Christian Forums

Quote from: Reformer on Wed May 13, 2026 - 22:39:10

Fate Of The Unreached and/or Unexposed
[Part 2]

At the outset, consider the billions and billions of people who have lived and died who were never exposed to either audible or written messages from heaven. Is there no hope for any of them?

It is not my intention to play God. I do not wish to sit upon the Supreme Judgment Seat by advancing the view that many responsible adults who were never exposed to special revelation will presumably be delivered eternally by God's mercy. I favor this position because I'm convinced heaven addresses this question. I do not harbor an insatiable urge to condemn others because they are, or were, unavoidably ignorant of certain facts, events, and truths. It is my position that under certain conditions, God will liberate many who lived and died without a special revelation in the form of audible or written messages.

By the "unreached," I mean those mentally competent and responsible men and women who were receptive to truth, any truth, but who died without any opportunity whatsoever of hearing the Good News about Jesus and responding to it. In other words, I'm speaking of adults who had no occasion to be exposed to any kind of special disclosure, whether by direct contact with God, Jesus, angels, prophets, apostles—or by way of Scripture. We will not address those who were or could have been exposed to some form of special revelation but neglected or refused to accept the opening. They are not included in this study.

Numerous members of the human family, from Adam to Moses, were exposed to special revelations by way of direct contact with God, angels, or prophets. Heavenly messages in the form of Scripture were not available until God commissioned and guided Moses to write decrees, commandments, laws, instructions, and events. Following Moses, and up to our present time, many segments of the human family have been exposed to some form of special revelation—whether God, Jesus, angels, prophets, apostles, or Scripture. The remainder of humankind has been without special revelations in that they have not been exposed to any.

In affirming they have been without special revelations, I do not wish to infer they have been without any revelation. In one way or another, God has always communicated with His creation. It is that in some ages He has chosen to communicate with certain peoples and nations in special ways. And while the Holy Scriptures are for all of mankind today, there are countless millions who have no access to them because opportunity has not availed itself. Yet, these millions have a revelation from God through the things He created (Rom1).

Since the very beginning, God has revealed Himself to every member of the human creation. He has never left his creation without some form of revelation or witness, even those nations and peoples who have been outside of covenant relationship, such as the Gentiles under the Old Covenant era.

God has made Himself known to every kindred and nation under heaven. Every person has been able to "seek Him and perhaps reach out for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each of us" (Acts 17:27 & Romans 1). God has, in fact, always been aware of His whole creation, having "determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live" (Acts 17:26). God is alive in the universe! He knows of and is interested in everyone's plight.

Quote from: 4WD on Thu May 14, 2026 - 08:21:12I am very sympathetic to what you hope for here.  But there is nothing in God's word to suggest that it is true. Perhaps it is true and God has simply not given us that information. There are indications in God's word that it is not true.  In that case, I hope that maybe, just maybe, eternal life and eternal condemnation as presented in the Scriptures are not the only next life possibilities.

Quote from: Reformer on Thu May 14, 2026 - 21:51:16

4WD, I assume you are evaluating the Scriptures I'm introducing on this thread. For if you are, I'm sort of lost trying to analyze your replies. In any case, perhaps Parts 3 & 4 will help. Look for them.