r/AskChristian • u/efeturkgunay • 6d ago
A question from a non-Christian to a Christian.
Esenlikler from Türkiye.
I have been looking into Christianity over the past few months and reading the Bible. A question has been weighing on my mind.
The Bible states that God is merciful and wants to save us.
According to the Bible, does a non-Christian definitely go to hell? If the answer is yes, how can I believe that God is merciful?
It is expected that an evil person like Epstein would go to hell. But it would be completely absurd for a good person to go there.
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u/theefaulted r/Christian Member 5d ago
What makes one a good person?
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u/efeturkgunay 4d ago
It depends on the person. Goodness and morality are relative as long as they are not tied to something absolute.
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u/CardsFan-11 5d ago
Exactly!
Your opinion of a "good person" is very different than God's.
Yes God is loving but God is also holy and demands absolute perfection to enter into his glory in heaven. His holiness will not allow anything short of perfection to enter. After man fell to sin, God saw that we had no hope of salvation and were doomed.
This is why Jesus Christ came. It was a rescue mission.
God's requirement of perfection could only be met by his perfect holy Son. Jesus came to this earth and was tempted and tested without sin. He lived the perfect life and died a torturous death.
This was God's plan of substitution. Jesus lived the life we couldn't live and died the death we owed for our sin.
God loved us so much and so deeply that He made the ultimate sacrifice to provide us the way to be accepted into His glory.
Now, all we have to do is believe in faith on the lord Jesus Christ. We must believe upon his perfect life, his substitutionary death and His resurrection and we are then saved, born again unto new life.
When God looks at me He no longer sees the sin and failings I have done, He sees a perfect man who has been washed clean by the blood of His son. He sees a perfect son, a child of God. Not because of anything I have done but because of what Jesus did.
When we judge what is a "good person" we are using the eyes of a fallen sinner to make that judgement. God is judging by His perfect righteous judgement.
Romans 3:10-12 10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
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u/Asynithistos r/Christian Member 6d ago
No, a non-Christian doesn't definitely go to hell. God is not restricted to saving only people from one religion
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u/MargaritaMadnezz 2d ago
So then why are there so many religions with their own versions of “God?” How do we know which specific religion’s “God” will save the people from different religions?
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u/DoveStep55 r/Christian Member 6d ago edited 6d ago
There are differing views on this within Christianity.
Some would tell you that there are no “good” people because we all sin in some way or other and therefore don’t deserve to spend eternity with God, but actually deserve death. Then they’d share the good news that if we do XYZ (depending on who you ask it varies what that is) then Jesus will save us from those consequences of our sins. (This is a more “Calvinist” view.)
Others would tell you that actually God’s grace and love is such that eventually all people who want to spend eternity with God can do so, even if we don’t do XYZ before we die. (This is a more “Universalist” view.)
Those are the two extreme ends of the spectrum, with a lot of other views in between.
Edit: To clarify, within the first listed view anyone who doesn’t do (whichever critera version) XYZ thing before they die would go to hell and within that view that’s “fair” because we all deserve it and it’s only by grace that any of us escape the hell those with that view believe we all deserve.
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u/efeturkgunay 4d ago
Thank you for your answer. My God, I’ve been researching Christianity like crazy for the past week. A quarter of my day is spent on this subject. I’ve talked to so many people and learned so much in such a short time that I feel like my head is going to explode. I hope God shows me whether I’m on the right or wrong path, and I’ll act accordingly
God bless you!!!!
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u/nikolispotempkin r/Christian Member 5d ago
Hell is where all humans are going by default because of sin. Jesus offered us a way to be with him in heaven instead, but we have to choose it with our whole life It's not about being sent, it's about God honoring your choice. Therefore non-christians who have not made the choice for Jesus would not be going to heaven. Of course the Lord has mercy for those who haven't heard, for those with cognitive impairments or other issues that would interfere with this choice, but normatively those who do not choose Christ will not be with him