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FATE OF THE UNREACHED - Part II

Buff Scott Jr.

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Let’s talk about the
Fate Of The Unreached
[Part II]

The pagans in the first chapter of Romans were without special revelation. Nonetheless, God had revealed Himself to them through the things He created.

“Since what can be known about God was plain to them, because God had made it plain to them. 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 He has made, so that men are without excuse. For although they [pagans or Gentiles] knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him” (Rom. 1:18-21).

These Gentiles had been given a revelation, but not a distinctive revelation in the form of audible or written messages. They were exposed to the divine nature through God’s creation. They could have even glorified God and given Him thanks, but they chose not to. Although without a unique manifestation, they could have served God. God can be seen through created things. He communicates through His splendid handiwork, for “God’s handiwork declares His glory.” His invisible qualities are clearly seen in His visible creation.

Every mentally competent person who has ever lived has been able to find God, for “he has set eternity in the hearts of men” (Eccles. 3:11). All men, everywhere and in every age, have been divinely infused with an awareness of an intelligent Creator and of life after physical death. On that principle, I must conclude there have been many “unexposed” persons who were receptive to the “revelation of creation.” And those who sought God’s face, as limited as it may have been, and who “by persistence in doing good sought glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life” (Rom. 2:7).

Since God has never required the impossible in any age, it seems to me He will show mercy and grace to those who seek His face, regardless of the revelation under which they have lived or may be living. Note the qualification: Those who seek His face. This is the key.

The man in darkest Brazil who responds to the only revelation to which he has access—the revelation of creation, although unexposed to scripture and has never heard the name Jesus, is glorifying God and will therefore be delivered by His mercy and grace. God’s creation is the only revelation he knows. He responds to that revelation by trusting in a Supreme Being and giving thanks to Him, as the pagans in Romans could have done.

I suspect you recall the story of Cornelius, a Gentile, as recorded in Acts 10. Being a Gentile, he was not one of God’s covenant people, yet he is referred to as a “righteous and God-fearing man”—even before he knew about Jesus and the new Way. Cornelius needed additional light. God sent the apostle Peter who revealed a special Light to him and his household in the person of Jesus.

Needless to say, many “Corneliuses” have died without coming in contact with that special Light. I entertain no doubt but that they were acceptable to God, even if they were not His covenant people. To put it another way: Wherever there are people like Cornelius, there are people acceptable to God.

Regarding the account of Cornelius, I defer to my good brother in the Lord, Leroy Garrett, now deceased, whose views on Cornelius have savored my thoughts.

“Martin Luther’s parents died Roman Catholics. On one occasion, a friend asked him if he believed his parents would be saved in heaven. Luther answered affirmatively. His friend reminded him that he was now opposing Catholicism while believing his Roman Catholic parents would be saved in heaven. The friend goaded him for a clarification of the apparent contradiction.”

Luther explained that his parents were receptive to all the truth they knew or could know at the time, indicating that God does not require the impossible. Luther gave a sensible response. When anyone seeks God’s face and consistently strives to conform to the only revelation he has, God “will give him eternal life” (Rom. 2:7).

NEXT TIME— In Part III, we will evaluate what our Lord said about the unreached. You might be surprised how vividly and clearly He covered it. Look for it next time. Please hold your questions until you have viewed all Parts.—Buff.​
 
Pretty good op, except for two points.
Since God has never required the impossible in any age,....​
God has always required righteousness and perfection, and humanity is incapable of both apart from Christ. It is quite literally impossible for any human to be perfect, and/or righteous.
The man in darkest Brazil who responds to the only revelation to which he has access—the revelation of creation, although unexposed to scripture and has never heard the name Jesus, is glorifying God and will therefore be delivered by His mercy and grace.​
The New Testament makes it pretty clear that the OT individuals to whom God had spoken His covenant promises understood something about Jesus. They were given a special revelation that was reported later, but the specifics of that revelation were not recorded in either the Old or the New. Abraham, for example, knew God would be His own sacrifice. David knew of the resurrection of the Messiah. These were not revelations detailed in Tankah or Torah, but they were, nonetheless revelations provided by God specially to those individuals.

There is, therefore, no reason to think God did not also provide additional revelation to others.

They simply were not part of the bloodline through whom the Messiah would be incarnated.

