Why did God wait so long to send Jesus to forgive our sins?

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dandingo

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I hear this argument a lot, mainly from Atheists and Agnostics. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately and realized I don’t have a good answer.

So, what happened to all of the people that died before Jesus was able to save them? Did they go to hell? Purgatory? Did God ‘mess up’ and then fix his mistake? Is there an answer in the Catechism or somewhere else? Please understand I’m doing my best to play the devils’ advocate here.

Thanks in advance!
 
“In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son.” It’s not “long” in God’s time…in God’s time, it was right…“in the fullness of time”. God knew when.🙂
 
They went to the “Limbo of the Fathers”, and were released during the three days that Jesus spent among the dead before his resurrection.
 
Atheists don’t understand that time does not apply to God. Time is a measure of change and God does not change so time does not apply to God. God is outside of time and all time is therefor present to God. All time is “Now” to God. God looks down and sees Adam and Eve, you and I, and the last person to ever be born all at the same time.

“Before Christ” is a term that is not relevant to God.

The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. (Romans 6:10)

Christ’s sacrifice is redemtive for all - past, present and future.

-Tim-
 
Publisher said:
“In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son.” It’s not “long” in God’s time…in God’s time, it was right…“in the fullness of time”. God knew when.🙂
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Exactly what I was going to quote, the EUCHARISTIC prayer…

👍😃

(Must have read my mind) 😉 🙂
 
TimothyH said:
Atheists don’t understand that time does not apply to God. Time is a measure of change and God does not change so time does not apply to God. God is outside of time and all time is therefor present to God. All time is “Now” to God. God looks down and sees Adam and Eve, you and I, and the last person to ever be born all at the same time.

“Before Christ” is a term that is not relevant to God.

The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. (Romans 6:10)

Christ’s sacrifice is redemtive for all - past, present and future.

-Tim-
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Exactly. Its like when the pagans asked St. Augustine “why did your GOD create the world at that exact time” , then St. Augustine, ever the superior philosopher replies "Ah yes, but that is when he created time too!!
 
The only way into heaven is through baptism of water or the desire thereof, either conscious (eg, in catechumens) or unconscious (eg, in other non-Catholics who seek to do God’s will to the best of their knowledge). Therefore, those just people who lived before Christ waited in the limbo of the fathers after death and until Christ came and opened the gates of heaven for them. Those just people who lived in lands that did not receive the gospel during their lifetime were saved through their unconscious desire for baptism. Those saved through baptism of desire are known only to God and are united to the Church in a spiritual manner, whereas those of us graced with baptism of water are united to the Church in a spiritual and visible manner. Therefore, no salvation outside the Church still applies (cf, 1959 Holy Office Letter).

In terms of why Christ became incarnate at the time He did: wickedness had peaked and God saw fit to defeat it at a time when it was strongest. He will defeat it in a similar way in the near future when the Immaculate Heart triumphs and a period of peace is given us.
 
Thanks for all of the responses. I’ll play the Atheist here:

Just because time doesn’t exist to God, how do we know that during the ‘time’ before Christ, none of these people went to hell because they weren’t able to accept Christ in order to save their souls? How do we know that these people went to Limbo after their death and before Christ came?
 
Not sure how this ties in to what other people said, BUT based on my past studies of Various religions and philosophy> Time is eternal, it has been in existance before we were, and will continue to exist after we are gone (this is a crude explanation of gods view of time).

While our time isnt true time, but simply based on a manmade clock, simpy being a mechanical device that counts the hours of the day, weeks of the months, and years (all which were manmande).

That should be enough to put up a good argument with them. 🙂
 
dandingo said:
Thanks for all of the responses. I’ll play the Atheist here:

Just because time doesn’t exist to God, how do we know that during the ‘time’ before Christ, none of these people went to hell because they weren’t able to accept Christ in order to save their souls? How do we know that these people went to Limbo after their death and before Christ came?
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Some people most certainly did go to hell before Christ, just as there are those that wind up in hell subsequent to Christ. All those in heaven owe their salvation to Jesus even if they were unable to accept Jesus or lived before the time of Christ. The Jews were the chosen people and were selected to make known the one true God. Obviously, the Egyptians and many of Israel’s neighbors, both far and near, never accepted the one true God. The Jews were also selected to bring forth the Savior, Jesus Christ. Not everyone has accepted Jesus as God and Savior.

