Question: What about those who have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

[Dan7]

Hello everyone, I have a question: if one has never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, how will one ever get to know Jesus, repent, gain salvation, and get to heaven? What does the Bible say about this?

If anyone asks me this, I probably won't have any biblical response other than "God knows each individual's heart and judges each individual according to their actions".

This verse comes to my mind when discussing this topic: "Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!", along with the verse that discussed one man causing another to stumble, leading both to fall over (I forgot which book of the Bible contains this verse).

Do these verses apply to, say, the situation of North Sentinel Island? They are in voluntary isolation and repel any outsider. As the island's elders have decided to not allow any foreign influence on the Island, are they one of the ones who are guilty of offences in the form of ripping the children of the village from hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ? If so, will everyone on the island go to hell due to the elders' decision to not allow Christianity (and hence no chance of repentance and salvation)?

Thanks

[Dan7]

(deleted)

[Dan7]

Hello Chris/moderators,

How may I be able to join the "born-again" section of this forum? I believe I had to reach 20 posts, and I have since met the requirement.

If I'm not permitted due to my actions on this forum, I assure all of you that I have repented for my inappropriate actions and responses on this forum. I have also begun, at the request of forum members, to ask questions that pertain to the Bible.

Thanks

[Ellie]

I am confused about what you are saying here. Nobody that I'm aware of has requested you to ask questions pertaining to the Bible, unless i missed something. Where are you getting that? You did this same thing already and Kenneth had to ask you about it because you claimed previously that you were advised to make certain kinds of posts when that wasn't the case. Nobody told you that you need to do that.

What you have been addressed about, specifically by Chris, is that you claim you have been saved very recently but the way you have communicated with us does not reflect what we expect from a new Christian. Your immediate desire to jump into conspiracies and worldly topics after claiming you had just been saved a few weeks ago doesn't make sense. When someone comes to true godly sorrow of their sins, that is simply not their main focus. The point of Chris addressing you about that wasn't so that you would just change your actions and start asking about the Bible because you think that's what we want from you. The point is that what you've done thus far has not given us confidence that you were truly born again last month. And what Chris said here sums up the issue I'm seeing:

That's not what we've come to expect to see when one has been humbled to repentance and born again in Christ, and the conversation of a true convert is not something anyone can fake 'til they make it.

What I am seeing is that your efforts to ask Bible questions suddenly and simply agreeing with whatever Chris teaches and says, is you trying to do exactly that--fake it till you make it. And that won't work here, it just makes people more cautious and wary because it didn't come naturally from a heart that's been converted and desires to understand doctrine. It's coming from someone who is just doing what they think they have to do in order to please us or convince us of something. And the fact that you think you were advised or told that you needed to ask Bible questions demonstrates that you don't understand the actual problem that was being addressed, because it is a problem of the heart, it's not something you can just fix by changing your actions to fit what we expect to see in born again Christians.

[Dan7]

Hello Ellie,

I think you are misunderstanding me (no offense intended). This response is a clarification, not an argument (i.e. I'm not against you). I hope you don't ban me for my responses, as I value this forum greatly and would not want to lose access to it. I hope that I'll be able to prove myself as a Christian, and not some "fake it till you make it" member. Please consider my points.

1) I have always wanted to ask questions about the Bible. Before joining the forum, I asked Chris numerous questions about the Bible (salvation, church traditions, etc...) on Truth Social. This was before I repented, going back to around October of last year. As I told Chris, I was watching a CLE Chat and was interested in some of the conspiracies he mentioned, and I asked about them. As I have received answers on these topics, I'm back to asking questions pertaining to the Bible (as I have done since around October of last year). I don't know how I can prove it directly, but I assure you I'm not one to fake it until I make it. I've had questions (i.e. requests for clarification) for Chris for months now. As his articles influenced me greatly, I asked to join his church (once I found out that he had one) and was told to join the forum.

2) The reason I agree with what Chris teaches is that he bases his teaching on the Bible; I assure you it's not some pretense of adoration or anything. Why should I not agree with Chris? Even if I were an atheist, I would agree that Chris is correct when, say, he states that the Bible teaches that the Earth, or when he states that Christmas is rooted in pagan tradition.

3) I've always contacted Chris on Truth Social and asked him about Bible doctrine for months now. It's not something new that I've been doing. Here is how I have contacted Chris in chronological order: Truth Social (months ago), email (a few weeks ago), and forum (ever since I joined).

4) I should have made it more clear and phrased it differently: I viewed Chris's skepticism of my posting about conspiracies as more of a wake-up call to comfortably ask questions about the Bible again (similar to how Kenneth and he told me to relax and cease my use of formalities such as Mr. Johnson or Ms. Ellie). It expedited the frequency of my questions, as I previously tried to include as much as I can in a post before I post it. After his remarks, I figured that this forum is not focusing on one being meticulous regarding the questions asked, so I kind of "loosened up" and just asked my questions without "loaded" posts with multiple questions. I don't really ask questions about the Bible on this forum when they are simple (or asked before on the forum). I now see that my claim that " I have also begun, at the request of forum members, to ask questions that pertain to the Bible" misrepresents what others have told me, and it does not accurately represent my actions anyway, so I apologize for claiming this. This is similar to evolutionary biologist Ernst Haeckel's situation. In creating his forged embryos to support evolution, he sourced a man that had claimed that embryos of animals portray evolutionary history. Although this man had once claimed this, that is not what he truly believed. I feel that this situation is the same. Although I claimed that CLE members advised me to post questions about Bible (which I now know is not true), and that this advice led me to post questions about the Bible, that is not what I truly believe, and I hope that this response will clarify my true intentions.

5) To summarize my points, I've been asking Chris questions on the Bible for months (i.e. clarifications of his statements) before I even knew he had a forum, let alone a church. I assure you that it's not some pretense change of course on my part.

I agree with your statement, "And the fact that you think you were advised or told that you needed to ask Bible questions demonstrates that you don't understand the actual problem that was being addressed". I indeed did not understand what was going on, and I apologize for any false statement I made and any misunderstanding my responses caused.

I hope that I'll prove myself as a Christian member of this forum, and not some false convert. After all, it's my desire to join the CLE church. As I've apologized once more, I hope you view me as a Christian member of the forum as we proceed, and not some contentious false convert (which I assure you is not my nature whatsoever).

I know that I have displayed "inappropriate" behavior on this forum, but I hope that you guys will forgive me for any harm I may have caused.
I sincerely apologize for any wrong that I have done.

Thanks

[Dan7]

Hello Ellie,

I forgot to add that I’ve been a churchgoer ever since I was born, so I’m well aware of Christian doctrine. It’s just that I’ve never repented until this year.