Is Ignorance Bliss?

by Noel George on Thu Feb 04, 2010 4:14 pm

According to the Bible, what will happen to the soul's of people who never hear of Jesus Christ? Will they go to heaven according to conscience's sake? Or will they go to Hell because they have never accepted Christ as Lord?

by weston on Fri Feb 05, 2010 8:24 pm

I think they are reincarnated. :-P

/* Edit:

I realize this can be an emotional topic. Please respect others' viewpoints, and keep it civil! Smile

It will also be great if you can back up your statements with scripture */

by Noel George on Mon Feb 08, 2010 4:28 pm

What happened to your purgatory line?

by weston on Mon Feb 08, 2010 4:47 pm

It has been reincarnated as a reincarnation line. Smile

My beliefs on the subject are pretty cut and dry. I think that when Jesus said "only way", that is exactly what he meant. I don't see room for exception in that statement.

This video kind of parallels this topic:

by Noel George on Mon Feb 08, 2010 7:04 pm

So you are saying that all men apart from Christ are lost/damned?

Even if they have never heard of the Jesus of the Bible?

by weston on Mon Feb 08, 2010 7:05 pm

Yes, unless they have red hair.

by Noel George on Mon Feb 08, 2010 7:08 pm

Would not unreached people groups on different continents be very similar to babies that have not yet reached accountability? Although they are chronologically older, they are just as innocent in their minds- untouched by the message of Jesus Christ.

by weston on Mon Feb 08, 2010 7:21 pm

I thought the age of accountability was due to the fact that the child had not yet acted on their sinful nature.

Is it ok to murder if I don't know that it is wrong? If I offer a virgin as a sacrifice to a volcano, and think that I am in the right, will God not hold me accountable -- because I have never known the law?

Even with all of this, I think there is some innate feeling of right and wrong that is common to humans. I might feel a slight twinge of guilt as I threw the woman kicking and screaming into the lava... If I continued the practice, even after that, would it become sin, or was it already sin?

by jswadley on Mon Feb 08, 2010 8:05 pm

I believe scripture says somewhere that Christ will not return until his name has been proclaimed to all nations and animals. I could be wrong, though.

So based on that, would all the people who have died not hearing about Jesus get a chance to hear before judgement?

Since Christ fulfills the law, do jews still live under the law? But what if they hear about Jesus and do not accept him?

This makes my head hurt.

by weston on Mon Feb 08, 2010 9:14 pm

This verse keeps rattling through my head:

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Psalms 19:1 [NIV]

Here is a question that will likely start a flame war:

Can a person have a relationship with Christ without ever hearing the gospel?

by dalehill47 on Mon Feb 08, 2010 9:36 pm

Romans 1:18-32 is pretty plain on this subject. It is our hypothetical conjecturing that gets us into trouble.
Yes, we can come up with scenarios that seem to make things difficult to accept, or even to impale us on the horns of a dilemma.
However, we do not know the workings of God in any particular situation, even in the darkest interiors of an unreached country.
this passage tells us that people are able to know God, and know about God, but they choose not to beccause they prefer unrighteous living, which suppresses the truth that they could come to know.
(Also, just for the record, excepting only those with red hair seems prejudicial to me. Why not those with no hair?!?)

by weston on Mon Feb 08, 2010 9:45 pm

Romans 1:18-32 for those without a Bible handy, says this:

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 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 men are without excuse. 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. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator-who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion. Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

(Sorry Dale, just the redheads. I don't make the rules.)

by JonBonJolly on Tue Feb 09, 2010 3:14 am

We tread a slippery slope if we began to make up our own doctrine regarding the fate of those who have not heard of Jesus Christ. If we say they will enter the kingdom of God, the truth is not in us and we will lead others astray. As tender-hearted, God-loving people we tend to water down the truth to make it easier on our understanding. Let us not depart from God’s Truth.

The truth states, “Unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God.” Jesus continues by saying, “This is how much God loves people, He gave His only Son, so that anyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.” You believe in Jesus, you have eternal life. You don’t believe in Jesus, you don’t have eternal life. There’s no room for argument here.

Paul tells us, “From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see His invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.” God reveals His divine nature, the Godhead, the Three-in-One in the very creation He created. His created can know the Godhead through that creation. He will draw all people unto Himself unless they reject the light and continue to walk in darkness.

Send missionaries! Preach the word. Everyone needs to hear.

by sharlonna on Tue Feb 09, 2010 5:55 pm

In looking up ignorance which is lack of knowledge, education or awareness (synonyms - unaware and uninformed) and bliss which is complete happiness (synonyms - paradise and heaven) you really can't get to heaven if you are unaware of the place or the way to get there - it seems to be an oxymoron . Listening to John McArthur on "Grace to You" this morning he basically said the same thing and that there are people out there teaching that you can get to heaven even if you do not know Jesus . That pretty much negates Jesus coming to Earth and then suffering and dying for us . If it is really just our wish that babies and small children go to heaven , what happens to the baby if a female believer dies while pregnant because I have also wondered about this verse - Woe to the pregnant women and those suckling a baby in those days! Matthew 24:19. I know it is talking about the end times , but does this mean she will be pregnant or suckling wherever she ends up in eternity ??? Matthew also talks about being ready - On this account YOU too prove yourselves ready, because at an hour that YOU do not think to be it, the Son of man is coming. Which also goes with the above .

by Noel George on Tue Feb 09, 2010 7:15 pm

Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me." John 14:6.

Jesus is Truth. I like this phrase, "The Exclusivity of Jesus Christ."

Truth divides, separates and at the same time, makes whole. This is the two-edged sword of truth.

Is Ignorance Bliss?

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