I’ll never forget my 6th grade teaching telling me one specific story. I wish I could remember all of the details of this story to make it more legitimate, but unfortunately I only remember the general idea. She told me about this man that lived in a part of the world that had never heard of “Jesus Christ.” I put quotes around Jesus because the man had a spiritual relationship with someone and knew that there had to be a God out there to create the world. For some reason (I really wish I could remember), he came to America. At the airport, there were some sort of evangelists telling passengers about Jesus Christ. The man was immediately filled with joy when they spoke with him about Jesus Christ and His love. He exclaimed, “ I know Him! I know Him! I just didn't know His name!”
In class on Thursday, Leeper mentioned general revelation. Can people come to know God without the Bible. The Bible gives all of the logistics of Christianity, all of the famous names involved in its history, and the all of the ways that God wants His people to live. So if someone doesn't have the Bible, can this person know really anything about God? Can they be saved? Maybe there are two types of people in hell: people who have chosen to reject Jesus and people who simply were never told about Him. Maybe aborted babies go to hell, and maybe anyone who worships a God without the same name as ours will be there as well. Maybe if I had grown up in Saudi Arabia and given a Koran, I would be going to hell too. I do not know… These are all things that I have been consistently questioning,; some questioning since I was a child. I do believe, in full confidence, that the Bible is accurate, that Jesus is Lord, and that no one can come to God except through Jesus. I also believe that there is a hell of a lot that we don’t know about what determines eternal damnation.
If God only accepts people who believe in Him, have accepted His son as their Savior, and have applied the His Word to their everyday lives, then that leaves each of those categories in hell: people who have rejected God, people who have never been told about God, people who have never been given a chance to live, and people who have been worshiping the “wrong” god. This could be the case. After all, we all are sinners and deserve hell, and its only by God’s grace that any of us are going to go to Heaven. There is definitely plenty of scripture that can argue this.
But, God is also a fair and just and loving God. It always comes back to me that it is not characteristic of the God that I know to just give some the option of grace, while withholding it from others. Although, I am not the one who decides what is fair and just for God to do. It seems to me that He would not do these things, but I do not see the world as God does, and I could be completely incorrect.
The one thing that potentially save three of the four categories of people, while still holding biblical evidence, is general revelation. General Revelation is when God shows himself through the wonderful things he has created, giving everyone a chance to see the Glory of God.
Here are just some of the references that mention it:
Psalm 19:1-2
1) The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
2 Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
Psalm 97:6
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all peoples see his glory.
Isaiah 6:3
And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”
Daniel 2:20-22
20) “Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever;
wisdom and power are his.
21) He changes times and seasons;
he deposes kings and raises up others.
He gives wisdom to the wise
and knowledge to the discerning.
22) He reveals deep and hidden things;
he knows what lies in darkness,
and light dwells with him.
Romans 1:20
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.
People are without excuse… so there has to be some point when we all come to see God_ in whatever way He may appear_ and have the option to choose Him or reject Him…
-right??
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