Question: Hi Greg,

Thanks for your previous answers to my questions. Your answers are well thought out and well written.

Here is my question: Is today the only day of salvation for everyone? I find this hard to believe since the majority of people past and present have not heard of Christ. And those who have heard of him don’t really understand who he is and what he did for us. Does God make an attempt to reach everyone in his or her lifetime? And if they don’t accept Christ before they died, they are banished to hell forever?

Thank you for your time and answer in advance.

Darren

Answer: Hello Darren,

We are delighted to hear that we have been able to be helpful to you in the past and hope that we can continue to be! This question is one that is often asked – and while there are ministries and churches who provide a more dogmatic and exact answer than we do, we feel that we have to give a "we don’t have all the details" answer to this question.

We do believe, based upon God’s self revelation of himself to us in the Bible, that somehow, someway (not specifically revealed in the Bible) that God will make righteous provision for everyone.

We believe that it is tempting to think that the only way that others hear the gospel is through our denominational filter or our cultural perspective – but of course, we know that God is bigger than our denominational and cultural views, and we can thank him that he is!!

We believe that there are many ways that God can and does reach people, and that we can understand some of those ways, and that he gives us the opportunity to be his tools in helping in some of those ways. On the other hand, many of his ways are beyond us (Isaiah 55:8). God reached the thief on the cross in just a few moments in 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 (called natural law by some) that God has given to all humans – including pagans. And that all humans are "without excuse" in terms of this natural law. This, of course, does not mean that all humans hear the gospel, but it does mean that all humans have some basic accountability – even if they do not hear the gospel, or at least they do not seem to hear the gospel in a way that we can recognize.

We have a number of similar questions and answers posted under heaven/hell that you may wish to look at.

In Christ,

Greg Albrecht