?
With these things in mind, do you still really believe that "most everyone in the world have heard about Christianity"?
And also, I never said that you might as well get over it. It was you who brought the subject up in the other thread in the first place.
I am very open to the idea of admitting I'm wrong and changing my beliefs, but I'm going to need something more than "I just can't accept this."
I know you didn't. I shouldn't have put it that way. I apologize for that. When I get frustrated, I tend to say stupid things. :sorry1:
Still, however, the question remains:
How do you reconcile the idea that God is love with the idea that He has condemned the majority of His own children to spend eternity in torment -- without even giving them a fair shot at salvation?
