For thought and meditation

[rl69]

The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

—2 Peter 3:9

Sometimes the question is asked, “Will God send people who have never heard the gospel to Hell?”

This is based on the biblical teaching that Jesus Christ is the only way to God. To proclaim that Jesus Christ is the only way to God will offend some people. But we proclaim it because the Bible clearly teaches it. This is what we call an essential, a nonnegotiable.

Jesus stated it as succinctly as it could be stated when He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). Acts 4:12 tells us, “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

But we wonder, “What about the people who have never heard this at all? Would God send them to Hell?” This, to me, shows an incorrect view of God, because the idea is that God somehow would want to send someone to Hell. But that is not the God of the Bible. If we learn nothing else in the Bible, we learn that God loves humanity and longs for fellowship and friendship with us. God doesn’t want any person to go to Hell.

God loves us so much that He put His judgment on His Son, who had never committed a single sin, so that we could be pardoned. We will be judged according to the light we have received. We will not be held accountable for what we do not know. That does not excuse us from all responsibility, however. Otherwise we might say that ignorance is bliss.

God will reveal Himself to the true seeker. God searches for us. He cares for us. And He wants us to know Him.

[Ickisrulz]

A lot depends on what "hell" actually will be. There are two thoughts on this and it is not settled theology.

If it is a place of everlasting torment, I wonder why God would allow people to continue being born who he knows will end up there. This seems very cruel and uncharacteristic of the biblical view of God.

If hell is a place of destruction and those who are lost are annihilated after a period of punishment, I can understand this. The unsaved will eventually find the peace they could not find due to sin. This seems more in tune with the idea of death.

[Blackwater]

The thing that hit me deepest in this one, is how "long suffering" our Lord truly is. He continues, all our lives, to stand at the door of our hearts with his hands out-stretched, bidding us to come to Him. He does this even when we're in the midst of our sins, when we won't even think of Him, much less acknowledge and honor Him. And yet, He's always there, awaiting us to simply open our eyes and come to Him with OUR arms open wide!

If that's not Webster's definition of "long suffering," it ought'a be!

That's one reason I tend to think that the issue of those who've never heard of Him .... to HIM. It's not given to us to know every little jot and tittle of how God thinks, and how His values work. So .... I have ceased (for the most part, anyway) trying to figure out insoluable questions. I think the non-believers try to use questions like this just to justify their disbelief? All I know for sure, is that ALL of us who believe know ENOUGH to trust Him to make the right decision for the right reasons. He's given us MORE than enough to trust Him with things we don't and maybe even can't understand. That's my view, anyway. I view interpreting the scriptures as being, at times, a sort'a dangerous proposition, lest we ASSUME too much by what's said, and extrapolate it out further than it was meant by Him to be stretched. I think it's always good to be humble enough when reading and interpreting scripture to know and accept that our understanding of it may not always be complete, or quite extensive enough to figure out the answers to every question, especially the more contrived ones, like what happens to those who have never heard the Word. So .... I just shrug, and leave that up to the Lord. Some questions are just above my pay grade! I can wish they weren't from now to the end, but wishin' ain't gittin'. Serenity in not knowing ALL the answers is the toughest thing I think we have to learn in our walk with the Lord. But trust can overcome all that, and we DO have MORE than enough reasons to trust Him implicitly and completely. What a wonder our Lord truly is!