Category Archives: Culture

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What About Those Who Have Never Heard About Jesus?

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The other night I had the opportunity to speak at MTSU to some great college students on the question Is Jesus the Only Way to God? In the Q & A time afterwards, this question came up and what follows is the biblical framework I shared with them. Any distinctively Christian answer to this challenging question must account for (at least) the following passages / revealed truths as we reason from the scriptures.

  1. God is compassionate and just (Gen. 18:25; Deut. 32:4; Pss. 7:9; 85:11; 89:14; 145:8–9; Rev. 16:7).
  2. All are sinners in need of a savior (Rom. 3:10–18, 23; 5:12–21; 6:23; Eph. 2:1–3).
  3. Jesus Christ is the only means of salvation (John 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Tim. 2:5; 4:10; 1 John 2:2) and the only way to God.
  4. Since the time following the resurrection of Jesus, no one can be saved apart from the knowledge of Christ (Acts 16:31; Rom. 10:14; Acts 17:30-31).
  5. God genuinely desires all to be saved (Ezek. 18:23; John 3:16; 1 Tim. 2:3–6; 2 Peter 3:9).
  6. God has revealed Himself to the whole world both in creation (Ps. 19:1–2; Acts 14:15–17; Rom. 1:19–20) and human conscience (Eccl. 3:11; Rom. 2:14–16), so that people are without excuse.
  7. God’s Spirit is at work convicting the world of sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8–11).
  8. Christians are commanded to take the gospel to the whole world (Matt. 28:19–20; Acts 1:8).
  9. God has providentially arranged the world so that people might seek Him and everyone who seeks Him will find Him (Acts 17:24–28 cf. Heb. 11:6; Jer. 29:13; Acts 10:35).
  10. There will be people from every tribe, tongue, and nation in heaven (Rev. 7:9).
  11. The awful reality of hell indicates that not everyone is saved in the end (Matt. 10:28; 25:31–46; 2 Thess. 1:7–9).
  12. There is not a second chance after death to accept the Gospel (Heb. 9:27).

It Is Crucial to Remember:

First, people are Judged for their sins—not what they don’t know. The Bible clearly teaches that people are judged for their willful sins (Rev. 20:12–15; cf. Isa. 64:6–7; Matt. 5:48; 12:36; 2 Tim. 4:14; James 2:10–11) according to the standard of revelation they have received (Rom. 2:4–16; James 4:17). They are not condemned because a missionary never made it to them and they never heard the name of Jesus.

Second, they are already condemned and actively choosing life away from God (though this will look differently for all of us). Humanity’s universal problem is that we suppress the truth available to everyone that God exists (cf. Rom. 1), mute our conscience and fail to live up to even our own standards (Rom. 2), and ultimately want to go our own way (Rom. 3).

Finally, God has many ways to get the message of the Gospel to those who seek him–(through missionaries, dreams, visions, radio, Bibles, internet, TV, tracts etc.).

At the end of the day, God doesn’t specifically answer this question to our (emotional) satisfaction in the Bible. We are left with some mystery when it comes to saying exactly how God will work out His plan of salvation among the nations. Therefore we trust ultimately in His goodness and justice. Will not the judge of the earth do right?

*Thoughtful, Bible believing Christians approach this question in different ways in light of the passages mentioned above, but I have found William Lane Craig’s approach to this question to be helpful (click here to listen)

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Atheism, Justice, and Worldview Fit

Atheism as a worldview offers no concept or grounding of ultimate justice—Hitler, Stalin, and Mao get away with it in the end. After all, they can only die once. New Atheist Richard Dawkins admits as much:

“In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won’t find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at the bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no other good. Nothing but blind pitiless indifference. DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is. And we dance to its music.”

If there is no God then there is no ultimate justice. On the other hand, Christianity fits with our idea of ultimate justice because we believe in God. For as Christians, we can ask with Abraham, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Gen. 18:25). Justice is just one of the many examples demonstrating the excellent worldview fit Christianity offers.

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Knowledge Matters For Christians

As humans, we were designed to act on knowledge in everyday life. If you and I don’t think the Bible and other sources of knowledge about God, morality, and the spiritual life are possible, and we are not growing in this knowledge, then following Jesus in everyday life will be next to impossible because we always default to what we know. Moreover, there appears to be no good reason to exclude the knowledge claims of Christianity simply because they are “religious.” If they do not hold up to scrutiny, that is one thing.

But Christianity, which is rooted in history, makes many claims, some of which are empirically testable while others are testable by nonempirical means. The crucial point is that Christianity rises to the level of being either true or false, and it can be known to be true or false (cf. Luke 1:1 – 4). If Christianity is relegated to the realm of fairy tales, which may provide personal significance or meaning but not knowledge, then people will continue not taking the claims of Jesus or the Christian worldview seriously. If, however, people are invited to consider the claims of Christianity as a knowledge tradition, then chances are good that they may come to know the living God and live life according to the knowledge provided in his Word.

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Why Does Truth Matter?

“Truth yields life. If we are sailors lost at sea, we need true north. If we’re branches on tree hoping to bear fruit, which we are, we need connection to a true vine. Truth tells us where we are, who we are, to whom we belong, and the real story in which we can fully live. It seems to me that our American culture, in its present condition, is both lost and starving for truth, and therefore vulnerable to the deception of power politics, marketing schemes, and politically correct slogans of professors, politicians, and media that often lead to the death of the soul and the body. Lies lead to death and a culture of death, but the truth sets people free for life.”—Kelley Monroe Kullberg

See also, John 8:31-32.

Is the Bible True?

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