what about the people who dont know who jesus is?

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church: "847: Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or His Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation." So to answer your question - at least according to the Roman Catholic Church - those who never came to hear about Jesus (including babies) but who were good people CAN make it into heaven. Personally speaking, I am an agnostic. I don't know if there really is any sort of afterlife. I have a sneaking suspicion though, that if there IS a heaven, there are going to be a lot of folks shocked at all the Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, Shintoists, Muslims, Wiccans, Other Religions and yes even atheists walking around up there. ;)

I am Catholic and I asked my teacher about this. About those people who don't know Jesus and have no way to know them. How that's not necessarily their fault, so shouldn't they still go to Heaven? She told me NO, if you don't know Jesus or God, no matter what the circumstance, you can't get into Heaven. I think that's really unfair. If you're a good person and have good morals, values, intentions, and are just overall a good human being, you should be able to go to Heaven. That's jut what my Catholic teacher said, though. And honestly, I don't agree with it.

The Holy Bible has been preached long time ago and it is always being preached. Nobody can ever claim that he has never heard the good news. People before Jesus had the Old Testament for the Israelites and their hearts for the Gentiles. Those will be the bases for judgment.

Some points to ponder: 1. God is free not to save man. 2. Judgment is for all sinners regardless of whether they heard the gospel or not. 3. Because of God's great love, He offered Himself as a Substitute to die for the sins of man that whoever receives His offer will be saved and spared from eternal condemnation. It is God's mercy for those who heard this offer, and a greater mercy to those who have received this offer. 4. God as Creator has the full sovereign right to choose who He wants to save among His creatures. 5. The most unjust thing is for the creature to accuse his Creator of injustice. This is beyond human right.

Well being that it is commonly said that the Jews are the chosen people, I would have to say you do not need to know Jesus to get into heaven. Any Christian who says that is denying thier own heritage as Jesus was a Jew and without Judiasm there would be no Christianity. The problem I see with so many religions is that they focus too much on the after life. isn't it more important to focus on this life? The time you have here? You don't need to know Jesus to be a good person and do good deeds now.

What you are saying here is that all those undiscovered and people before Christ are Christian by faith. But are they? If they are Christian, I am sure they know what is old Testament and New Testament. So, those before Christ will certainly follow the Old Testament and after Christ, the New Testament.

In the Old Testament, everyone was given a chance up until Isaac was born, and then ,the only way was to become a Hebrew, that is a descendant of Isaac. However if one converted to Judaism, it was if he were born a Jew *which were the old Testament Christians -since Christ had not come to the world yet except in the form of an angel on specific occasions. An example was what happened in the time of Esther when many Persians became Jews, that is, they were of the same people who lived in Northern India, and not of the race of the Jews, the same happened with people in Ethiopia who were dark skinned becoming Jews by adoption. So these people are in heaven. However unless the people who lived in the past became Jews, they never went to heaven. In the New Testament and beyond, whom God chooses will become a Christian. This means that even if there is one man in that remote island, for some strange reason of which man is unaware of, he will be brought to Christ. I cannot speculate but it says in the Bible that what is impossible with man is possible with God.

God will see to it that all will hear His Truth. There are many evangelists and missionaries all over the world spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ. God has it all taken care of. I pray that YOU will come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior. God bless.

This topic fascinates me...for many years now...I have been banging my head against this very wall. What about the Develope-mentally Challenged ??? Will they not get into Heaven if they don't understand the Message of Christ ??? I firmly Believe that Religion is probably this Planet's greatest downfall. Since birth...we are inculcated , and overwhelmed with thoughts of religion. I believe you absolutely can be a theist ( defined by some : as.....without knowledge of God ) yet at the same time ...find God. ( I realize this sounds very confusing ) But please Bare w/ me on this thread. The Religions of this world need us to believe in their message. Without the masses ( and you can apply this to any religion you choose ) without the masses...religion loses it's power. If the message gets out that God is , has , and always will be in you no matter who you are , where you are , or what you might have even done ( in your life...ie ...stole a loaf of Bread ) if the Message gets out , that you can find God without any Religious laws , or theories , or Beliefs...Basically without all o' the Confusion , which religion deliberately Creates....again...Religion loses it's power, control , and most importantly...it's money. This is...the Secret...ask . And here's the Irony... It really is that simple . We have built God up on such a pedastal , that no one could possibly ever achieve rapture without intervention by the Church ( or so we are taught ) But the simple truth is.....God believes in you...even if you don't believe in him.If you have never said a prayer in your life....and you just ask him to come into your life...he's there , because he always has been there. Just like a protective Father , over his Child...He's there.

Here is my answer to your question. Romans 1:19 - 20 "since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."

That's really a good answer that the first replier has written! Mr. fightingistheonlyway, now that you know so much about the Bible and the faith, you shall know all these are in the plan of the God. Some nations are determined to be cursed or in unblief. You can know that in the Genesis.For people before Jesus, the God made many Signs to let them His exsitence. That's it

before the jesus all the people has a mind and they have to use it to know god and not in necessity to pray or fast or.....!!! but all what they have to do is that they should know that there is one creator for this universe

It is the responsibility of Christians to let those people who do not know God to know God. That is why we are tasked for this. We are suppose to continue christ mission here on earth. To reach out to people who do not know Christ.

While it is true that we can only enter heaven through Jesus it is because He took our punishment so that we could live rather then just a knowledge of His name. The Bible teaches that God only holds us responsible for the light that we have or could have obtained. Acts 17:30 says that "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent," (NKJV) God speaks to each person individually through their conscience. If a person who has never heard of God surrenders to the promptings of the Holy Spirit they will be saved through Jesus' merits whether they ever knew His name or not. If, however, new light (e.g. knowledge of Christ) is revealed to that person then they need to repent like the text mentions and follow the new light or they lose their state of salvation. I have heard of many noble people who never heard of God or had any chance to hear of Him and I believe many of them will be in heaven.

I understand your situation and for others who find God to be unfair for the Bible says, "But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." But it's not yet too late. You can ask God to give you wisdom so that you can understand the things that are of God.