Blog Detail

Is God unfair?

People have argued that if we believe John 14:6, Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me…” – makes the casting of those who have never heard of Jesus into a second death in the ‘Lake of Fire’, an unfair judgment upon them.

— I hear this argument from those who think that not having a chance to hear of the way to be saved in Jesus, gives them an innocence that should excuse them from God’s final judgment as the Bible tells us of in Revelation 20:11-15… (ESV) Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.  (12)  And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.  (13)  And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.  (14)  Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.  (15)  And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

— I struggled to argue the fact that this involves God’s sovereignty over all mankind to a fellow who believed in a Universal Salvation ideal. – This is the one that promotes the idea that there is more than one way to be saved, and that other religions besides Christianity also contain a path to God.

— In this liberality is contained a great deception, as authored by the Great Deceiver himself, Satan.

It follows the pattern of the first deception found in Genesis 3:1-4… (ESV) Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”  (2)  And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden,  (3)  but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’”  (4)  But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die.”

— Satan used the serpent to say God lied when He said they would die.

— Now the Deceiver is claiming that Jesus lied when He said that He was the only way to Father God. And people are still falling for Satan’s deceptions.

As I prayed that God would clarify this accusation of unfairness to those perishing without ever hearing the Gospel of Jesus, I received a shockingly simple answer to my dilemma… God’s Holy Spirit reminded me of the ‘fall of mankind’ recorded in Genesis 3:16-19… (ESV) To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”  (17)  And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;  (18)  thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field.  (19)  By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

The answer to a claim of the innocent being unfairly judged to the ‘second death’ is dismissed by the fact that all mankind, as sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, are judged to die, totally separate from any idea of rejecting Christ.

— You see, we are (and were) all judged to die because of sin, and once we choose to commit any sin, any sin, we fall under this judgment of our ancestors.

The only escape from that judgment is claiming by faith that Jesus paid your price of death Himself, and as you repent from your sins and ask His forgiveness, His death on the cross cancels your need to die the second death. – SEE 1^st John 2:1-2… (NIV) My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. (2) He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

YES, This judgment of death is upon us all, and the only escape is making Jesus Christ your Lord.

— This does not make God unfair, for the sin-debt must be paid, regardless if you have heard of Jesus or not.

— However, this must make us realize how crucial it is to let people hear of God’s grace and mercy in that believing Jesus Saves, they also may have an opportunity to escape that judgment.

— This doesn’t mean that evangelizing the whole world will save everyone, for each person must make that decision to follow Jesus, or not, for themselves. However, it should reinforce the need to grasp every opportunity to SHOW the Gospel of Christ, and then be bold to TELL of His saving grace… (KK)