I’m in an area of doubt right now in my life. I struggle with accepting that those who simply don’t believe in Christ will be condemned for Eternity. I believe it because it’s something the Lord taught and the Bible speaks about, but I just find it hard to accept. I feel that it’s so much a kind of lucky ‘oh goodie! I picked the right religion!’ but can’t be just about that. I guess my question is, are people who feel God’s presence in their life and believe that they experience Him truly going to Hell just because they don’t believe in Christ?
There are only two alternatives available to mankind, God or Satan. Therefore, if we fail to choose God we’re choosing Satan by default. The only way we can choose God is by accepting in faith that He sent His Son to die for us, because we can’t come to God until our sin problem is taken care of.
Those who “simply don’t believe in Christ” haven’t taken the time to find out for themselves who He is, what He’s done for them, and why it matters.
You have trouble accepting that those who don’t believe the way you do will be condemned, because you know you’re no more deserving than they are. But how deserving we are has nothing to do with it. The fact is, God’s standards are so far above our capabilities that even the good things non-believers do are disgusting to him (Isaiah 64:6).
Therefore, people who fail to accept the Son’s death as payment for their sins cannot do anything to please the Father no matter how hard they try.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me” (John 14:6). He also said, “He who rejects me rejects the One who sent me” (Luke 10:16).
If an unbeliever is really experiencing God in their life, it’s because they’re feeling the call of the Holy Spirit to come to the Son, and if they fail to do that they’re rejecting the Father.
This is not a minor point. It is the most important issue in a person’s entire life, because it’s the only one where our eternal destiny hangs in the balance.