Can A Merciful God Condemn A Man To Hell Who Has Never Heard The Gospel, And Justify Himself In Doing So?

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Locoponydirtman

Guest
#42
I'm seeing variations of this question a lot on here. I don't think its anything new, but I do think its perhaps more common now because of our hedonistic culture and the extreme value we have placed on the individual in western society. We question scripture and at times put ourselves on equal footing with God, and sometimes above God. I'm not pointing fingers because I used to do it too.

There's a video that encapsulates it very well that gets shared on social media platforms like Facebook. Here it is:


Stephen Fry doesn't take issue with the question of salvation, he gets right to the meat of the matter and openly challenges God....he even takes it to the ultimate degree by daring to put himself above God and sit in judgement of Him.

The way in which I've moved past this, is that I focus on my relationship with God....recognizing that I am broken and sinful, and knowing that my only hope for salvation is through the blood of the Lamb. As for anyone else? Their salvation or condemnation is not for me to decide. I have enough to worry about with my own salvation to concern myself with the salvation of others. That is not to say that I have no regard for my fellow human beings. Scripture teaches me that Jesus is very clear about how I'm too treat others, whether they be brothers and sisters in Christ or not.

God does not need to justify Himself to me, I need to justify myself to God and I can only do that through the fruits of the Spirit by laying my sins at the foot of the cross.

Blessings
This guy is short sighted.
True enough there is great pain in this veil of tears. It's not wise to trade all of eternity for this age. So while there is great suffering there is also greater reward. How foolish to throw off great reward because of temporary suffering. So we all struggle through this world of sin and death, we don't lose hope in its consolation that for all eternity there after we are beyond sin and death and the destruction that goes with it.
 

ForestGreenCook

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2018
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#43
Same spiritual birth that comes by hearing the voice of God working in any beleiver. Not when but if they are given ears to hear.
Just curious, How do you explain John the Baptist's spiritual birth?
 

ForestGreenCook

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2018
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#44
Was John the Baptist saved or born again?
I believe that Garee answered truthfully in his explanation in Post 41, however, I might add that John the Baptist did nothing in order to be born spiritually and that holds true for all of us.
 

ForestGreenCook

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Jul 8, 2018
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#45
God knows all things, thus He knows whether or not someone would have accepted Jesus. Because of this, His decisions are true, just, righteous and merciful.
No disrespect, but to just keep things truthful, Psalms 53:2-3, says that God looked down from heaven and saw by his foreknowledge that no one would seek him, no, not one. This is why it was necessary for God to choose an elect people before the foundation of the world and give them to Jesus to adopt them as his children and Jesus payed the adoption fee by his death on the cross.
 
Mar 28, 2016
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#46
Just curious, How do you explain John the Baptist's spiritual birth?
The faith of Christ comes from hearing Christ or hearing God. It is his faith that works in men by which they can believe him not seen. Christ's Faith is a work or labor of his love. .
 

tourist

Senior Member
Mar 13, 2014
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Tennessee
#47
It is interesting that the plural form, "straits," means difficulty or distress. And in several places that is how the Bible describes the life of following Jesus.
At times I probably need to be in a strait jacket so I can relate to this.
 
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kaylagrl

Guest
#48
We can read all the verses we want to try and justify this question but we cannot answer it. We have God's word and we need to follow it. God is God! We are bound by God's commandments, God is not! God can save whoever he wants.
God is not bound by His Word? I don't think so. The Bible tells us who will be saved and how. God does not change His mind and is bound to His Word.
 

ForestGreenCook

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2018
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#49
The faith of Christ comes from hearing Christ or hearing God. It is his faith that works in men by which they can believe him not seen. Christ's Faith is a work or labor of his love. .
The natural man only has the faith of man. The only way that you can have spiritual faith is to be born of the Spirit because spiritual faith is a fruit of the Spirit. The point is that being born of the Spirit has nothing to do with man's faith, nor of his good works. That is why it is described as by God's sovereign grace.
 
Nov 26, 2012
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#50
Rev 20:13, states that at the great white throne judgement, when the seas give up their dead, etc..., “Each man will be judged according to what he has done.”

I think Jesus is the Way, to the Father, but spiritually there are different ways to Jesus. He stated that he who has His commandments and obeys them, it is he who loves Him. Whether Someone follows His commandment to love because he said, or just because they are intuitively inclined to do so, the commandment is being followed. I’ve met some genuinely caring individuals who may not declare Christ as Lord but still obey Him.
 
Sep 3, 2016
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#51
I believe that Garee answered truthfully in his explanation in Post 41, however, I might add that John the Baptist did nothing in order to be born spiritually and that holds true for all of us.
Until after the Cross of Calvary where the victory was won, nobody was born again...including John the Baptist. In the O/T they were saved, however they could not go to Heaven...only down below to Paradise (the blood of goats and bulls couldn't take away sin). Remember, Jesus said that the N/T Saints will be greater than John the Baptist who was the greatest in the O/T. Remember also that Jesus went down to Paradise to set the captives free; Satan still had a legal right to hold them (but could not mess with them) because the blood of bulls and goats could not satisfy the sin debt.
 

inukubo

Active member
Jun 27, 2019
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#52
Jesus said, "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matthew 7:14).