The alternative is there are a bunch of people around the world, over the centuries, who correctly understood and worshiped God.... but God left them unattended. Remember: Abram was not a Jew. He was a Babylonian. His story occurs after the fiasco at Babel. The two accounts provide a contrast, one of a bunch of people so filled with delusional hubris they think they can build a building that will reach God, and the other of an individual called to leave that mess. Abram is an example of someone had only creation until the day God (monergistically) called him and commanded him to leave. Even then Abram knew nothing other than the testimony of creation (and whatever oral tradition might have existed in Babylon). It was decades before God would reveal His redemptive, messianic purpose. For all intents and purposes, Abram was a Gentile.



You might also want to link these three parts to one another so those interested in reading the whole don't have to go searching.
.
 
Pretty good op, except for two points.

God has always required righteousness and perfection, and humanity is incapable of both apart from Christ. It is quite literally impossible for any human to be perfect, and/or righteous.

The New Testament makes it pretty clear that the OT individuals to whom God had spoken His covenant promises understood something about Jesus. They were given a special revelation that was reported later, but the specifics of that revelation were not recorded in either the Old or the New. Abraham, for example, knew God would be His own sacrifice. David knew of the resurrection of the Messiah. These were not revelations detailed in Tankah or Torah, but they were, nonetheless revelations provided by God specially to those individuals.

There is, therefore, no reason to think God did not also provide additional revelation to others.

They simply were not part of the bloodline through whom the Messiah would be incarnated.

The alternative is there are a bunch of people around the world, over the centuries, who correctly understood and worshiped God.... but God left them unattended. Remember: Abram was not a Jew. He was a Babylonian. His story occurs after the fiasco at Babel. The two accounts provide a contrast, one of a bunch of people so filled with delusional hubris they think they can build a building that will reach God, and the other of an individual called to leave that mess. Abram is an example of someone had only creation until the day God (monergistically) called him and commanded him to leave. Even then Abram knew nothing other than the testimony of creation (and whatever oral tradition might have existed in Babylon). It was decades before God would reveal His redemptive, messianic purpose. For all intents and purposes, Abram was a Gentile.



You might also want to link these three parts to one another so those interested in reading the whole don't have to go searching.
.
Josheb, thanks for your response. I think you will pleasantly enjoy Part III in a few days.
 
Every mentally competent person who has ever lived has been able to find God, for “he has set eternity in the hearts of men” (Eccles. 3:11). All men, everywhere and in every age, have been divinely infused with an awareness of an intelligent Creator and of life after physical death. On that principle, I must conclude there have been many “unexposed” persons who were receptive to the “revelation of creation.” And those who sought God’s face, as limited as it may have been, and who “by persistence in doing good sought glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life” (Rom. 2:7).
What do you judge 'mentally competence' by? Has it not occurred to you that the 'mentally incompetent' people are more precise and accurate on the nature of God's regeneration than any of us are? We are all idiots.
 
What do you judge 'mentally competence' by? Has it not occurred to you that the 'mentally incompetent' people are more precise and accurate on the nature of God's regeneration than any of us are? We are all idiots.
Answer to your first question: Reality. No, I do not agree with your "mentally incompetent" conclusion. Look for Part III soon.​
 
Answer to your first question: Reality. No, I do not agree with your "mentally incompetent" conclusion. Look for Part III soon.​

Put it in the same thread. Making a single thread into 3 separate threads is ridiculous.

You told everyone in your first thread not to post until you posted part two to the OP, so I expected another post, not another thread. Now your threatening a third thread. Just put all this in the same thread.
 
Josheb, thanks for your response. I think you will pleasantly enjoy Part III in a few days.
Thanks for the thanks, but should I expect some address of the specific points made? Those points are significant. Correctly understanding divine expectation and human inability is critically important. Why let those two mistakes go uncorrected when correction (and the consensus with scripture the correct answers provides) is so readily and easily provided? What about the matter of scripture's seemingly paradoxical report of unreported disclosure? Abraham clearly knew more that Moses recounted in the Pentateuch and God clearly wanted that known when He later revealed that condition in later revelation. Why not address that here and now? I hope you will address all three matters in Part III, otherwise I will repeat my concerns (along with anything new found in Part III). It's a good op. It would be better (possibly impeccable) with a few important amendments.

Or is this op something everyone but its author will discuss?
 
Put it in the same thread. Making a single thread into 3 separate threads is ridiculous.

