Are non-believers accountable to God? A response

Recently I received this extended comment on my post 'Being Good Part 2':

Someone who isn't a Christian will not 'struggle' with sin. They'll just do it, without caring what God thinks.

Does this in some ways mean that they are not to blame for this sin, and thus can incur God's forgiveness, as it is not a struggle, since they in effect have nothing to struggle against?

I am having many, many problems with "No-one comes to the Father except through Me" at the moment, and I think this is related.

This, to me, implies that knowledge and acceptance of Jesus is a prerequisite to salvation. This brings up the problem, however, of those who do not 'know' (I find know very limiting in English!- it's the French distinction that I need!) Jesus being necessarily 'damned', although for want of a better word, as I understand that this should not be passive, but active, as in someways damning is done to oneself with God. In my mind there are three groups of people that this affects: those pre-incarnation; those who, because of remoteness have no access; and those who are not exposed in the correct way to the Gospel (I think Gandhi is the best example, being turned away from a church). for the first group, I can see that this is filled by an "implicit" belief in Jesus through faith. The second and third groups, however, seem to be excluded from Salvation because of the exactness of this passage - "no-one".

I cannot reconcile this with my faith!

Hope you can convince me otherwise!

Loads of good questions raised here! And I think they are indeed closely related.

Are non-Christians to blame for their sin? Are they held responsible? Are people who don't know about Jesus damned?


The book of Romans is a good place to turn to here. Romans 1 argues that all men are accountable for their rejection of God: 'For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities- His eternal power and divine nature- have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.' (v20) Paul argues that 'Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin' (Romans 3:9)- the Jews, because they had God's law and knew what was right and wrong and yet failed to obey; the Gentiles, because God's glory is evident through creation and they 'suppressed the truth by their wickedness' (Romans 1:18). Quoting Psalm 5, Paul writes 'There is no-one righteous, not even one' (Romans 3:10). And because God is holy and just He cannot tolerate sin. He must punish it because it would go against His nature to ignore it.


But God has made a way for us to be seen as righteous in His sight, through sending Jesus. With Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross, if we trust in Him, we can come before God and God will see Christ's perfection, not our sin. This is what Paul means when he says 'all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished- He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.' (Romans 3:23-26)


Now there are still people out there who have never heard the good news about what Jesus has done. God will judge them and I cannot say what He will say to them. I do know that He is perfectly just, more just than our puny human souls can fathom or imagine. Jesus says that 'And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.' (Matthew 24:14) This means that God will wait until all people groups have been reached with the gospel before the Final Judgement. It also says that 'The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance' (2 Peter 3:9). The reason Jesus hasn't yet returned is because God wants more people to be saved. So we can safely trust that God is not rejoicing in the fact that people don't know the gospel. He desires more people to come to believe in Him. That is why it is so important for Christians to tell others about the good news of Jesus, and support mission work overseas too.


But on the 'pre-Incarnation' point, Jesus Himself made it clear that His death paid for sins past, present and future. He spoke of Abraham as alive, rebuking the Sadduccees' dismissal of the idea of resurrection of the dead. (Matthew 22:32) The only way Abraham could be with God was through Jesus' redemption for him on the cross. The writer of Hebrews also talks about the great people of faith in the Old Testament. They were saved because of their faith that God would justify them... which would happen on the cross in the future.


I hope that helps slightly. Keep seeking and you will find! Although perhaps sometimes we should not simply seek answers to our questions, but a peace of trusting that God knows what's best and accepting that sometimes we don't understand everything. Thank you for your comments!

What's wrong with the Church? Organic Church reviewed

Neil Cole's 'Organic Church' asks crucial questions of the Church in today's society.

Bluntly, he writes that to most non-Christians, church is where you get married and are buried, and people are desperate to avoid both. He also points out that an incredible amount of effort and resources are expended for one hour a week. Jesus commissioned us to go into all the world and make disciples (Matthew 28), and we've turned it round, expecting the world to come to us.

Cole points out that the Church belongs to Jesus, and He is our key team player! We need to trust Him more and be prepared to go into scary places to find the 'good soil' of people waiting to hear and believe the good news. The Gospels make it clear where the most receptive people are: they are the outcasts of society, the prostitutes and low-lifes, they are in the places no one respectable wants to go to. If we want to see the church grow, we need to get out of our comfort zone and into the tough places!

Cole also argues that we need to stop allowing people within the church to be passive. New converts do not need to be 'trained' to reach others- look at how Jesus sent out Legion straight after healing him! Ultimately, instead of drawing people out of community, Jesus' plan is to inject the Gospel into existing communities... so that the members become a church themselves.

In short, we need to strip down all our requirements for church that aren't biblical- such as owning a building, running large services and organising rotas - and focus upon what really matters: close relationships that reach out to include anyone, no matter what their past or present situation is. Above all, as Christians we need to show others how Jesus has changed our lives... and show others how He can change their lives too.

17 Again

All I can say is: Wow!

I dragged my husband along to see 17 Again, the new film with Zac Efron (High School Musical) and Matthew Perry, not particularly expecting anything amazing. It was awesome! Not only was it hysterically funny, but it had a brilliant message.

Most films which involve time-travel or transformations centre around the protagonist going back to change the course of history, to improve his life for the better. Back to the Future is the classic example. 17 Again opens with a scene from 1989: a basketball game that could give Mike O'Donnell a college scholarship. His girlfriend tells him that she is pregnant, and he leaves the basketball court to run after her. He marries her, and then 17 years later their marriage is on the rocks, because he has resented her for the way his life has turned out. I felt apprehensive that this film was going to chart the breakdown of a marriage, or worse, a fairy-tale change of history. I was wrong!

This film is really about Mike's realisation that his decisions were not wrong; the way he dealt with them was the problem. The film is about how he faces up to his responsibilities and realises what he has in his wife and children. Not only does it promote saving marriages, but it also promotes saving sex for marriage. I was impressed!

I thoroughly recommend this film. It is thoughtful and has something relevant to say about family life in today's world. With increasingly depressing statistics about marriage and families (in The Daily Telegraph today they quote the Office for National Statistics' figures that more under-25s give birth than get married, and an average marriage lasts 11 years), it is great to see a film affirming the importance of not taking your relationships for granted, and working at them. Going through a wedding ceremony does not make a marriage; giving birth to a child does not make a successful parent-child relationship. We need to stop kidding ourselves that these things happen 'naturally'.

The Bible tells us frankly that we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7). If we spend all our efforts on our career or 'me-time', we are not going to enjoy close marriages or really know our children. How refreshing to be reminded by a secular film that people matter more than getting your own way, or getting more stuff.