Ok – let me first say I do believe that anyone who hasn’t heard the Gospel will end up in either heaven or hell – so to that degree – I agree, but my whole point in the video was that the ‘c’ answer was correct in that I do not know how God will address those people. It was all about how Christians attempted to answer the question and how you weren’t satisfied by the answers, (The question was what will God do with those who never hear the Gospel before they die) even calling the ‘c’ answer a non-answer. I don’t believe that we can say those who didn’t hear the Gospel automatically end up in Hell – or Heaven for that matter – I believe God will deal with them on an individual level – one by one – and that all I can know is the character of God and trust that whatever He does will be the correct thing to do. I come to this conclusion through the fact that Peter told us of how (1 Peter 3:18-22) Jesus ministered to those in ‘prison’ – who lived before He came to the earth – while He was dead those three days – realizing if God showed mercy on those who didn’t hear of Christ BEFORE Christ came, then God can do it again. True – its just a theory – only a possibility not clearly offered in the scriptures – a hope – but its how I deal with the question.

In your latest response – you talk about the Biblical reason for sending out missionaries vs. the logical reasons for not sending out missionaries… and I hear ya – but I don’t understand why you couldn’t simply look at how the Bible tells of Jesus ministering to those who came before He was on the earth and rest your hopes in that same principal… at the spiritual core of that event, those who would be His would come to Him – (John 10) as His sheep know His voice – while those who were not His would flee the light (John 1)… to me this makes a lot more sense then reincarnation – but I am not knocking you personally for that theory – I am simply saying it speaks to how far off the map you went when seeking an resolution to the issue.

You challenge my belief of an age of accountability – asking why – if the Holy Spirit is leading all of us Christians – why do we all have different answers… first of all – that seems to be dodging the answer I gave you by bringing all the other answers into it – I mean – come one – why do you think we all have different answers? The obvious answer is that we aren’t all led by the Holy Spirit but that most of us – if not all of us – are trying to use our own logic and knowledge of the Bible to defend our own beliefs concerning the age of accountability. While I do believe I am led by the Holy Spirit – I don’t expect anyone to be able to tell that unless they themselves have the Holy Spirit. Of course, many who think they have the Holy Spirit will think I don’t have it – but what does it matter what anyone thinks? We are to serve God – not the notions of men! Now, with all due apologies to your friend Mark – Psalms 51:5 and Psalm 58:3 are speaking not of children born sinners but of children born in a sinful world.

You quoted Psalms 51:5 from what I believe was the GOD’S WORD Translation and it said – Indeed, I was born guilty. I was a sinner when my mother conceived me. – but the problem with the GWT is that it simplifies the original languages to the point that it forfeits true translation in favor of interpretation and commentary, separating the reader from the actual words of the biblical author. Consider this passage in the more literal NASB translation…

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.

In the case of Psalms 51:5 – when understood through the NASB – if I might paraphrase – reads something like this – David is saying he was born into a sinful world by a mother who was a sinner… not that he was a sinner from birth…

As for Psalms 58:3 – it is obviously poetic hyperbole – as an infant can neither err nor can it speak at all – let alone speak a lie… yet Christian theology has taken these passages and taught them to many – such as your friend Mark – and in turn – created one of the most horrible doctrines in any religion… and that is that innocent babies are sent to Hell… Look – one way of checking the meaning of the passages of the Old Testament is to look at what the Jews believed, right? Guess what – they too believe babies are born innocent… thus – the Jews didn’t get any Original Sin doctrine from these passages… its purely a creation of latter Christians… Remember Ezekiel 18:20? “The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.” And I won’t even get into the complications this would create for Jesus when He was born – and please – with all due respect to Mary – spare me the man-made theologies concerning her Immaculate Conception – which claims she herself was born sinless… and kept sinless not only until Jesus was born but until she herself ‘ascended to Heaven’…

You know – its funny to think about signing up for a mental disability in order to be saved… you’re right – it would be ‘easier’ in the big picture… but they must endure so many other situations here in this life that I don’t think we can truly appreciate – still – its definitely a blessing in disguise if I am correct in my belief…

In closing – I do believe that anyone who hasn’t heard the Gospel will end up in either heaven or hell – my problem with what you said is I don’t believe that we can say those who didn’t get the Gospel automatically end up in Hell – or Heaven for that matter – I believe God will deal with them on an individual level – one by one – and that all I can know is the character of God and trust that whatever He does will be the correct thing to do.

Finally – when I said ‘repent’ – I meant repenting your disbelief… not necessarily your lifestyle…