Where Do People Who Never Hear of Jesus Go When They Die?

“For some reason some Christians get hung up on this question. A lot of Christians shy away from this question. Maybe it is because in our flesh it is hard for us to believe that we actually deserve an eternity in hell for our sin.”

(Jordan Standridge – The Cripplegate) In the last couple years, some of my longer Gospel conversations ended up with this question at one point or another. I’m not sure why, but it seemed to come up very often, especially when talking with practicing Roman Catholics.

It is a very good question, because it just doesn’t seem fair to us as human beings that so many people all over the world never get the chance to hear about Jesus.

The best way to answer this question is by answering a different one.

Why do people go to Hell?

Some people answer with, “Because they rejected Jesus Christ.” Though I do understand that answer, I think that it is, at the very least, incomplete, because you can only reject things you know about. If rejecting Jesus was the reason, then those who have never heard of Jesus would be off the hook.

Our church sends out short term mission teams all the time. If culpability came after hearing about Jesus, then the worst thing we could do is send missionaries all over the world. We should send fence building teams instead. We should build huge walls around these tribes to keep them from ever hearing the name Jesus and what He did for them. View article →