Christians are often confronted with a question that is hard to answer. It is a difficult question, not because it challenges our faith in Jesus Christ; that he sealed a new Covenant with God by taking on the sins of the world, but because of our genuine desire that all should find redemption, and be justified when it is their time to stand before God.
In fact, that is our charge given by Jesus himself just prior to his ascension. Mark 16:15 tells us, “He said to them, Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” As an aside, I might take this opportunity to point out that Jesus did not tell his followers to kill the infidels if they refuse to believe, as some “peaceful” religions are known to do.
Nevertheless, we know that in John 14:6, “Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” This seems to be an ominous declaration, but tempered by God’s assurance. John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world, that He gave his only begotten Son; that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but shall have eternal life.”
So you see that the question Christians are often confounded with is, “Well, what about the people in the far corners of the Earth, who have never heard of Jesus?” This makes us take a deep breath and ponder, because we do not want to believe that God would just leave people out, through no fault of their own.
This troubles us, even though we can step back and understand that God cannot be judged as we might judge people. After all, God created all that there is. He owns everything, including every creature human or otherwise that ever existed. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. Nothing exists outside of God. To try to judge God on some human threshold is like being fit to be tied because we are forced to breathe air.
There is another angle to this; however, I am not well enough educated in the Scriptures to declare this as the Gospel Truth, though it seems reasonable. You should read the entire article at the following link, but in a nutshell, it is saying that God’s law is written on everyone’s heart (the conscience if you will).
The Scriptures seem to indicate that judgment will be harsher for those who have heard the truth, but choose to turn away from it. In other words, those who know of Jesus, but refuse to believe. Those who have never heard of Jesus or of any of God’s written law (as the Jews have had) still have that natural law of good and evil written in their hearts. Those who choose evil, while knowing the good, shall be judged just as harshly.
What About the Person Who Never Heard of Jesus?
As is customary for my columns, the title appears to have little, if anything, to do with my discussion so far; therefore, I will proceed to my ultimate destination. The Vast Left-Wing Culture of Death violates this innate knowledge of Good and evil, that exists in every human who ever lived.
The real problem with the debate about abortion is that those who have a vested interest in having abortion continue unhindered (for whatever reason), have been allowed to frame the nature of life before the moment of birth. The natural inclination of the human mind, or that innate sense of God’s law that is written in the hearts of all, would be to assume that if a living human baby comes out of its mother’s body, it was likely a living human baby for its entire existence.
Unfortunately, pro-abortion advocates have been successful in casting doubt on what it is that is inside a woman's womb. The absurdity of this condition is that people are now confused, and have been led to doubt that innate knowledge of good and evil. Many have some mystical notion, that a prenatal child is something akin to Jack’s magic beans; that at some unknown moment in time, poof… a blob of tissue becomes a human being.
Here we can clearly see the great lie that springs from those who have chosen evil over good. The content of a woman’s uterus has never been a magic bean. It has never been a puppy, a kitten, not even a gerbil. At conception, when the genetic materials from two human beings combine, a third human life is ignited.
That life may burn for only a day or it may burn for 100 years. Regardless of how long it lasts, it is a human life, nevertheless. This truth is naturally understood by every person regardless of his or her religious convictions, knowledge or ignorance of God or of the Good News of Jesus Christ.
A man or woman ignorant of the existence of the modern world, because they live in some prehistoric, undiscovered jungle, still has this knowledge ingrained in their being; perhaps, the result of that forbidden fruit, devoured in the Garden of Eden despite God’s warning not to do so; the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
There is a strong force at play, working tirelessly to evil’s ends. The Vast Left-Wing Culture of Death wants nothing less than to convince you that abortion is not death, but is really a means to extend life. That message is just as absurd and deceitful as was the lie told by the serpent to the woman in the Garden. |