Do your kids like milk or Kool-Aid?" asked Pam, juggling a milk carton and a pitcher of Kool-Aid while shutting the refrigerator door with her elbow.

"Kool-Aid," Nancy said, "but give them milk. They've been eating too much sugar lately."

"Boy, I know what you mean." Pam poured five glasses of milk for her two children and Nancy's three.

Fixing lunch for themselves and the kids had become a several-times-a-week routine for those two.

It was awkward at first. When Nancy moved into the neighborhood, Pam had gone over to meet her. A mutual friend explained that Nancy's husband had been an airline pilot, but he was killed in a hijacking. Since Pam's husband was an airline pilot, too, it seemed she could help, and Nancy--left alone to raise three children in a new neighborhood--needed a friend.

At first Pam wanted nothing more than to be that friend. But as time passed and she came to know Nancy better, she felt a growing desire to talk with her about Jesus Christ.

"That lasagna sure smells good," Pam remarked.

"Oh, it's only leftovers."

"But it still smells good."

"I suppose," Nancy reluctantly agreed. "but I'm sorta getting sick of it."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It seems like I have it at least once a week. I'm in a rut." Nancy went on. "I need to do something different."

"Want to go to a Bible study with me?" Pam asked. She had prayed that somehow she would be able to work that invitation into the conversations. She had not thought it would be so easy.

"I don't think I want to go," Nancy answered. "I don't think the Bible is very fair."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because there are people all over the world who never heard of the Bible, and I don't think any God who would send them all to hell is very fair."

"Well, the Bible says God is fair," Pam answered, dealing the exact number of potato chips to each of the five plates--thus averting a war at the table.

"If He's fair, then He'll let everybody into heaven," Nancy persisted.

"I don't know if that's the most fair thing to do or not," Pam returned. "But if it is, that's what He'll do."

"But don't you think everybody needs to believe in Jesus?"

"Yes, I do," Pam admitted.

"Then what about those people who live their whole lives completely isolated from Christianity?"

"Well, they can see the wonders of God in nature," Pam suggested, "and they have a conscience that tells them there's a right and wrong. It seems like they'd want to know what sort of God was behind all that."

Their conversation was interrupted by several trips to the picnic table and a summons calling the kids back from terrorizing the neighborhood. Once the five had all been located, there was the job of nailing them to their spots around the picnic table. That was followed by the task of refilling two glasses of spilled milk, getting them to eat off their own plates, and answering, "Because I said so," to the complaints of "Yuk! Milk! Why do I have to drink this junk?"

Pam was afraid that by the time they got to their lasagna, Nancy would forget her question. But she didn't.

"Even if isolated people wanted to find God, I don't see how they could do it," she said as she poured Pam a glass of iced tea.

Pam answered, "I think God could find some way to tell people about Jesus if they really wanted to find the way to God."

"How do you know they're not already worshipping Jesus?" Nancy asked. "Maybe they are just calling Him a different name."

"It's not the English name 'Jesus' that's important," Pam answered. "It's the whole Person. Nobody else I've ever heard of said what Jesus did. He claimed to be God the Son and the only way to God the Father. Besides, His basic message was different from anybody I've ever heard of."

"Why does it just have to be Jesus?" Nancy objected. "Couldn't God let people who have never heard of Jesus into heaven another way? I mean, God is all-powerful, isn't He?"

"Sure," Pam agreed.

"Well then, He must be powerful enough to get them in some way other than telling them about Jesus."

"Yes. But if He is powerful enough to tell them about Himself without Jesus, then isn't He also powerful enough to bring them to Himself through Jesus?"

"Then what about babies and insane people who don't have the ability to decide to believe in Jesus?" Nancy persisted.

"I really don't know," Pam admitted. "But I think the Bible says somewhere that they are going to heaven automatically."

"Are the people who lived before Jesus going to be sent to hell just because they had the misfortune of being born too soon?"

"No. They have the same chance as the rest of us."

"How do you figure that?" Nancy wanted to know.

"Because the God of the Old Testament hasn't changed, and He told them the Messiah would come to pay for their sins. They had just as much opportunity to believe in Jesus looking forward to His coming as we do looking back at it."

Many Christians tend to avoid the problem of those who have not heard by saying, "Don't be concerned about those people over in those primitive areas who have never heard. What about you who have heard?" It is true that "what about those who haven't heard?" can be a smokescreen put up by an unbeliever to dodge the real issue. I have found, however, especially in talking with adults, that it is usually a sincere question that needs a response.

Their real question is, "What is God like?" Many people honestly are not sure they want to give their lives to a God who is so mean and uncaring that He sends people to hell just because they have never heard of Him.

