Question for Christians

[tonymctones]

I know the belief that when a person dies and they have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and savior that they are sent to Hell.

My question is what happens to the people that for some reason were never exposed to christianity.
Say a person born in Iran is never exposed to christianity and only exposed to islam, what happens to this person when they die? Its not their fault they were never exposed to christianity and one could not hold them responsible for being born into a culture dominated by islam. So do they go to heaven or hell?

[beatmaster]

wow i'm curious too

don't worry they have an answer for everything, a couple of flip trough the bibles page and boom

as for me i want to go to hell, hookers, gang bang, etc..... that's where the partys at!

[benz]

I know the belief that when a person dies and they have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and savior that they are sent to Hell.

My question is what happens to the people that for some reason were never exposed to christianity.
Say a person born in Iran is never exposed to christianity and only exposed to islam, what happens to this person when they die? Its not their fault they were never exposed to christianity and one could not hold them responsible for being born into a culture dominated by islam. So do they go to heaven or hell?

They die believing in what they were taught to believe, easy. Islam offer a heaven full of virgins for those "heros" and a burning hell for the infidels.

[tonymctones]

They die believing in what they were taught to believe, easy. Islam offer a heaven full of virgins for those "heros" and a burning hell for the infidels.

I meant from a christian stand point do they go to heaven or hell?

...and I should point out that this is not an attempt to draw someone into an arguement this is a serious question that has gone unanswered thus far.

[Deicide]

I know the belief that when a person dies and they have not accepted Jesus as their Lord and savior that they are sent to Hell.

My question is what happens to the people that for some reason were never exposed to christianity.
Say a person born in Iran is never exposed to christianity and only exposed to islam, what happens to this person when they die? Its not their fault they were never exposed to christianity and one could not hold them responsible for being born into a culture dominated by islam. So do they go to heaven or hell?

They don't have an answer to this one. Why would they?

[Dos Equis]

I think the answer is in James 4:17:  "Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin." 

[Butterbean]

My question is what happens to the people that for some reason were never exposed to christianity.
Say a person born in Iran is never exposed to christianity and only exposed to islam, what happens to this person when they die? Its not their fault they were never exposed to christianity and one could not hold them responsible for being born into a culture dominated by islam. So do they go to heaven or hell?

Seems as though Hebrews 11 might help answer this question.  It talks about some OT "saints" that were justified by faith.  Jesus had not yet come to die but before He ever walked the earth people were looking forward to the Messiah and loved and trusted in God.  God knows people's hearts and will deal w/them accordingly. 

Something else that may help is that God can reveal whatever He wants to whomever He wants in any way He wants.  Dreams, visions etc.  He knows who would accept or reject Christ in advance and can provide a way.

[MCWAY]

Seems as though Hebrews 11 might help answer this question.  It talks about some OT "saints" that were justified by faith.  Jesus had not yet come to die but before He ever walked the earth people were looking forward to the Messiah and loved and trusted in God.  God knows people's hearts and will deal w/them accordingly. 

Something else that may help is that God can reveal whatever He wants to whomever He wants in any way He wants.  Dreams, visions etc.  He knows who would accept or reject Christ in advance and can provide a way.

Good point. Let's also remember that, in the Old Testament, Israel was exposed to other religions, as evidenced by their apostasy on multiple occasions. Therefore, if the Israelites can be exposed to Molech, Asheroth, Baal, etc., it would follow that people from those other regions (the other "-ites") can be exposed to the word of God.

[Decker]

I was under the impression that those not knowing of Christ can still be good christians b/c Christ's truths transcend the constraints of the bible.

The individual's subjective relationship to Christ's universal truths set forth in the Sermon on the Mount is what matters here.

Examples:

The Beatitudes

1And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him.
2Then He opened His mouth and taught them, saying:
3"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
    For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4Blessed are those who mourn,
    For they shall be comforted.
5Blessed are the meek,
    For they shall inherit the earth.

6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
    For they shall be filled.
7Blessed are the merciful,
    For they shall obtain mercy.
8Blessed are the pure in heart,
    For they shall see God.
9Blessed are the peacemakers,
    For they shall be called sons of God.
10Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake,
    For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11"Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. 12Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.


But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.

But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.

But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

[MMC78]

I was under the impression that those not knowing of Christ can still be good christians b/c Christ's truths transcend the constraints of the bible.

Well thats not what the majority of Christians accept as their doctrine.  Both mainline catholics and protestants believe that a soul lacking salvation will be condemned to eternal torture for eternity.

Salvation is typically defined as accepting Jesus as your savior and asking him to forgive your sins.  More subtleties of the doctrine are shown below

[tonymctones]

ok this brings up another question of mine...What of the people who committed sins before the 10 commandments were handed down to moses. Where the murderers not considered sinners b/c there were no sins to be had?

