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This week Nick spoke concerning the question of what happens to people who have never heard the gospel. He talked about three different ways that people have attempted to answer the question. First many people have suggested that if a person does not hear the gospel then they will go to hell and have no real chance of being saved. He talked about verses like John 14:6 and Acts 4:12 which talk about salvation being through Christ alone to support this idea. The second idea that Nick discussed was "middle knowledge," which basically means that God knows the answers to "what if..." questions. According to this view, if a person would have believed if they heard the gospel then they will be saved. To support this idea Nick talked about Matthew 11:20-24 which pronounces judgment on many of the cities in which Jesus did his miracles. Jesus suggests that it would be better for other cities that were wicked on judgment day because they would have repented if they had seen the miracles that Jesus was doing. Lastly Nick explained a third option in which people are responsible for whatever light that they have. Romans 1:18-21 talks about how we all have the ability to know a number of things about God and are without excuse if we choose to ignore him. This means we are all responsible to follow God to the best of our ability with the information that we have. Nick explained that he preferred this explanation, but that there is good reason to think any of these three options. He then explained that any answer to this question must keep in mind God's justice which requires that sin be punished and that things are fair as well as God's mercy that forgives us for our sins. Nick concluded that no matter how we answer this question we should still spread the gospel because that is what is commanded for us to do. We also know that if they hear the gospel and receive it that the person will be saved, whereas we do not know otherwise. Nick also told a story regarding a kid walking along a beach who saw a number of starfish that had washed up on shore and as a result they were dying. He began to throw them back out to sea in order to save them. He knew he could not save them all, but he also knew that he could save one. We might not be able to reach everyone ourselves, but we can still reach one person, and that much is worth the effort.
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This week Nick spoke concerning the question of what happens to people who have never heard the gospel. He talked about three different ways that people have attempted to answer the question. First many people have suggested that if a person does not hear the gospel then they will go to hell and have no real chance of being saved. He talked about verses like John 14:6 and Acts 4:12 which talk about salvation being through Christ alone to support this idea. The second idea that Nick discussed was "middle knowledge," which basically means that God knows the answers to "what if..." questions. According to this view, if a person would have believed if they heard the gospel then they will be saved. To support this idea Nick talked about Matthew 11:20-24 which pronounces judgment on many of the cities in which Jesus did his miracles. Jesus suggests that it would be better for other cities that were wicked on judgment day because they would have repented if they had seen the miracles that Jesus was doing. Lastly Nick explained a third option in which people are responsible for whatever light that they have. Romans 1:18-21 talks about how we all have the ability to know a number of things about God and are without excuse if we choose to ignore him. This means we are all responsible to follow God to the best of our ability with the information that we have. Nick explained that he preferred this explanation, but that there is good reason to think any of these three options. He then explained that any answer to this question must keep in mind God's justice which requires that sin be punished and that things are fair as well as God's mercy that forgives us for our sins. Nick concluded that no matter how we answer this question we should still spread the gospel because that is what is commanded for us to do. We also know that if they hear the gospel and receive it that the person will be saved, whereas we do not know otherwise. Nick also told a story regarding a kid walking along a beach who saw a number of starfish that had washed up on shore and as a result they were dying. He began to throw them back out to sea in order to save them. He knew he could not save them all, but he also knew that he could save one. We might not be able to reach everyone ourselves, but we can still reach one person, and that much is worth the effort.