Nancy and Pam discussed several aspects of the issue.

Whatever God does, it is going to be fair. But many feel if that were true, then He would let everybody into heaven--or at least all the "good" people. Well, because of the reasons given in chapter 8 of this book, we might question whether that would actually be fair. But, if that is fair, then that is what He will do.

The Bible rhetorically asks, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?" (Genesis 18:25). In other words, the God who judges the whole earth will be just and fair to each individual. Romans 2:11 reads, "For there is no partiality with God." Whatever God does about those who have never heard of Jesus Christ will be the most fair thing to do.

Every person, no matter what his geographical location, has at least two sources of information about God to which he can respond.

Nature is one source. As we observe the universe around us, we see design and beauty far beyond anything we or even nature itself could produce. In chapter 12 we deal specifically with natural revelation. What is important to point out here is that everyone has the same natural wonders around him, and they point to a superior being beyond man whom anyone may choose to seek.

If I were to live in your house a while, I would know you existed even if I never met you. The pictures, artifacts, and designs I would find around the house would tell me of your existence as a distinct person with a definite personality. I would have enough information to decide to try to find you if I wanted to. The apostle Paul put it this way: "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse" (Romans 1:20).

But nature is not our only source of information about God. Another one is within ourselves--conscience. We have the idea of a standard of goodness beyond what we are able to keep. Conscience tells us about sin: the difference between the way we live and the way we know we ought to live.

A few days ago, I had a man in my office who had been an atheist most of his life. He told me how as a teenager he had rejected the beliefs of the church he grew up in and replaced them with a moral code that he thought he should live by. Then he tried to live by it.

"To my surprise," he told me, "I couldn't keep my own moral standards. What's worse, I found myself pretending I was the kind of person I had decided I should be, even though I couldn't pull it off."

"That's fascinating," I said. "You made up your own religion, converted yourself to it, then backslid from it, so you became a hypocrite about it!"

He agreed.

We both had a good laugh. But there is a point here not to be overlooked. Even though he outwardly rejected God, he could not escape his inner knowledge of a goodness beyond what he was able to keep. Speaking of those who have never heard, the Bible says, "They show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness, and their thought alternately accusing or else defending them" (Romans 2:15). What finally brought him to a belief in God was his realization that man has a sense of goodness far greater than he needs for basic survival.

God has obligated Himself to respond to people who respond to Him. When someone looking at nature and his own conscience wants to find the source of the goodness and righteousness within it all, God promises He will reveal Himself to that person.

I have heard it said that Christianity is not a religion, because religion is man seeking God, whereas Christianity is God seeking man. Actually that formula is only partly true. Christianity is God seeking man; but it is also man seeking God. God is seeking those who respond to whatever they can know about Him. Ezekiel wrote, "For thus says the Lord God, 'Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out' " (34:11). Jesus said, "For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). But God also wants people to seek Him. Jesus said, "Seek, and you shall find" (Matthew 7:7). Hebrews 11:6 reads, "He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."

Missionary records are filled with stories of people from isolated areas who had no exposure to the Bible or to anyone who knew the message of Christianity, yet were seeking a good, loving God of some kind. God answered their search by leading some missionary to them to tell them about Christ. From Mongolia to the depths of Africa, we hear people saying things like, "I always knew He existed, but I never knew His name," or, "I've always known there was a loving God somewhere."

Some object that a person sincerely seeking God would probably just become a loyal follower of his own tribal religion. Experience does not bear that out. I have not observed true seekers of God tuning back to become loyal followers of their childhood religion. Most reject it! The more sincere they are, the more they question. Jesus said we should have the faith of a little child--but every child I talk to about God has gobs of questions! Seeking people generally reject any ideas that are inconsistent with what nature and conscience tell them is right.

For one thing, I know of no other religion, following the teachings of any other leader, with anywhere near the message Jesus had. On the surface they might appear the same. Non-Christian religions have commandments and morals and rules to live by and accept some sort of supernatural being and promote the betterment of man. But while other leaders claimed to be prophets of God or one of many gods, Jesus claimed to be God, the only God, the Creator of the universe (John 14:7-9). All non-Christian religions I have studied teach a "works" system of reaching God or becoming better. Jesus taught that no works will get one to God; faith alone accomplishes that (John 5:24; 6:28-29). Most religions point primarily to the betterment of man; Jesus pointed primarily to the glory of God (John 12:44-45). The religions of man may claim to be a way or a better way, but they generally do not declare themselves the only way; Jesus asserted that He was the only way and that there was absolutely no other way (John 8:24).