[MMC78]

ok this brings up another question of mine...What of the people who committed sins before the 10 commandments were handed down to moses. Where the murderers not considered sinners b/c there were no sins to be had?

Christians will say that people had no concept of morals before God gave it to them.  Not only were murder, purgery, rape and adultery permitted, they were the favorite past times of all ancient civilizations.

To give you the answer that a learned Christian should give you.  Before Moses, there was Noach (Noah).  God made a covenant with Noach; there were ~7 laws that all citizens of the earth were expected to follow: the Noahide laws. 

Before that God had a covenant with Adam and Chava (Eve) have lot of kids, no murder, no eating meat.

[Necrosis]

Well thats not what the majority of Christians accept as their doctrine.  Both mainline catholics and protestants believe that a soul lacking salvation will be condemned to eternal torture for eternity.

Salvation is typically defined as accepting Jesus as your savior and asking him to forgive your sins.  More subtleties of the doctrine are shown below

haha that is fucking hilarious. hyperbolic, but it gets across the point that christians beleive in talking animals, and two people in a garden of eden etc... lol.

god knows the future so why would he create adam and steven if they would sin and curse mankind? LOL nevermind the pure terrorism of christianity is gold. do this or burn in hell lol.

[OTHstrong]

ok this brings up another question of mine...What of the people who committed sins before the 10 commandments were handed down to moses. Where the murderers not considered sinners b/c there were no sins to be had?

With all do respect your questions cannot be taken seriously because they lack common sense. What you are suggesting is that Jesus (our saviour) is a relative unknown to the muslim communities; do they live on another planet? They have never heard of the most powerful and most famous human being to have walked the face of the earth. To ignore Jesus could only mean that your heart does not really care about any subject pertaining to any spiritual believe or your firm believe is on the religion you grew up in and aren't willing to even look into any opposing religion out of ignorence. In the case that you did read about Jesus and didn;t accept him would be considered rejecting him. In any of these scenerios you will not be allowed in heaven. We are on an even playing field.

Now your second question. We as humens have the ability to know right from wrong; we also have feelings such as sadness, happiness, and jealousy. We don't need laws to comprehend that we are causing harm to one another but we do need laws to form a nation, especially a nation that was meant to lead by example. This was one of the main purposes of the ten comanments.

CD82 stay out of this.

[MMC78]

With all do respect your questions cannot be taken seriously because they lack common sense. What you are suggesting is that Jesus (our saviour) is a relative unknown to the muslim communities; do they live on another planet? They have never heard of the most powerful and most famous human being to have walked the face of the earth. To ignore Jesus could only mean that your heart does not really care about any subject pertaining to any spiritual believe or your firm believe is on the religion you grew up in and aren't willing to even look into any opposing religion out of ignorence. In the case that you did read about Jesus and didn;t accept him would be considered rejecting him. In any of these scenerios you will not be allowed in heaven. We are on an even playing field.

A little Muslim girl would be killed for accepting Jesus as God incarnate.  You're saying that's irrelevant and that she only lacks common sense?

What about people that read and study your bible and objectively come to the conclusion that Jesus isn't all he's cracked up to be?

[Deicide]

A little Muslim girl would be killed for accepting Jesus as God incarnate.  You're saying that's irrelevant and that she only lacks common sense?

What about people that read and study your bible and objectively come to the conclusion that Jesus isn't all he's cracked up to be?

Never mind the people who lived for thousands of years in the Americas without ever having heard of Jesus.

[tonymctones]

With all do respect your questions cannot be taken seriously because they lack common sense. What you are suggesting is that Jesus (our saviour) is a relative unknown to the muslim communities; do they live on another planet? They have never heard of the most powerful and most famous human being to have walked the face of the earth. To ignore Jesus could only mean that your heart does not really care about any subject pertaining to any spiritual believe or your firm believe is on the religion you grew up in and aren't willing to even look into any opposing religion out of ignorence. In the case that you did read about Jesus and didn;t accept him would be considered rejecting him. In any of these scenerios you will not be allowed in heaven. We are on an even playing field.

Now your second question. We as humens have the ability to know right from wrong; we also have feelings such as sadness, happiness, and jealousy. We don't need laws to comprehend that we are causing harm to one another but we do need laws to form a nation, especially a nation that was meant to lead by example. This was one of the main purposes of the ten comanments.