You told everyone in your first thread not to post until you posted part two to the OP, so I expected another post, not another thread. Now your threatening a third thread. Just put all this in the same thread.
Your idea is perhaps a better idea.
 
Your idea is perhaps a better idea.

Thank you. And I apologize for posting in some frustration.

It would make it easier for readers to actually participate, thank you for the consideration.
 
Hezelelponi: I'm following your advice and posting Part III of "Fate Of The Unreached" in this thread instead of devising another one. Thanks. Look for Part III in just a few minutes.​
 
Fate Of The Unreached
[Part III]
What could possibly be required of a man when he responds to the only truth or revelation he knows or can know? Are we ready to exclude him from Paul’s decree that “those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life” (Rom. 2:7)? The man in darkest Brazil, as we noted in Part II, does good. He seeks glory, honor, and immortality as best he can, based on the only revelation to which he has access—creation. Paul says God “will give him eternal life!” Read it again. Let us not forget that God does not require the impossible of any man. Allow me to express it in this fashion:

Considering God’s enormous mercy, it seems to me that eternal condemnation for lack of obedience will not be relegated when opportunity to obey was not available.

Jesus touched upon this kind of situation when He taught there is no guilt when one is unavoidably blind of certain truths. The self-righteous Pharisees were chiding Him in their usual way. Following the healing of a blind man, He said He had come into the world that those who do not see may see, and that others who see may become blind. The Pharisees asked Him, “Are we blind, too” [of certain truths]? Note carefully Jesus’ answer. “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains” (John 9:35-41).

We cannot pass this premise by without reflecting upon it closely. If I understand Jesus’ intend correctly, He seems to be saying, “There is no condemning guilt when one is unavoidably blind of certain truths and facts.” When a man has no occasion to hear of and submit to divine injunctions, yet has faith in the Lord of creation, as touched upon in Romans 1, and the heart is sincere, there is no convicting guilt credited to his account.

In a related passage, Jesus announces, “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin” (John 15:22). The pagans in Romans 1, however, were guilty because God had “spoken to them” through the things He made (creation), yet they rejected Him.

But some may be asking, Will God take vengeance upon those who do not obey the gospel of Messiah Jesus? Of course He will. Heaven’s testimony affirms as much (I Thess. 1:8). The question is, however: Are there exceptions to this divine piece of legislation? I am compelled to answer in the affirmative.

I submit that this heavenly principle or truth encompasses only those who have been or can be exposed to the Gospel message. The severely retarded are excluded. The mentally incompetent are spared. Infants and small children are omitted. These three classes alone testify that the celestial legislation is not all-inclusive. I will even assert it is all-inclusive of those for whom it was meant, and I’m referring to those who are competent and have the opportunity to hear the Good News and embrace it. It cannot apply to or include those persons who are incapable of comprehending the Good News. But is there a fourth class? Let’s see.

The three classes referred to above have insufficient capabilities. They are not expected by man or by God to yield to celestial decrees. I offer a fourth class: Those who are devoid of opportunities. These persons cannot be expected to obey what they have not been nor cannot be exposed to, unless God requires the impossible. Please keep posted to the principle that my premise includes only those unexposed persons whose hearts are honest and receptive.

We all are aware that millions of American Indians lived and died without any opportunity of hearing the name Jesus and responding to His message of salvation. I like to think in terms that some of them responded to the truth they knew or had discovered through God’s creation. If some of these Indians served and honored God through the avenue of nature or created things, but could not honor and glorify His Son because of insufficient opportunities, will His blood not reach them through the avenue of mercy and grace? After all, His blood reaches those who are incapable because of mental incompetence through the avenue of mercy and grace.

I am confident mercy and grace will also compensate for the “good Indian” who honored God through nature, but could not accept Jesus and submit to the Good News because of insufficient opportunities.

As was noted earlier, the Gentiles in Romans who had never been exposed to special revelation in the form of scripture, knew God and could have glorified and given Him thanks through His handiwork, “but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” These Gentiles or pagans could not have transgressed Jewish law, or the special revelation God gave the Jewish nation, for they were strangers to the Covenant. “And where there is no law there is no transgression” (Rom. 4:15). They transgressed the revelation of creation.

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PIVOTAL QUESTION— In Part IV, I will have a pivotal question for my readers. A big part of this subject revolves around that question. Look for it within a day or two. You might wish to hold your questions until you have viewed all Parts.—Buff.​
 
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