Salvation of the Heathen

[Brother Bob]

indwelling Spirit

You have any first hand knowledge that they don't have it? :thumbs:

 

[canadyjd]

You have any first hand knowledge that they don't have it? :thumbs:

Well, I guess we have to carefully define terms. By "heathen", I mean someone without the indwelling Holy Spirit. Thus my previous answer to you that the one with the indwelling Holy Spirit is right. If they have the Spirit, then they are not heathen, and I am not referring to them.

peace to youraying:

 

[Brother Bob]

Just kidding around canady;

 

[canadyjd]

OK

BTW, I like your new picture. You look like a man on a mission.

peace to youraying:

 

[Helen]

Helen

The specific question I want you to answer is this. Do you believe that if someone in some far corner of the planet had never heard of Jesus Christ, but had some knowledge of the "promise of Genesis", that person could be saved by believing the "Genesis promise"? Please just tell me yes or no.

peace to youraying:

Yes.

Just like Noah, Job, Abraham, David....

God's Promise was all there was before the Incarnation. We are blessed to have historical knowledge of that Event. However, man is not saved by knowledge. Man is saved by belief. Abraham believed God regarding the meaning of the names of the stars and their indication of a coming Redeemer, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Paul explains this in the New Testament. There is further indication that Abraham believed so fully that the Redeemer would be from his bloodline that when he and Isaac left the servants when he was about to sacrifice his son, Abraham instructed the servants to wait there while they went up to worship and then THEY would return. He not only knew of the Promise of Christ, but of the reality of the Resurrection of the Redeemer as well. So did many. Whether or not they believed, however, and trusted God was up to them.

The knowledge was always there, from Adam and Eve on. What men choose to do about that knowledge, either before or after the Incarnation, is up to them.

 

[Brother Bob]

So, if my neighbor is not saved he is a heathen? I need to know so I can tell him tomorrow?

 

[canadyjd]

Yes.

Just like Noah, Job, Abraham, David....

Then I must disagree with you. Every person you mentioned had more than general revelation. They had more than belief in the "Genesis promise". They had a specific intervention of God in their lives, a special revelation. God revealed Himself to them, spoke with them, or had His prophets go and speak with him in the case of David. David also had the Mosaic Law, which is itself a special revelation.

That everyone knew and everyone rejected God is without question from Romans 1. Only those who receive "special" revelation from God are brought to salvation.

I Cor. is also clear. The world has rejected God for its own wisdom. God is well pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached. That is God's plan for salvation. The message is Christ and Him crucified. The method is preaching/proclaiming. With no Gospel of Jesus Christ, there is no salvation.

peace to youraying:

 

[Brother Bob]

Thank Canady;
I am on a mission.

 

[canadyjd]

So, if my neighbor is not saved he is a heathen? I need to know so I can tell him tomorrow?

That wouldn't be my first approach.

peace to youraying:

 

[Brother Bob]

Could get a little nasty couldn't it? :laugh:

 

[canadyjd]

Could get a little nasty couldn't it? :laugh:

Yeah, as someone once told me, it is almost always better to keep your mouth shut in any given conversation.:laugh:

Kind of reminds me of that thread a few weeks ago where someone wanted to confront all the women he had been lusting over and confess his sins to them. That might have been too much information to share.

Was it you that said you bet their husbands would help him repent?

peace to youraying:

 

[Brother Bob]

Yea, that was a good one wasn't it. Laughed with wife all evening over that one.