The job of the Church
I have not yet encountered a satisfactory explanation of why it is okay for some souls not to hear the gospel. Is it sufficient for them to face the judgement of death without the option of reconciliation for the errors they have committed in life?
People do like the notion of judgement – implying some impersonal tribunal that has questionable right to decide about their life. Death is a judgement that occurs without a trial. It happens and then everything is different. Judgement is a decision about what happens next. Where do you go? Is there an oblivion – a place or state of nothingness or are we eternal continuing to exist beyond this life?
It is unlikely that we are finite creations because we hope for something more. It is ingrained in the human consciousness to reach beyond life. Countless religious formulations and experiential reports of visions of afterlife are universally encountered in human societies throughout all generations. Something comes next. What is it?
If the Jewish and Christian writings concerning a Messiah who will reconcile the way we have lived in this life with the requirements of a good and just creator are the correct information, then it is very important that everyone be told about it. If Jesus is the truth, then everyone needs to know that truth before they are changed/judged into what comes next.
It is suggested that God has revealed His existence to every soul in the witness of creation around them. Conscience, whispering to their hearts or inner visions are offered in place of a personal explanation of what the future holds. The gospel is unnecessary to the future disposition of souls they say. But is that true?
If such esoteric explanations can satisfy justice (you will receive what you have given) in the minds of some people, it does not satisfy me. Maybe I am too religious, or obstinate. My father was a preacher. I grew up and became a preacher myself. Even with these ‘advantages’ I did not enter into an life-changing relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit until I was 32. That was 8 years after my ordination. It took a session in a rehab clinic to convert me.
Am I more of a hardcase than the billions of others who have never once heard the gospel? How are those people supposed to have the same possibility of understanding salvation through Jesus that I had? The gospel was presented to me and by me countless times before I was transformed by it. How can it be fair that some only hear it briefly once or never at all?
The Bible says that faith (trust in God’s plans for us) comes by hearing and hearing and hearing. Romans 10:17. It is not always instant. Souls, like lovers, need to be wooed – paid attention to and given time. How has Jesus managed to offer sufficient knowledge of salvation to those who were never formally presented with the gospel? We are talking about billions of people over thousands of years, not just the years since Jesus lived but also the years and people who lived before He was incarnate. If all that we offer as a replacement for the gospel is a vague notion that a knowledge of God’s existence and goodness should have convinced them, then we offer too little. Love, justice and mercy are too sophisticated for vague daydreaming.
How does the beauty of creation reveal to a soul the awful price Jesus paid for their salvation? Where would they get the idea that God would willingly do this for them and offer to exchange His goodness for their sin? I do not think that can be extrapolated from nature. It is an offer from a lover.
Those who already have their salvation in Jesus seem content to explain away the need for every soul to receive that same offer. But that need is unstoppable. God needs it. His desire is for every soul to come to repentance and the knowledge of salvation (1 Timothy 2:4). God’s desires must be fulfilled. If He is willing to give us the desires of our hearts Psalm 37:4 surely, He will bring about His own desires too.
If we accept the explaining away of the need to evangelize every soul, it means that we are content to see some souls slip into Hell without a fight. ‘They chose it themselves’. Did they choose? If it took 32 years of intensive combat to wedge the gospel firmly between my ears and into my heart – why should others not experience the same opportunity?
No! The Church must preach the gospel. It is a gift entrusted to no one but Her by Jesus Himself. We are responsible to reach out and rescue every soul, all creation, all the world – not just the easy ones, not just the living. It is our task, our mission, our right and privilege. No slight-of-hand theological mumbo jumbo can invalidate the comprehensive fulfillment of the great commission. We are to preach to all souls. Time, death and Hell cannot hinder the work of the Church because God is with us. We act in Jesus’ power and authority. We can do what He did. He preached in Hell. Why not us too?