Christianity teaches that God is perfect in all His ways: perfect in love, mercy, justice, and in every decision He makes. The Bible is also clear that belief in Jesus alone as Savior, is the way to eternal life with God after death. This leaves a huge problem for around 40% of the world who have little to no access to the good news about Jesus because, “how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard?” (Romans 10:14).

In part one of answering the question, “What Happens to People Who’ve Never Heard the Gospel”, we looked to the Bible to establish that since God is perfect, He makes the perfect decision for the destiny of each soul, even when we don’t understand or agree (Isaiah 55:8-9). Now, we will look at the other side of the story: the human dilemma.

Everyone has felt distant from God at some point. Whether that’s all you’ve known, or it’s something you fight against daily, there’s a clear divide between us and the God who created us. This is because all humans have sinful nature, which turns us away from God, causing the rift in our relationship with Him.

Being a human with a sinful nature is like trying to walk in the right direction, but you’ve just spun in circles and blindfolded yourself. You’re confused and can’t see the path ahead of you. Without God, we don’t see clearly or make the right choices. On our own, we’re spiritually disoriented, and we don’t naturally move toward restoring our relationship with Him. But when it is restored, it’s like the blindfold gets taken off. We can see more than ever before, and as we continue walking towards God, He makes us less dizzy and disoriented.

 

We know this is the truth because of what Paul wrote to us in Romans,

 

Romans 3:10-12 “As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God.  All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

 

Romans 1:18-20 “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, 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 people are without excuse.”

 

What Paul is saying here, is that God has made Himself known in creation, so that ALL are without excuse (1:20). However, every human, including you and I, have STILL chosen to reject God. So, what humans deserve, and what we’ve actually chosen, is separation from God. We choose to hurt our relationship with God every time we sin. God’s mercy and love is the only reason we can restore the relationship we broke. It’s not out of God’s unfairness, but His rich mercy and love towards His creation, that He made one, totally undeserved way back to Him!

God sent Jesus to earth to live the life we never could, and take the punishment for the sins He never committed. Because of Jesus’ crucifixion, God is still perfectly just, letting no sin go unpunished. All you must do, is believe that Jesus was the perfect and sufficient sacrifice, and have faith that He already took the punishment for your past, present, and future sins when He died on the cross.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

 

 

Written by Abbey Harley