I once thought God was being unfair to all people born in countries where Christianity wasn’t the main religion. I thought those people weren’t given the same opportunity to know God that I had in America. I was judging God and I was wrong. Studying about God is my passion and what I’ve come to realize is God is good and God is great, always. That means God deals fairly with every person who has ever lived. God doesn’t play favorites. God will judge everyone fairly based on the revelation of God they have been given, no matter how much or how little that revelation is. Without the necessity of speaking directly to his creatures God has revealed to all of us his existence, his power, and his intelligence by what he has made. A thoughtful and inquiring look at nature will show us God. How could it not? Because of our fallen state and sinful nature most people will not see the evidence of God all around them without help. The job of all believers is to help unbelievers remove the scales from their eyes so they can see the truth of God. We do that by sharing our witness for Christ and what we know about God and his Word.
Psalm 19:1 – The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.
Psalm 8:3-4 – When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him?
Psalm 14:1 – The fool has said in his heart, there is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none who does good.
Romans 1:19-20 – Because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
I also once naively thought every person who heard the gospel of Christ would rush to be saved unto eternal life. All we had to do as believers was share the truth of God with unbelievers, open the doors of heaven for them, stand back and let everybody rush right in and be saved. Sad to say that’s not the case. It’s not common for someone to be saved the first time they hear the gospel message of Christ. Most people need to hear the gospel multiple times before accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. That’s why it’s important for us to share our witness for Christ knowing beforehand we probably won’t reap their soul for the kingdom of God. Don’t be discouraged. Every time we sow the seeds of the gospel message of Christ with someone we’re moving them along the path of decision and at some point they’ll accept or reject Jesus. When someone is saved unto eternal life God equally rewards the one who reaped that soul and all those who sowed the seeds of salvation along the way in that person’s life. God is nothing if not fair.
John 4:36 – (Jesus speaking) – And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.
Isaiah 43:11 – I, even I, am the Lord, and besides Me there is no savior.
Isaiah 45:5 – I am the Lord, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me, I will gird you, though you have not known Me.
For an unbeliever to admit to the existence of a God who created them would imply moral responsibility to that God. Unbelievers refuse to do this. They suppress the truth because they don’t want to change their behavior. They like sinning. To justify their decision to reject God the unbeliever uses the guise of scientific observation and intellectual honesty. Instead of looking at the plain evidence of God the unbeliever has convinced himself their preconceived ideas are correct. Spiritually speaking, they have stuck their head in the sand and ignored the truth of God. God designed nature to be perceived by the human mind. Those who refuse to use the mind God gave them to discover the truth of God are referred to in Psalm 14:1 as fools by God and so they are.
Genesis 2:7 – And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Psalm 139:14 – I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
John 1:3 – All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.