Amazonian: "If I did not know about God and sin, would I go to hell?"
Evangelist: "No, not if you did not know."
Amazonian: "Then why did you tell me?"
The evangelist's answer would be wrong (or at the very least, extremely presumptuous).
This
Ah, so those who lead virtuous lives yet never become Christians are all going to hell. Sorry, Gandhi. Good to know!
The Biblical position is that "there is none righteous, no not one" (Romans 3:10). Hence, from God's perspective, those going to hell are wicked, not leading virtuous lives. In this
video RC Sproul made a very interesting point. according to anthropologist Rudolf Otto, across societies, regardless of the particular religion or customs practiced, people have two reactions to things that are considered holy or sacred within that culture: intrigue/fascination and fear. That second reaction is because even without scripture we can recognize just how different God must be from us. This includes his having power and knowledge far surpassing all of humanity, simply based on the silent testimony of the created world. The testimony of conscience also tells us we have broken the fundamental laws that (if one is a theist) come from the source of being itself, God. How could we be in a right relationship with someone who so surpasses and transcends us? So it is no surprise his judgments about sin are distinct. James 2:10 says that if you break the law at one point, you are guilty of it all. So any ideas we have about good or bad are so different from God's. This is something I have definitely struggled with; it does seem difficult to reconcile a loving and merciful God with what we see in Matthew 7:13-14 that in the final analysis, most people are on the broad road to destruction. It certainly doesn't align with most people's intuitive understanding of things. Nonetheless, how one feels about God's judgments does not negate that God's judgments are what they are.
Hence, man cannot be justified by his own good works but rather needs an
imputed righteousness. Because God in his holiness cannot declare someone innocent who has broken his law, it was necessary for Jesus to live a sinless life, die on a cross and rise again so that whoever believes in him will go to heaven. Because no good works can bridge the gap our sins create between us and God, we need God to declare us righteous based on the work of another, and we can obtain that forgiveness by trusting in Christ alone for our salvation.
That being said, I wouldn't judge anyone's final salvation. It is possible, for example, that those who sought the truth throughout their lives to some degree may be given a revelation so that they can have faith in Jesus just before death. What I was concerned with was the idea that not knowing about God or Jesus is automatic immunity from judgment; rather, the picture painted by scripture is that we (as non-children/infants/unborn, mentally normal individuals) are guilty as a matter of default condition and that knowledge of and belief in Jesus can save us from that fallen state.
