Faith for the 'unreached'?

What happens with people who haven’t heard about Christianity?

Lots of people ask this question, and I have asked it myself. And it’s a bit of a tricky question when you get into it deeply. I’m going to give you my ideas here, but I don’t claim to have any divine revelation on this matter, so take it as you will! Quite simply, this is the way I understand it to work. Also bear in mind that this is taken from a Christian perspective, and works on the assumption that Christianity is true in its basis and beliefs.

The core of my ideas regarding people of other faiths is that God searches the heart of every person, and not only what name they know or worship. So rather than having to know the name of God, and follow strictly Christian practices, I believe that God looks for people who show a yearning to know their creator, a yearning to love and serve their god, whatever form he might take.

I’ll look at ancient Greece as an example. Before Christianity in the area, Greece had only a polytheistic (many-god) religious belief, observed by the majority of the population. But as with pretty much all faiths, this was carried out with devotion and commitment by many of the worshippers, whose aim was to come before a higher being (or beings) and recognise that they were created by and overseen by them. While they didn’t know the name or identity of God as we do, many of the people of ancient Greece demonstrated a yearning to meet with their creator, and I believe God recognises this. God is a god of grace and love, and just because the people of Greece couldn’t name him as God, and instead gave him the form of their Olympian gods doesn’t mean He will reject them outright.

Also worth noting here is that when Christianity came to Greece, it was progressively accepted by the population, and today forms the main religion of Greece. This shows that when they were shown the identity of God, they readily recognised Him and left their previous understandings of religion behind them. This shows that the people of ancient Greece were not caught up in a religious practice that dominated their lives by its rigid polytheistic details, but rather that they were searching for the truth. When this came in the form of Christianity, they accepted it and modified their faith traditions accordingly.

I will make the point that there is a big difference between people who don’t know of Christianity and follow other faiths, and those that do know Christianity, and choose instead to follow such faiths. These are quite different scenarios. The issue of other faiths like Islam and Judaism today are a whole other topic to be looked at another day, but I think many of the same ideas apply. God looks at the heart.

So my argument is that God will accept any who willingly search for Him and yearn to follow their creator, even if they don’t know who He is. That means it’s not impossible for a person who has not heard of God to be accepted by Him, but instead that God is willing to accept any who honestly search for their maker.

This is a challenging idea. Not everyone will accept it. But I think that we need to understand above all else that God loves His people - all people. And thus will see all those who seek the truth as people ultimately devoted to Him. The important thing here is searching for the truth. It means not simply accepting whatever is presented, whatever faith it may be, but actively seeking God.