The Righteous Pagans
Tuesday, 22. January 2008, 05:29:39
I have been thinking lately (spurred no doubt by something that I read somewhere) about the topic of the righteous pagan. It is that eternal question of what happens to those who have never heard of Jesus Christ, and have never had the opportunity to trust Him for their salvation. I expect that my statement on this subject will leave many disappointed with its brevity.
There are a few key starting points that I believe to be vital to an orthodox Christian understanding of this issue:
1) God loves us. The Bible is pretty clear on this fact, and I think as Christians we can take it for granted, but we must understand that this does not mean the same thing that you might mean when you say, "I love you," to a friend, a child, a parent, or even a lover. While we are given those relationships to help us learn what it means to love, none of them allows us to fully grasp the extent of God's love.
2) Jesus is the ONLY way to God. The Bible is pretty clear on this. Jesus said that He is the way, truth and life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. The entire Old Testament looks forward to the coming of the Messiah who will save His people. Orthodoxy would not allow us to quibble on this point.
3) All men have sinned, and were born broken and evil. That any are allowed to be made whole is a great and wonderous mystery, especially considering the price at which our wholeness comes.
So where does that leave us? How does a just God allow some to live in radiance with Him - through no deed of their own - while others spend eternity in some form of Hell - through no apparent choice of their own?
First, we must trust that since God loves us - and loves us truly and completely - He will always do for us what is best. However, this may not always (or even usually) look like what we think is best for us. Perhaps it is not best for some people to spend eternity in the presence of God, especially if they are so sure of the way the world should work that they scorn and despise Him.
Second, we must disillusion ourselves of our own worth. We are not some great prize, some badge or medal that will enhance God's ensemble. We may have been at one point, and we may be again, but only through His redemptive work. We are merely broken tools, things which were created for a purpose, but have become useless and can only serve Him through His willingness to repair us and use us. Thus, in allowing us to join Him in heaven, God is not granting us something we deserve or have earned; rather He is bestowing a gift apon us, something which we could never hope for, but which He freely gives us. As such, can you judge it unfair that He does not give the same gift to all people? Can you stand in the face of the Almighty and ask, "How dare you?"
So to answer the question, I don't know what happens to those who die without ever hearing of Christ, whether they be from a different time and place, before His message went out, or whether they be the prematurely dead who never had a chance to understand it. But I trust that God will do what is best for them, even if I do not understand what that means, and would not recognize it as such if I saw it. I expect there will be many in heaven who I would not have recognized on earth, and many in hell who I would have. And I'm okay with that, because I will feel blessed and amazed just to be included.
There are a few key starting points that I believe to be vital to an orthodox Christian understanding of this issue:
1) God loves us. The Bible is pretty clear on this fact, and I think as Christians we can take it for granted, but we must understand that this does not mean the same thing that you might mean when you say, "I love you," to a friend, a child, a parent, or even a lover. While we are given those relationships to help us learn what it means to love, none of them allows us to fully grasp the extent of God's love.
2) Jesus is the ONLY way to God. The Bible is pretty clear on this. Jesus said that He is the way, truth and life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. The entire Old Testament looks forward to the coming of the Messiah who will save His people. Orthodoxy would not allow us to quibble on this point.
3) All men have sinned, and were born broken and evil. That any are allowed to be made whole is a great and wonderous mystery, especially considering the price at which our wholeness comes.
So where does that leave us? How does a just God allow some to live in radiance with Him - through no deed of their own - while others spend eternity in some form of Hell - through no apparent choice of their own?
First, we must trust that since God loves us - and loves us truly and completely - He will always do for us what is best. However, this may not always (or even usually) look like what we think is best for us. Perhaps it is not best for some people to spend eternity in the presence of God, especially if they are so sure of the way the world should work that they scorn and despise Him.
Second, we must disillusion ourselves of our own worth. We are not some great prize, some badge or medal that will enhance God's ensemble. We may have been at one point, and we may be again, but only through His redemptive work. We are merely broken tools, things which were created for a purpose, but have become useless and can only serve Him through His willingness to repair us and use us. Thus, in allowing us to join Him in heaven, God is not granting us something we deserve or have earned; rather He is bestowing a gift apon us, something which we could never hope for, but which He freely gives us. As such, can you judge it unfair that He does not give the same gift to all people? Can you stand in the face of the Almighty and ask, "How dare you?"
So to answer the question, I don't know what happens to those who die without ever hearing of Christ, whether they be from a different time and place, before His message went out, or whether they be the prematurely dead who never had a chance to understand it. But I trust that God will do what is best for them, even if I do not understand what that means, and would not recognize it as such if I saw it. I expect there will be many in heaven who I would not have recognized on earth, and many in hell who I would have. And I'm okay with that, because I will feel blessed and amazed just to be included.
WIDGETIZE