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Has anyone heard of this?

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lferretj:
Hello,
   I went to visit my girlfriend on the coast for a day and we got to talking and she told me her theology, she is a christian but believes that anyone who hasn't heard the gospel no matter what age will automatically go to heaven.  She defines believers as those who have heard the message and choose to follow Christ whereas Non-believers are only those who have heard the message and choose not to follow Christ.  I thought this was some age of accountability teaching but she includes even adults who haven't heard the "Good News."  Anyway has anyone else come across this particular belief pattern and does Ray teach on this at all.  All I can think of is to disprove Free Will which would throw all this to the wind.  Sorry but if that were true it would be better to not hear the gospel at all and go to heaven than to hear it and then reject it. So what would be the point of preaching and teaching, if their better off if they don't hear it?  That's a rhetorical question as we know the answer but any insight into how this particular doctrine came to be would be helpful.
   lferretj

cjwood:
lferretj,
hello. ray addresses one of the questions you posed (regarding those who have never heard the Gospel) in his letter to dr. james kennedy which critiques dr. kennedy's sermon denying God's responsibility to save all the africans. if you scroll down through that critique (or better yet, read or re-read the whole letter) you will see dr. kennedy's analogy and ray's rightly divided truths from the scriptures. with regards to the other question you posed, you can type age of accountability into the search box at the top of the general discussions section and you will find different posts on this topic.

claudia

cjwood:
hi again lferretj,
if you type in "what happens to babies" in the search box on the general discussions section you can find some helpful, valuable information regarding this particular question you posed on your topic.

happy reading!,
claudia

daywalker:

--- Quote from: lferretj on January 26, 2009, 04:16:57 PM ---...  Sorry but if that were true it would be better to not hear the gospel at all and go to heaven than to hear it and then reject it. So what would be the point of preaching and teaching, if their better off if they don't hear it?  ...
   lferretj

--- End quote ---

Hello,

I think that question you asked is the perfect way to start: If Heaven and Hell were real, and those who never heard of Jesus Christ will go to Heaven, then why preach it? In fact, it this were all true, than it would've been better if Christ had never come to earth, never died for our sins, and never resurrected from the dead. That way NOBODY would ever hear of Jesus Christ, and therefore EVERYBODY would go to heaven!!

That seems like a good way to 'start off' at least to get that person thinking a little. From there I would start with the Scriptures that show that Jesus Christ "is the Savior of the World"--I John 4:14, and that He "takes away the sins of the world"--John 1:29, and that "with God all things are possible"--Matthew 19:25-26; Jeremiah 32:27.

This will help begin to restore that persons believe and faith IN GOD, and rather than in themselves. From there you can go into 'free' will or 'hell'. Make sure to have the definition of 'free will', because most people just don't know what it is. [neither did I, before I came to this site]


May God guide you,

Daywalker.

lferretj:
thanks for the replies

cjwood- i did the searches and they helped clear up where the age of accountability could have been conjured up but the Dr. Kennedy letter was written to critisize if those who hadn't heard went to Hell not Heaven as my friend contends.

Daywalker - I did bring up the point you mentioned but if was futile, she didn't have an answer and said it wasn't her place to question God's will.  As for the Savior of the World verses, which I showed her at least three--she got stuck on free will and that god desires to save all but people must choose because God doesn't want to force anyone to love Him.  Each verse I showed her she used the same excuse to refute it.  As for talking about free will she seemed pretty adamant and didn't want to hear anything to the contrary.  She did say she was willing to research her faith so I sent her to Ray's site and she promised to read it and check it out.  We will see what happens.

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