Question: Can you explain how mankind became fruitful and multiplied between the time Cain and Able were born and the time that Cain killed his brother? When God put a "mark" on Cain and he feared for his life lest others kill him – who were the others?

Also, will/has everyone who has ever existed know the gospel message? Are there really people who are raised in non-Christian religions who never hear the truth of Jesus? What about the person who is in an isolated part of the world and living like a savage? Can that person know God exists?

How many judgments has God allowed to come on the Jews and are they still under judgment with all the Arabs and anti-Semitism trying to destroy them?

Maria

Answer: Dear Maria,

1. Mankind multiplied at the beginning only when some of the sons and daughters – and then cousins, etc. – of Adam and Eve intermarried. There was no other way for the human race to multiply. The mark on Cain distinguished him from others, not merely as being a "bad" person, but to protect him from vengeance exacted upon him by the relatives of Abel.
2. Your second question is huge and I cannot do it justice in this short space. We do list a number of questions and answers on this topic under the category "salvation" – as well as "heaven/hell" under "Ask Greg." Simply click on the questions that interest you and an answer will be provided. Plain Truth Ministries believes that somehow, not specifically known to humans at this time because God has not chosen to reveal everything to us, that God makes himself known to all humans, that he makes righteous provision for everyone.

It is tempting to think that the only way others hear the gospel is if they hear our particular denominational teaching. But, of course, God is bigger than our Christian denominations (and we can thank God that he is!). There are many ways that God can reach people – and some of those ways may not be discernable to us. He reached the thief on the cross in just a few moments of time, and the thief was saved because he accepted the salvation that was offered. Paul tells us in the first two chapters of Romans that there is a certain foundational understanding of morality and law that God has given to all humans – including pagans. Paul says that God holds us all responsible for this foundational "natural law." This, of course, does not mean that all humans hear the gospel because God has given all humans a basic sense of foundational right’s and wrong’s. This is a huge question that is probably best left in the "we don’t have all the answers" category, rather than in the "we have all of the exact, specific answers, we give them dogmatically and if you don’t agree with us, you are going to hell" category. We should be more concerned, when it comes to this issue, about thinking we have everything worked out, than we are in deciding that we don’t understand everything – and probably never will on this side of eternity.

3. God has not put any special curse on the Jews. This idea arises from those who have persecuted the Jews and need to find some justification for doing so. Such individuals cite Matthew 27:25 and assume that because some Jews in the crowd said such a thing, God held them to it. If God held us all to everything we said, we would all be under self-condemnation. Further, if Jesus’ blood were on the Jews’ hands, and if the Jews have been punished for 2000 years, then the Romans would have to share equally, for it was their system of government and their soldiers who executed Jesus. Yet we don’t see anti-Roman or anti-Italian feelings and persecution under the guise that they are responsible for the death of Jesus.