Can A Merciful God Condemn A Man To Hell Who Has Never Heard The Gospel, And Justify Himself In Doing So?
Yes. The dead remain dead unless they are made alive by the Spirit through the Gospel...
 

ForestGreenCook

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2018
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#53
Until after the Cross of Calvary where the victory was won, nobody was born again...including John the Baptist. In the O/T they were saved, however they could not go to Heaven...only down below to Paradise (the blood of goats and bulls couldn't take away sin). Remember, Jesus said that the N/T Saints will be greater than John the Baptist who was the greatest in the O/T. Remember also that Jesus went down to Paradise to set the captives free; Satan still had a legal right to hold them (but could not mess with them) because the blood of bulls and goats could not satisfy the sin debt.
Being born again is when God regenerates a person and puts the Holy Spirit within them, which is what happened to Moses. Isaiah 63:11, Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him?
 

ForestGreenCook

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#54
This is a faulty assessment.

because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures. Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Romans 1:19‭-‬25 NASB

No one is condemned unfairly.
You will never understand the grace of God until you have understood how corrupt we are my our nature, even those that have been born again, because we still carry the baggage of our fleshly nature. The scripture that you have referenced is talking about born again people. Paul tells of his battle of the flesh against the Spirit.
 

ForestGreenCook

Well-known member
Jul 8, 2018
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#55
Yes. The dead remain dead unless they are made alive by the Spirit through the Gospel...
They were not made alive through the gospel, they were made alive in order to hear the gospel. My sheep hear my voice and I know them. The natural man before he becomes a sheep, cannot discern the gospel.
 

ForestGreenCook

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Jul 8, 2018
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#56
Rev 20:13, states that at the great white throne judgement, when the seas give up their dead, etc..., “Each man will be judged according to what he has done.”

I think Jesus is the Way, to the Father, but spiritually there are different ways to Jesus. He stated that he who has His commandments and obeys them, it is he who loves Him. Whether Someone follows His commandment to love because he said, or just because they are intuitively inclined to do so, the commandment is being followed. I’ve met some genuinely caring individuals who may not declare Christ as Lord but still obey Him.
We must take into consideration that the natural man cannot discern spiritual commandments, 1 Cor 2:14, and will not be intuitively inclined to obey them.
 

ForestGreenCook

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#57
God is not bound by His Word? I don't think so. The Bible tells us who will be saved and how. God does not change His mind and is bound to His Word.
We should give scripture references with our statements of beliefs so other people can compare our statements to the scriptures to evaluate whether they hold true to the scriptures. I am guilty at times for not holding to that practice.
 
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Locoponydirtman

Guest
#58
You will never understand the grace of God until you have understood how corrupt we are my our nature, even those that have been born again, because we still carry the baggage of our fleshly nature. The scripture that you have referenced is talking about born again people. Paul tells of his battle of the flesh against the Spirit.
Exactly,
I find it a horrific discouragement to many Christians who love God and love Jesus, that struggle with their sins. Many question their salvation because they are taught they should have the power of the holy Spirit to over come sin, yet they struggle.
They say I believe and confess Jesus and pray, God must have rejected me. To which I point them to Romans, and show them Paul struggling with his sins. Then a day something to the effect of, as long as this corpse hangs around your neck you will struggle. I also say that there are those who have all appearances of having over come the flesh and they will even testify that they have, but they are dishonest about the sins of their heart. That person is in real danger because they are as the Pharisees who had the appearance of righteousness but we're rotten to the core.
My advice, stay honest about your sins and stay in confession, God has mercy on this confession.
 
Sep 3, 2016
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#59
Being born again is when God regenerates a person and puts the Holy Spirit within them, which is what happened to Moses. Isaiah 63:11, Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? Where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him?
Jesus said these words in John 14:17, "the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.

In other words the Holy Spirit was with them {some}, but could not live in them until the Cross; Jesus had to be glorified, seated at the right hand of the Father.

37 In the last day, that great day of the Feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.

38 He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of Living Water.

39 (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) John 7
 

know1

Senior Member
Aug 27, 2012
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#60
All children are born into this world by natural birth and are by nature sinful after the nature of Adam. they become spiritual by being born again, same as adults, as described in Eph 2, with the exception of some that are born again spiritually while still in their mothers womb as John the Baptist was.
Let me put it to you how God told me.

"Except a MAN be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven".
And then He said emphatically, "BABIES are NOT, MEN!!!"

God already took me down this road, and I don't need a second tongue lashing to get the revelation all over again. I got it the first time.
You now have two witnesses, stating, children go to heaven when they die at a young age.
Romans chapter 7:9 and the above verse.
Look up the definitions to the original language. Children are not held accountable for their actions until they are of age.
They have to first die spiritually like Adam did, and that doesn't happen when they are conceived, but when they come to adulthood.
As for the exact age of when that is, I don't know. I think it varies per person.
When the children of Israel sinned against God, and He made them wander in the wilderness, whose carcasses fell in the desert, both the children and the adults, or just the adults of 20 and up?

What was the age for a man to go to war?

Exo 30:12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.
Exo 30:13 This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD.
Exo 30:14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD.

Num 1:3 From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel: thou and Aaron shall number them by their armies.