Morny wrote: ↑Sun Feb 23, 2025 12:46 pm
Philip, I'm not sure why my main very simple question continues to be misunderstood or unanswered in a simple way. Please let me try in a different way.
Assume a young person, named Abdullah, was brought up in a devout Islamic religious environment. In his comparative religious studies, he learned the essential tenets of Christianity, along with other world religions. He's a very curious person, and sees that you are hosting an "Introduction to Christianity" meeting, so he comes prepared with these basic questions:
1. Is God really all-loving, e.g., including me, a devout Muslim?
2. Is accepting Jesus as God required?
3. If on the way to this meeting, a car had hit and
killed me, might I have gone to hell for eternity?
Assuming your answer is "Yes" for questions #1 and #2, and Abdullah
(obviously) hasn't accepted Jesus as God, how do you answer Abdullah's
question #3?
God IS ALL-loving, whether we correctly perceive it or not. The Muslim FREELY chooses Islam just as an atheist is free to choose to reject the true God, whatever god(s), or follow whatever faith. That Muslim COULD seek the true God and sincerely desire to know Him, attempt to communicate with Him or not. He could take a hard look at the Biblical, prophetic, scientific, historical, and philosophical evidence to A) conclude there MUST be a Creator and B) he could take a hard look at whether whatever religions do or do not line up with the evidences, or C) he can just continue to delude and convince himself there is no God whatsoever - which is precisely the same thing as rejecting God!
But no matter the faith affiliation or no faith or whatever person, we don't get to Heaven or access God on OUR terms, but on HIS! And on GOD'S terms to reach and know Him, ALL are free, indeed desired by God, to do so. And He has promised to reveal Himself to ALL who WILL do so. If people are searching for evidences in a desire to discover God, He will give them what they truly NEED to believe, but not ALL they DEMAND - as He knows the difference between these. People have differing issues that block or self-block their ability to believe - and God knows what they are. He will give each enough understandings to either move closer to Him or further away - it's their choice to respond to whatever He shows them - or NOT.
We also can't connect with the true God by seeking out false channels / religions / or even no faith at all, in a self-chosen attempt to do so. Again, HE has set His terms per how ALL people CAN sincerely seek Him. And He perfectly and intimately understands the hearts and minds of those who are merely FEIGNING sincerity and (have NO) desire to know Him - as opposed to those who TRULY want to know the truth about Him - and thus He responds accordingly per His perfect knowledge and understanding of them.
Yes, ALL must first confess Jesus and commit to Him to be saved. And there are many people have remained unsaved - even those who knew or know nothing about Jesus! The Old Testament has many examples of those who went to Hell without yet having the later-given directive or knowledge that they must embrace Jesus to be saved. Because God / Jesus / the Holy Spirit are EACH co-Equals and FULLY God, to reject ANY Person of God's Trinity is to reject God as He truly is and exists. People assume that if people only had more knowledge about Jesus and the Cross, then they would embrace Him. Again, the Bible says before time, God has ALWAYS known ALL who would benefit from knowing about Jesus and the Gospel, as well as also forever known ALL those who, no matter what knowledge of Himself He would ever provide them - including knowledge about Jesus and the Gospel - would reject Him anyway. It could well be the reason some never hear of Jesus is because God, perfectly knowing all hearts and minds across time, foreknew that knowledge of the Son / Christ would only be a further understanding of Himself that would be rejected as well - and thus He put such people in time and place where they wouldn't hear the Gospel / about Jesus (as it would be useless to them). In fact, some people who God knew would only permanently reject Him - especially those bent upon great evils to others - might well have been placed in remote places because God, in His mercy, also desired to protect peaceful people and societies (and not just Christians). So, God's perfect foreknowledge of the hearts and minds of those He always knew would only eternally reject Him (know matter what He showed them), could well be why He has withheld the Gospel from them!
The Bible also teaches that those who had faith in the true God BEFORE Jesus' ministry, were deemed righteous by Him for putting their faith in God as per what He had revealed to them about Himself
up until that point in time - and before they ever knew about Jesus, and as God knew when He would later reveal to such saved persons about Jesus after their mortal deaths. Those saved before Jesus ministry WERE accepting and committing themselves to God AND to Jesus (ALSO fully God!) - it's just that God had not yet fully revealed Himself per what Christians came to know about Jesus and the Holy Spirit, along with the Father, with each inhabiting what the ONE God is (He is a Trinity of THREE Persons making up the ONE God). But the Bible says, POST Jesus ministry, ALL must accept Jesus to be saved, and for those who seek Him / won't permanently resist Him, God has a plan to reveal Jesus and the Gospel to them, so they WILL be saved at some point in time - whether we understand the hows and whens of His plan or not.
AGAIN, Morny, why do you care about teachings about a God you reject and deny? Why are you obsessed with Him and Christianity? Again, I believe you are trying exceptionally hard to convince YOURSELF as much as others.
