What happens to people who aren’t taught about Jesus

[dustdev14]

To truly phrase this question, I have a story to tell, so please indulge my poetic storytelling technique. Let’s say there is a man who lives on a small island with a tribe. This tribe has had no contact with the outside world except seeing passing ships, planes, etc. One day, the man finds a bottle on the beach with a rolled up piece of artwork inside. The artwork is of a man who is healing the sick and curing diseases. The tribesman immediately dismisses this as complete molarky, but is curious. He wants to learn of this seemingly magically man, so he asks around the tribe about it. During his search, the village elder gives his opinion on the magical man. He tells of how the man was a terrible person, and how he did terrible things, because the elder had seen a picture of him being stabbed while hanging from a cross. The tribesman is satisfied with this, and for the rest of his days believes that Christ was an evil being. What is this man’s fate in the afterlife?

 

[Fauken]

What happens to them? We entrust them to God. But we don’t believe that someone is condemned for never following Jesus when, by no fault of their own, have never heard of Him.

 

[chessnerd321]

Let’s be honest that it doesn’t look good. There’s a big movement to find a way to explain everyone into heaven, but Jesus is the new ark. He alone is the means of salvation. Someone would have to live a very holy life without the reinforcement of society and church. That seems difficult. It’s hard enough for us who have the sacraments.

I’m not going to say any particular person is in hell. But I’m not going to shy away from saying on principle plenty of people most likely are.

 

[therese1998]

To truly phrase this question, I have a story to tell, so please indulge my poetic storytelling technique. Let’s say there is a man who lives on a small island with a tribe. This tribe has had no contact with the outside world except seeing passing ships, planes, etc. One day, the man finds a bottle on the beach with a rolled up piece of artwork inside. The artwork is of a man who is healing the sick and curing diseases. The tribesman immediately dismisses this as complete molarky, but is curious. He wants to learn of this seemingly magically man, so he asks around the tribe about it. During his search, the village elder gives his opinion on the magical man. He tells of how the man was a terrible person, and how he did terrible things, because the elder had seen a picture of him being stabbed while hanging from a cross. The tribesman is satisfied with this, and for the rest of his days believes that Christ was an evil being. What is this man’s fate in the afterlife?

You are converging two separate issues into one.

1. This man is in a state of error but not a state of mortal sin (as regards this issue, anyway). Since he lacks full knowledge, he does not have all the information at his disposal to make an eternal decision to treat God as an “evil being”.
2. What is his state in the afterlife? Nobody can make that determination about another, but particularly when we know nothing else of his life.

It’s a dangerous game to play the “what if” game when it comes to how souls will accept or reject God’s teaching. At best, it’s pure speculation. What we CAN be sure of is that Jesus died so that salvation is open to all. It is not his wish for anyone to live in eternal separation. We have no guaranteed knowledge of anyone’s place in the afterlife, but we have strong and legitimate reason to hope that he would find salvation in Christ.

 

[Dan_Defender]

The scenario is one of invincible ignorance. The person is not at fault by not knowing, so if the person lives a righteous life can indeed attain salvation. God knows the heart.