In this message I presented my answer in the context of a statement made by a Standford University student by the name of Shae. She said, “So, like you think Jesus is the only way to God and all who disagree are going to hell? Okay, how could that possibly be fair? I’ve been on archeological digs in Peru, uncovering temples where ancient Peruvians worshiped their gods. They knew nothing of Jesus, ever had a chance. Most Christians I know would say all those Peruvians went to hell because they didn’t believe in Jesus - of course, they never heard of him, but tough luck, huh? That just seems ridiculously ethnocentric to think God would only care about mostly white Europeans who had the chance to hear about Jesus.”

Shea put it well! My answer to her and to others with the same concern went like this:

First, I believe there will be people in heaven who never heard of Jesus.

These include Old Testament believers and children who died before the age of accountability.

Second, I believe God provides the necessary revelation to those who truly seek him.

There are two stories in the book of Acts that support that idea. The first is of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8 and the second is of Cornelius in Acts 10.

I read several contemporary evangelical Christian authors who wrote about this very matter. Here are those quotes.

“I’m confident God will not send anybody to hell for lack of knowledge or place of birth or ethnicity – it will only be because they truly did not want God’s leadership and relationship…so if God sees the heart of a Muslim who never heard about Jesus but is seeking to be forgiven and made right with God by faith, and God somehow does for her what he did for Abraham, it is only through what Jesus did on the cross.” -John Burke’s book, NO Perfect People Allowed

“Virtually every Muslim who has come to follow Christ has done so either because of the love of Christ expressed through a Christian or because of a vision, dream, or some other supernatural intervention. No religion has a more intricate doctrine of visions than Islam, and it’s amazing that God used that sensitivity to the supernatural world to reveal himself.” -Lee Strobel in Case for Faith:

“There are people who are slowly becoming Christians though they do not yet call themselves so. There are people who do not accept the full Christian doctrine about Christ but who are so strongly attracted by Him that they are His in a much deeper sense than they themselves understand. There are people in other religions who are being led by God’s secret influence to concentrate on those parts of their religion which are in agreement with Christianity, and who thus belong to Christ without knowing it. For example, a Buddhist of good will may be led to concentrate more and more on the Buddhist teaching about mercy and to leave in the background (though he might still say he believed) the Buddhist teaching on certain other points. Many of the good Pagans long before Christ’s birth may have been in this position. And always, of course, there are a great many people who are just confused in mind and have a lot of inconsistent beliefs all jumbled up together. Consequently, it is not much use trying to make judgments about Christians and non-Christians in the mass.” -C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity

“Many Muslims have come to know and love Jesus in personal and transforming ways while remaining Muslims, just as many Messianic Jews have come to know Jesus while remaining Jewish. This is particularly true of Sufi Muslims. The founder of the Sufi movement so loved Jesus and depended on him for salvation that other Muslims accused him of having become a Christian. They put him to death by crucifixion because they thought that would be a fitting way to be rid of him, given his constant talk of how God’s love was revealed in Christ’s death on the cross. While I am absolutely convinced that ‘there is no other name under Heave, whereby we might be saved (Acts 4:12), I am also convinced that Jesus is alive and touching people who are outside of Christianity and the church. He’s really much bigger than we Evangelicals make him out to be.” -Tony Campolo in Letters to a Young Evangelical:

Third, I must never judge a person’s heart.

I am certain we will be surprised, both by who is and who isn’t in heaven! Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23 that there would be many who called him “Lord” in this life and did many religious things will not be in heaven. Likewise, in Revelation 5:6-9 the scene in heaven includes people from, “every tribe and language and people and nation.”

And fourth, what about you?

The real question is what have you done with the knowledge you have of Jesus? John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whosoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life.” Have you acted on the knowledge that you know? Have you asked Jesus to be your Savior? If you haven’t, you can by praying this simple prayer: “God, be merciful to me, a sinner. I now ask Jesus Christ to come into my life and be my Savior. I desire to follow him for the rest of my life.” If you prayed that prayer, please let me know by e-mailing me at trowland@riveroaks.org.