CD82 stay out of this.

well i think if you think about it a little bit you will agree that there are people that have gone to their grave never knowing the concept Jesus. How about those who lived in china before it was opened to the rest of the world or a an african bushman? believe it or not it has happend

Now in response to your second statement let me ask you this...Is breaking the 10 commandments a sin b/c God says so? or Does God say that breaking these rules are a sin b/c there is something inherintly wrong with this acts? I know this may seem vague and both seem alike but they are different

[OTHstrong]

well i think if you think about it a little bit you will agree that there are people that have gone to their grave never knowing the concept Jesus. How about those who lived in china before it was opened to the rest of the world or a an african bushman? believe it or not it has happend

Now in response to your second statement let me ask you this...Is breaking the 10 commandments a sin b/c God says so? or Does God say that breaking these rules are a sin b/c there is something inherintly wrong with this acts? I know this may seem vague and both seem alike but they are different

Clearly the people living before Jesus are not all going to hell, so the way they are judged by God before Jesus died on the cross is the way a person would be judged by God not knowing the existence of Jesus throughout their whole life, although in this era it may not be possible because like Stella said( If I misunderstood what you said Stella then please forgive me) God has his his ways of reveiling the truth and the right path to everybody, whether you except it or reject it, well thats up to you.

[tonymctones]

Clearly the people living before Jesus are not all going to hell, so the way they are judged by God before Jesus died on the cross is the way a person would be judged by God not knowing the existence of Jesus throughout their whole life, although in this era it may not be possible because like Stella said( If I misunderstood what you said Stella then please forgive me) God has his his ways of reveiling the truth and the right path to everybody, whether you except it or reject it, well thats up to you.

I can agree with this but i will say at the same time one of the 10 commandments does say that you should not worship false idols, so those who believed in other gods were living in sin so this does somewhat conflict this view but they didnt know any better so?

Also you didnt answer my question
Now in response to your second statement let me ask you this...Is breaking the 10 commandments a sin b/c God says so? or Does God say that breaking these rules are a sin b/c there is something inherintly wrong with this acts? I know this may seem vague and both seem alike but they are different

[OTHstrong]

I can agree with this but i will say at the same time one of the 10 commandments does say that you should not worship false idols, so those who believed in other gods were living in sin so this does somewhat conflict this view but they didnt know any better so?

Also you didnt answer my question
Now in response to your second statement let me ask you this...Is breaking the 10 commandments a sin b/c God says so? or Does God say that breaking these rules are a sin b/c there is something inherintly wrong with this acts? I know this may seem vague and both seem alike but they are different

Both go hand and hand, although different. Not so sure what you are getting at. God gives you a conciouse and that should make you aware of your sins. The law on the other hand is there so you can get punished here on earth for breaking it, but it is also is a sin that you will be brought up during judgement

[Deicide]

Both go hand and hand, although different. Not so sure what you are getting at. God gives you a conciouse and that should make you aware of your sins. The law on the other hand is there so you can get punished here on earth for breaking it, but it is also is a sin that you will be brought up during judgement

Here's what Jebus has to say about sin. 

[tonymctones]

Both go hand and hand, although different. Not so sure what you are getting at. God gives you a conciouse and that should make you aware of your sins. The law on the other hand is there so you can get punished here on earth for breaking it, but it is also is a sin that you will be brought up during judgement

I can see that point, one says that it is a sin b/c God says so, and the other says that it was a sin already and thats why God made it a part of the ten commandments. If you believe the later of the two to be correct than you are saying that God has reason to make it a sin and that implies outside forces pushing him to make it a sin meaning that God is not the legislator of the ten commandments just the police. However if you believe the first one then it somewhat conflicts with the views that God is all powerful and all loving, for if that were true than why would he let suffering happen or pain for that matter and there should be no need for the ten commandments

[Deicide]

I can see that point, one says that it is a sin b/c God says so, and the other says that it was a sin already and thats why God made it a part of the ten commandments. If you believe the later of the two to be correct than you are saying that God has reason to make it a sin and that implies outside forces pushing him to make it a sin meaning that God is not the legislator of the ten commandments just the police. However if you believe the first one then it somewhat conflicts with the views that God is all powerful and all loving, for if that were true than why would he let suffering happen or pain for that matter and there should be no need for the ten commandments

I seriously can't believe you are having this silly, inane conversation.

[OTHstrong]

I seriously can't believe you are having this silly, inane conversation.

SILENCE

I can see that point, one says that it is a sin b/c God says so, and the other says that it was a sin already and thats why God made it a part of the ten commandments. If you believe the later of the two to be correct than you are saying that God has reason to make it a sin and that implies outside forces pushing him to make it a sin meaning that God is not the legislator of the ten commandments just the police. However if you believe the first one then it somewhat conflicts with the views that God is all powerful and all loving, for if that were true than why would he let suffering happen or pain for that matter and there should be no need for the ten commandments

Are you suggesting that If God loves us he wouldn't allow us to suffer?

[tonymctones]

SILENCE :PAre you suggesting that If God loves us he wouldn't allow us to suffer?

no Im suggesting that if God was all loving that he would not want suffering and if he was all powerful than he would not allow suffering...logically that is, im not saying that his not all loving or not all powerful but logically this wouldnt happen if you assume the first two premises...I was brought up to believe that what God does cannot be understood at times by us...but i believe that alot of people use this as a crutch to close their minds and plug their ears in the face of conflicting views instead of trying to understand and interpret them