Confused about the Christianity

from JoeUser Forums
Hi all,

I’m intrigued by several aspects of Christianity and given that there are a large number of bible studies on this site I thought this would be a good place to ask the questions.

If I’m wrong then I suspect that nobody will reply!

I would also like to point out that I have a very shaky grasp of the bible but I assuming that the bible is the word of god and correct.

My question,

What happened to all those people who died before they got a chance to hear Jesus’ word?

Basically if you have to believe in Jesus to find everlasting life and that he was born in 0AD but the world was made circa 8000BC what happened to all those people from 8000BC to the time of the first missionaries?

God only had one son and he was sent to the earth once, 8000 years after the creation of the earth. They had no way of knowing about Jesus so what could they do?

I have only been able to think of two things,

1) You don’t need to believe in Jesus to be saved
2) Roughly 300 generations (30 year breeding cycle 9500 years from 0AD to the wave of New World discoveries, or 150 generations from Noah) of everybody in North America, South America, the Far East, Australia, and all of the little Pacific and Atlantic islands were doomed from the outset by the maker of the rules.


Where have I gone wrong and what evidence from the Bible is there to support your ideas?

Basmans

religion
2,409 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
Where have I gone wrong and what evidence from the Bible is there to support your ideas?
End of quote


I think your first mistake is believe that the Bible is the complete, literal, infallible truth.

Also, the Earth is far older than 10,000 years or so. More like 4.54 billion years in which humanity popped up very recently relatively speaking.

Now to your original question? Why would God seemingly damn everyone that was born before Jesus and far removed from the Middle East even after that fact thereby making it impossible to know of him? Well...Bible doesn't seem to go into detail on that...it also makes no mention of any other people outside of the immediate Mediterranean era. I guess Hell is overflowing or maybe getting into Heaven is based on merit and not belief.

~Zoo
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
I agree with Zoologist03.

And I also believe that that getting into heaven is based on merit and not belief.
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Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
So in your thinking it is completely divorced from belief. If so why bother with a church? I agree that the bible is not literally correct but thats another discussion in its self and I was trying to restrict it to one!
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
What happened to those souls is a very good question. I have some thoughts on that.
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
I happen to believe the bible is the literal truth given to us from God himself to show us the way(surprise surprise surprise).

We are all saved the SAME way by grace thru faith. The OT is full of the promise of the Messiah. The OT saints looked forward to the birth of the Messiah the same way we look back at this blessed event.

It's belief in the Savior that was to come/had come. It's our belief and faith in God that saves us.

To believe in a works based salvation is cruel and unbiblical and does nothing but to promote fear in that we may not be "good" enough. How do you know if you're good enough anyway? Where do you draw the line? It's a lie. It's not about us being good. It's all about God being good.

He's a Godsend for us a sinful people who all deserve hell for our rebellion against him and we all have rebelled against him and his ways more than once in our lives if we all were to be completely honest here.

Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
Basmas writes:
My question,

What happened to all those people who died before they got a chance to hear Jesus’ word?
End of quote


We know from the time of our first parent's Adam and Eve sin that the gates of Heaven were closed as a punishment from God. Just before they were banished forever from the Garden, God promised to send a Redeemer who would overcome the world, Satan, and death and open the Gates of Heaven.

So the question is where did all the just souls go from the time of Adam and Eve throughout that long period until Christ came and died for their sins, overcome death, and re-open the gates of Heaven?

Some call it Limbo, some call it Abraham's bosom...some call it place of the dead.

The parable of Dives and Lazarus explains it. Lazarus was a just man who after he died was carried by the angels to a place called Abraham's bosom.

Limbo is a part of Hell, also called Abraham's bosom, as well as the place of the dead, is where Adam and Eve souls were, where Abraham's soul was, and all those just souls who died before Christ's death. David's soul too, remember he said, "Thou will not leave my soul in Hell." Ps. 15:10.

How, when and by whom were they taken from Abraham's bosom into Heaven?

The explanation is found in the Fifth Article of the Apostles' Creed. After Christ died and before He rose again on the third day, the Apostles' Creed tells us that He "descended into Hell".

As soon as Christ died, He went down into that part of Hell called Limbo and Abraham's bosom. Christ's descent into Hell served to prove that what had been foretold of His sanctity was true and that He was truly the Son of God. Christ descended victorous among the dead to liberate the the holy and the just souls and to impart to them the fruit of His Passion. He thus verified His promise to the repentant Thief on the cross, "This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise."