What happens to the souls of people that have never heard the actual gospel of Jesus, and are they really ignorant of salvation, and, therefore, excused from hell?

Sincerely,
Concerned For Others

Dear Concerned For Others,

God is the only one who can judge where someone’s eternal destination will be.  The Scriptures give us an insight into how the Great Judge will decide our verdict.  Here are some Scriptures to consider:

1. Just because someone is ignorant, doesn’t mean they aren’t at fault.  God tells us that anyone who seeks the truth will find it (Matt 7:7-8).  The Bible is the most widely available book on the planet – just because someone hasn’t read it, doesn’t mean they didn’t have opportunity.
2. People go to hell because of their sins (Rom 6:23), not because of Jesus.  Jesus’ death on the cross is a cure for mankind’s self-inflicted spiritual death sentence.  It is the same as a disease outbreak – the disease kills people, not the lack of a cure.  If Jesus had never come, and none of us had ever heard of Jesus, we would all have been lost.
3. God tells us that everyone has been given enough information to seek Him.  Rom 1:20 says that the very beauty of the created universe speaks of God’s existence and leaves mankind without excuse.  God has provided an “all call” message anyone can hear through the wonder of His creation.
4. God doesn’t desire anyone to perish (2 Pet. 3:9).  God won’t make any mistakes on the Day of Judgment, and no one will accidentally end up in heaven or hell.

As we said, God is the final judge.  We will all face Him when we die (Heb 9:27).  The best thing we can do is make sure we are prepared for that day.

What does the Bible say about going out to a nightclub?

Sincerely,
Likes A Crowd

Dear Likes A Crowd,

The Scripture never specifically condemns going to a nightclub, but there are a plethora of reasons for a christian to avoid nightclubs.  Alcohol flows freely in nightclubs (drinking parties are wrong – 1 Pet 4:3).  Nightclubs are designed to bring men and women together and encourage inappropriate behavior.  The music is often vulgar and crass, and immodesty abounds.  Nightclubs are meant to promote ungodly behavior.  Bad company corrupts good morals (1 Cor 15:33).  Hanging out in a nightclub night after night is definitely bad company.

Please, I want to know; where did black people come from?  Help me.

Sincerely,
Ethnically Aware

Dear Ethnically Aware,

We all came from Adam and Eve (Gen 3:20).  Eventually, mankind was scattered across the whole earth after the Tower of Babel (Gen 11:9).  Different races were created as these scattered groups became more isolated.  This is very similar to how you see parents and children looking alike – they share noticeable physical traits because they are closely related.  The groups that were scattered from the Tower of Babel were isolated by their language differences, and therefore only married amongst their specific language group.  This isolated intermarrying created distinct physical characteristics that differentiated one group from another (i.e. skin color, eye shape, face shape, hair color).  The different races of the world are nothing more than large family groups created after the Tower of Babel.

When we have repented and are forgiven of our sins, the Word says the Father holds nothing against us and remembers our sins no more.  How come the curse still remains that Jesus absorbed and sickness, disease, and illness are still present from past sin; wasn't His blood shed for forgiveness, and on the whipping post His stripes freed us from illness and sickness and such?  Help me understand.  Thanks.  God bless.

Sincerely,
No HMO

Dear No HMO,

Jesus’ blood covers the spiritual consequences of sin, but the physical consequences of sin still exist here on Earth.  Jesus’ sacrifice paved the way for mankind to stand before God and enter His holy presence (Heb 10:17-20).  Jesus reconciled faithful people with God through the cross (Col 1:19-20).  The spiritual consequence of sin (eternal spiritual death – Rom 6:23) has been nailed to the cross (Col 2:14).  However, the physical consequences of sin remain as a curse upon this world.  Sin still destroys lives, hurts others, has cursed this world with diseases, and has rippling consequences on a global scale.  Jesus gives us hope that endures to the next life, so we can persevere through the trials of this one (Heb 6:18-20).

Where did race come from?

Sincerely,
Multicultural

Dear Multicultural,

All of mankind descended from Adam and Eve (Gen 5:1-2, Gen 3:20).  The word ‘race’ refers to a group of people that have a common ethnic background.  In the purest sense, we are all of the same race – the race of Adam.  However, today we have people that share various cultural and physical characteristics because their ancestors came from certain parts of the globe.  This ethnic diversity happened because God commanded the descendants of Adam to “go forth and multiply” (Gen 9:7).  After the flood of Noah’s day, God expected mankind to spread out and inhabit the whole earth (Gen 9:1).  Instead of doing that, Noah’s descendants decided to stay together and inhabit only a small portion of the globe – directly in contradiction of God’s command (Gen 11:1-4).  As punishment for this behavior, God scrambled their languages and made it so that they were unable to communicate with each other (Gen 11:7).  The people then scattered across the globe and created the various races we see today (Gen 11:8-9).