idk
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2009
- Messages
- 688
- Reaction score
- 270
- Location
- various spots across the country
- Gender
- Undisclosed
- Political Leaning
- Undisclosed
My personal beliefs are that all those who are presented with the Gospel and chose to reject it will go to hell for eternity. I think there is grace for those who never heard and for children who die before they can make an informed decision. I do know that in Christianity it is God's will that every nation on earth know the Gospel and God says that He will not bring about the final judgement until the Gospel has been spread to all nations. God is the judge and as far as what I get from the Bible I know that it is His will to spread the truth, but it is also up to Him to decide how to judge those that died without knowing.
That seems to defeat the entire purpose of Jesus and the Gospel. If those who have not heard the Gospel will be given Salvation, then the existence of Jesus and the Gospel only served to allow people to choose hell. Without them, no opportunity to reject the teachings of Jesus would be provided and Salvation would be granted to far more of God's children- far more efficiently as well.
No, those who have not heard the Gospel are damned along with the billions of people who lived peaceful, generous lives prior to God's seemingly arbitrary decision to send himself down to save his creation around 2000 B.C.E.
With consideration of missionaries, it's hard not to feel some hostility toward the patronizing concept of Christians returning to Africa in order to "save" certain populations from the exceptionally hateful vindictiveness of their own God. Remember, these are populations whose economies and cultures were devastated by slavery with explicit support from the Christian God himself.
The decision to divert limited resources toward the construction of churches in locations where educational and medical facilities are in short supply should be criticized by anyone with genuine interest in the welfare of others. With as much poverty and illness present in the world, there is no excuse to prioritize the construction of a church. If Christian, or Muslim, or Taoist, or whatever deities are really as powerful as their followers claim, they would take care of their own creations instead of letting them suffer. At the very least, they wouldn't condemn otherwise pure and good people for never having been given an opportunity to grovel.