OT Jews followed Christ without knowing it, even though they anticipated the Messiah. Paul puts things this way in 1 Cor 10:1-8:
I WANT you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same supernatural food and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things are warnings for us, not to desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to dance.” We must not indulge in immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day.
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So, not even all Jews were bound for heaven, but we see that those that were saved, were saved by Jesus in anticipatory fashion.

I hope this helps.
 
dandingo said:
I hear this argument a lot, mainly from Atheists and Agnostics. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately and realized I don’t have a good answer.

So, what happened to all of the people that died before Jesus was able to save them? Did they go to hell? Purgatory? Did God ‘mess up’ and then fix his mistake? Is there an answer in the Catechism or somewhere else? Please understand I’m doing my best to play the devils’ advocate here.

Thanks in advance!
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Paul, when speaking to the Athenians about paganism, said, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:30). This suggests, first, that God waited for the right time, and, second, that God made some sort of allowance for those who were never in a position to hear the Gospel, which is a self-evidently fair thing to do. Exactly what allowance is made we have not been told, but the Bible does not claim to hand all of the answers to everything.
 
dandingo said:
I hear this argument a lot, mainly from Atheists and Agnostics. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately and realized I don’t have a good answer.

So, what happened to all of the people that died before Jesus was able to save them? Did they go to hell? Purgatory? Did God ‘mess up’ and then fix his mistake? Is there an answer in the Catechism or somewhere else? Please understand I’m doing my best to play the devils’ advocate here.

Thanks in advance!
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I would encourage the following: Prior to asking further questions, first declare what is the purpose for God creating? When the proper purpose for God creating is assigned, all the other questions become more easily solvable/understandable.

To answer the questions:
“Why did God wait so long to send Jesus?” Because had He sent Jesus earlier, the purpose for creation could not be fulfilled.

“What happened to all the people that died before Jesus was able to save them?” vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/p123a12.htm
V. THE LAST JUDGMENT
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1038 The resurrection of all the dead, "of both the just and the unjust,"623 will precede the Last Judgment.
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“Did God ‘mess up’, then fix his mistake?” No, God did not ‘mess up’. God makes no mistakes. God is perfect.

Thanks for the excellent questions! I look forward to further discussion!
 
Thanks so much for all of the responses. They’ve all helped me be a better Apologist for the future. I did my best to reconstruct the questions as difficult as possible so that I can answer even the hardest questions, when confronted. I don’t want just an answer when someone challenges my faith, but the best and most accurate answer.

Thanks again and God bless!
 
dandingo said:
Thanks for all of the responses. I’ll play the Atheist here:

Just because time doesn’t exist to God, how do we know that during the ‘time’ before Christ, none of these people went to hell because they weren’t able to accept Christ in order to save their souls? How do we know that these people went to Limbo after their death and before Christ came?
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Catholics believe that while Christ’s body lay in the tomb, he preached the Good News to the dead.

***Therefore it is said, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
and he gave gifts to men.” In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is he who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. *(Ephesians 4:8-10)

The “Lower parts of the earth” is sheol, the abode of the dead. Christ preached the Gospel to the dead.

-Tim-
 
dandingo said:
So, what happened to all of the people that died before Jesus was able to save them? Did they go to hell? Purgatory?
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In the Apostles’ Creed there is a line which has caused endless controversy, “He (Jesus) decended into HELL!” :eek:

Now this is not the Hell that Saint Michael the Archangel casted Satan into but rather the abode of the dead. Look into this first and foremost, there is a lot of info out there on this subject.
 
Those that died before Christ, good and bad, were in hell. Although the good were in a part of hell known as the Bossom of Abraham, where they had some consolations. That’s why in the Apostle’s Creed it says Jesus descended into hell, to free those in the Bossom of Abraham.
 
Consider this:
1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the sake of the unrighteous, that he might lead you to God. Put to death in the flesh, he was brought to life in the spirit. 19 In it he also went to preach to the spirits in prison, 20 who had once been disobedient while God patiently waited in the days of Noah during the building of the ark, in which a few persons, eight in all, were saved through water. 21 This prefigured baptism, which saves you now.”

In this passage, “spirits in prison” are those in Sheol. Also, Jesus mentions the poor man in the bosom of Abraham. Luke 16:22 “Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried.”
 
If you look at it from a historical point of view, I think about 2000 years ago was the soonest that Jesus could have come. If he had come earlier, the message would not have gotten out. The advanced culture of the romans allowed for the spread of early christianity. Think if Jesus had come earlier, christianity may have just been a small jewish sect in Galilee that probably would have died out after a few generations.
 
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