I am a believer and spread the Word every chance I get and I try to tell my mother-in-law who says she is “spiritual’. All she responds with is, “So people in India who have never heard of Jesus are going to Hell?” I just would like to get some perspective because I’ve read Scripture that says God has revealed Himself in creation and that all are without excuse. But then there is only salvation through faith in Christ alone? Help me out if you can.
This is a stall tactic common to unbelievers. In the first place it’s a hypothetical objection. No one knows whether other people have heard the gospel or not.
Second, the Bible says God doesn’t want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9) so He made His presence obvious in the Creation (Romans 1:18-20). This means no one has an excuse.
Then Jesus said no one can come to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). That means if someone realizes there has to be a Creator, God will do whatever it takes to bring the Gospel to Him. Just because we don’t see how that can happen doesn’t mean it can’t, because God’s word requires it. Otherwise He couldn’t say He doesn’t want anyone to perish.
But the real purpose of the question is to throw you off the track, because the issue is not whether all the people in India are saved, it’s whether your mother-in-law is saved. By putting you on the defensive, she takes the focus of the conversation off her.
You shouldn’t let her get away with that because it’s irrelevant. Even if there are unsaved people in India, what does that have to do with her spending eternity in Hell?