I am somewhere between heartbroken sadness and total anger that anyone would or could declare to the person posting here "no, they don't go to heaven."
This is really going to help someone asking questions about God! That's sarcastic in case anyone missed it.
PTW, Abraham was told to recount or 'tell' the stars -- WHY? Because 'so shall your seed be' -- singlular. What was there in the stars that declared the Messiah to come? Read the article. Just read it. The amount of research the four of us put into it would have choked a horse. The names of the stars have transcended languages, ethnicities, and time -- why? Because God Himself named them -- and, like all ancient names, they mean something. Astrology has corrupted it, but it did not start out that way.
From the time of Christ on, for those who have heard the Story, there is no way but that. But if you check Romans 1:18 - 2:17, you will find that this section is very interesting. It is after the greeting and before the discussion regarding the Jews and the Law. In this section Paul talks about general revelation and man in general. And Paul talks about those who reject the truth several times. The famous part in the first chapter, but again in chapter 2. And here we find some startling things being said:
God will give to each person according to whqt he has done. To thosew ho by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking, and who reject the trut and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.
Let me offer something to think about. We are told we will reign with Him eternally, aren't we? Over whom?
Maybe these people. Those who have sought the truth and rejected evil because of the knowledge of the law, or of right and wrong, that God has put into the hearts of every man. When Jesus said HE was the truth, what else was He saying but that any man who was truly seeking the truth was also seeking Him? I know, but "no man seeketh after God." No, they were not seeking God, not that they knew, anyway. They were simply seeking the truth and rejecting evil. And there have been people like that since Babel.
I'm not offering that as theology, but as a thought.
A thought that might break through, hopefully, the arrogant and stubborn attitude that declares to the world "I, and those like me are saved, but the rest of you are hated by God and going to hell."
That is not the message Jesus gave. He said something entirely different. He said "Come to me, ALL ye that labor and are heavy-laden..."
And I have not seen a Calvinist deal with this verse. In the same way Jesus could be Lord, lunatic, or liar, we have those same three options, essentially, for this verse:
1. Jesus meant what He said and all who are weary are invited to Him.
2. Only those pre-selected by God are weary (I'm afraid this is the lunatic angle to me).
3. Jesus was not telling the truth.
Nor have I seen a Calvinist deal successfully with the fact that Jesus said that the angels of the little children always see the Father's face. Even Moses was not allowed that. That says something about the little children, I think.
It is our deep and incredible and undeserved privilege to be born in a time and place where the Gospel is known and taught. But that privilege for us does not mean the rest of the world and times are going to hell. Jesus created every man in His own image. He so loved the WORLD...
Yes, Melchizedek is definitely an example. A high priest of the one true God. He knew the Promise. He knew God. And He was outside of the special revelation given to Abraham. So we can figure that he is a unique individual in all of history or we can figure he was a type of all who have sought the truth with their whole hearts, maybe not always knowing where to find it, but then, God judges the heart, does He not?
When Abraham's belief was credited to him as righteousness, what was it he was believing? That God existed? He was TALKING TO HIM! That was not it. That he would have many children? Faith that you will have a lot of children is righteousness? No. Because righteousness is ONLY in Christ Jesus.
It was because the gospel itself was written in the stars for all men to see and to hang their hopes on.
I would be so bold as to warn those subscribing to the Reformed theological way of looking at other people that you be very careful not to imitate the Pharisee's prayer that runs along the lines of "I'm so glad you didn't make me like him/them, God! I'm glad you chose me and didn't leave me out, like THEM!"
Jesus mentioned that it was not that man, but the one who fell in abject humility before God saying "Be merciful to me, a sinner!"
This was not to Christ, but to the God of gods. And that is a God every society remembers.
My computer is going out. I have to reboot.
