Fairness Doctrine..

There are allot of things about God that we don't know. But one of the things we do know is His plan of salvation for mankind. The Bible is clear that only through faith in Jesus Christ is one able to come to the Father. That truth is very difficult to swallow for some folks. Often times a question that is asked that trips us up centers around individuals who may have died or will die apart from ever being able to hear the message of salvation. Case in point is the following statement made by a Christian mother in reference to her daughter:

"My daughter, who is only 11 asked me... about people who have never heard of Christ, and about the other people that were raised in different religion? What will happen to them? Is it fair that they were born in a country that didn't have an opportunity to hear the gospel? Honestly, with all my time spent listening to a lot of apologetics programs, I still didn't know how to answer it. Especially when she mentioned the word "fairness." (sic)

I can understand her frustration. I think her inability to answer this question affords her an opportunity to possibly doubt her own salvation. I posed this question to a few of my Christian friends and received some interesting responses. One person said that "we know that apart from Christ they do not have life," which is true, but then they went on to say, "will it (life) be imputed to them because of their ignorance.. do we know.. can we really say?" Another response was, "I can only surmise that God will not judge folks for what they do not know." These answers are unacceptable. Both comments imply that scripture doesn't give answers to this question. Honestly, I don't think they have looked very deeply for the answer.

"Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him." John 3:36

Jesus said that for those who reject Him the wrath of God remains on them. That means that before an individual is presented with and, subsequently, rejects Christ's offer of salvation, they are already under the wrath of God. In other words, people are not condemned to hell for not believing in Jesus. People are already condemned to hell because of their sin.

"The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." Romans 1:18-20

Whoever one might believe these people to be, who never have the opportunity to hear the Gospel, it is clear that they haven't heard it because they don't want to know God. In almost every corner of the world you will find the locals worshiping something or someone they believe to be god. This is evidence that scripture is correct when it says that men suppress the truth. If we are to suggest that not being presented with the Gospel may lead to a person having salvation "imputed" on them by God, then Christians are doing a disservice to the world by being witnesses for the Lord. It would be better for a person not to have heard the Gospel than to have heard it and reject it. We might as well have book burnings, shut down crusades, bring all the missionaries home, turn off Christian television and radio outreaches and so on. Let us just all be silent! That they won't be judged for what they do not know. Sorry, that is just ridiculous. God has revealed Himself to mankind in three ways. First, He has revealed Himself through His creation. Second, He has revealed Himself through our conscious. And, finally, He has revealed Himself in the Person of Jesus Christ. It is up to the individual to respond to the truth God has already revealed to us all.

"From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us." Acts 17:26-27

Perhaps the most unbelievable statement I read on this subject is, "And I have never heard of any examples of sincere natives walking out of the jungle with a full understanding of the scriptures, a bible in their own language, and a correct gospel...their thoughtful seeking is obviously not sufficient.. they have to have a human bring the gospel to them.." You must be kidding me. Since when is God limited by our ability to understand how He reaches people? Since we haven't seen a news story aired on a native walking out of the jungle with the knowledge of Jesus, I am supposed to believe that God can't reach this person? Again, this is a human argument. We have stories of donkey's talking to people in the Bible. Jesus proclaimed that the stones would cry out if His disciples stopped preaching. And the Apostle Paul was converted through a direct encounter with Christ! Who is to say this can't happen today? God knows where every individual on earth is and how they got there. Is our God so small that He has forgotten somebody? Of course not.

"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9

Everyone on earth is responsible for making their own choice when it comes to having a relationship with God. God is not limited by the supposed isolation of people who live in remote locations of the world or grew up in non-Christian cultures. Every major religion on earth has an opinion about Jesus. So, it is not as though they haven't heard about Him. And yet they reject Him. Even those who aren't aware of Him do so out of choice not ignorance. Man seeks a God who will cater to his flesh. A god who provides all the food, clothing, shelter, materials and long life they desire. They don't seek a God who died for their sins and rose from the grave to offer them eternal life. You aren't accountable to God if you only live within the confines of a so-called civilized society. Everybody is accountable to Him regardless of circumstances or living conditions. Besides, if God were to grant people who never heard of Jesus an opportunity to accept Him after they die, would that really be a choice? Nobody is going to choose eternal damnation at that point. Ignorance is not bliss, whether it is from a lost person who never heard of Christ, or a Christian unable to give an answer to an 11 year old child. The question is not if is it fair for God to send someone to hell who hasn't heard the Gospel? The question is if it is fair for God to allow any one of us a place in His eternal Kingdom?