Besides that, the name of Jesus is significant. Christ Himself said that the reason some people would end up being condemned was because they did not believe "in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18). The Bible says that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth" (Philippians 2:10). (See also Acts 5:41, 1 John 3:23 and 5:13, and 3 John 7.) Of course when we say the name of Jesus is significant, we do not mean the English word J-E-S-U-S. We mean the person, the actual carpenter of Nazareth identified by that name. Salvation lies in that individual Man--not in His philosophies or teachings or in the way we pronounce His name, but in Jesus of Nazareth, who was the Creator of the world.

Still another question is, "After all, if God is completely powerful, then could He not reveal Himself to those isolated people by some way other than telling them about the Jesus of the Bible?"

Of course, God could do anything He likes. But we might also ask, "Since God is powerful enough to reveal Himself some way other than how He said He would, then is He not also powerful enough to do it the way He said He would?" God told us very clearly that people come to Him through hearing about Jesus Christ (Romans 10:14). The Bible does not tell us that people can come to God any other way. Therefore, to say there is some other way is to say we know more than the Bible reveals. If God wants to lead people to Himself some other way, that is up to Him. But for us to say He might do that goes beyond what the Bible reveals--and God has not given us that assignment.

Then there is the additional problem of how people coming to God any other way could have their sins forgiven. Since all men are sinners (Romans 3:23) and therefore unable to have a relationship with God (Isaiah 59:2), and since Jesus Christ is God's only provision for man's sin (1 John 2:2), there is apparently no other way for people to get to God.

We admit that it is unusually difficult to find clear biblical teaching about the salvation of infants and the mentally disordered. But we can say this: biblical evidence indicates that people unable consciously to choose Christ are not held accountable for rejecting Him.

In 2 Samuel 12:23 David spoke of his infant son, who had just died. He reasoned, "But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me." David certainly was a believer and would go to be with God when he died. We can conclude that the baby, though he was never able to believe, was already with God.

Deuteronomy 1:39 reads, "Moreover, your little ones who you said would become a prey, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, shall enter there, and I will give ti to them, and they shall possess it." The "it" of that verse is not eternal life; "it" is the promised land of Palestine, not heaven. But the principle is the same. Those who were not able to be accountable were not held accountable.

The rest of the Bible teaches the same. The reason people everywhere are lost is because they are conceived with a sin nature (Romans 5:12). Jesus Christ paid for all sin on the cross (1 John 2:2). But people are still separated form God because they have rejected Christ. They reject Him when they do something they know is wrong. Jesus Christ is the embodiment of all the goodness that man ought to be. To reject Christ is therefore to reject righteousness. But the converse is also true: to reject righteousness (which we do every time we intentionally sin) is to reject Christ. A mentally disordered person never has the ability to reject righteousness. Neither does a baby. But as a normal infant grows up, there comes a point (and the age varies with each individual) when he does have within himself the knowledge of good and evil. At that time, his intentional sinning is a rejection of righteousness, which is a rejection of Christ--whether he ever heard of Christ or not. But before that time, he does not have the ability to reject Christ.

Therefore, we can conclude that Scripture indicates that babies and the insane are not lost.

God's plan to restore man to a relationship with Himself has never changed. The message of salvation in the Old Testament is the same as in the New. Man is described as a sinner separated from God (Isaiah 59:2) and in need of a redeemer (Job 19:25). The only way people could get to God was by grace (Psalm 6:2) through faith (Genesis 15:6), and not by their own works (Isaiah 64:6). The object of their faith was the personal Messiah (Isaiah 53:5) who would be God Himself (Isaiah 9:6) when He would come to earth as a baby (Isaiah 7:14). They needed to have faith in the Messiah who would come, just as we need to have faith in the Messiah who did come. The details of His coming were revealed progressively. Each age was given more details, and even we who are living today do not see it as clearly as we will when Jesus returns to earth. But the essential message has remained unchanged since God first revealed the need of a sacrifice to Adam and his sons, Cain and Abel.

The magi who came form the East to bring gifts to the baby Jesus were seeking God. As far as we can tell, they had no previous knowledge of God or the Bible. But God led them--not just to general knowledge about Himself, but to the most specific revelation He had ever given: Jesus Christ. And when they knew of Him, they recognized Him as the object of their search. The same is true with those seeking God today. When He leads them to Jesus, they recognize Him as the God they are seeking.

Nancy has not yet accepted Christ as her Savior--though she may by the time you read this book. One of the people I wrote about had not yet received Christ, but when shortly afterwards he did, I went back and changed the end of that chapter. The same may happen to Nancy. Pam is still her close friend and they still get together regularly. Pray that God will use Pam or someone else to lead Nancy into the Kingdom of God's Son.