I don’t mean that title in the “Where’s Waldo?” sense, rather in the “What are the criteria for the location of Gandhi’s eternal soul?” sense.
Another blogger asked Christians, “Did Gandhi go to Hell because he did not believe in Jesus?” and Rob Bell used an accusation of Gandhi being in Hell as a foundation for his book opposing the doctrine of Hell.
I think the question was slightly misworded. It isn’t the sin of not believing in Jesus that sends us to Hell. It is all the other sins against God that send us there. The only way out is through faith in Jesus. If we ignore that pardon we are on our own.
Gandhi sinned against a perfect and holy God many times and those sins must be paid for. Good deeds do not wipe out sins in God’s economy. Gandhi either repented and believed in Jesus or he didn’t . If he did, then Gandhi’s sins were transferred to Jesus’ account and Jesus’ perfect righteousness was transferred to Gandhi’s. Gandhi would be in Heaven.
If Gandhi did not repent and believe in Jesus then he would be in Hell as punishment for his own sins.
Yes, some people will people cry, “Not fair!,” but they don’t understand fairness. Fairness would be if we all got what we deserved and no one received grace. Grace, by definition, is not fair. Grace is what distinguishes Christianity from all other belief systems.
What was disappointing but not surprising about the comment thread were the responses of others, including those who claimed to be Christians. They provide opinions about what God should do and ignore or misinterpret scripture. It is like, “Uh, that’s nice, but what does the Bible say?”
I’m a Cristian (well actually an Episcapalien) and I don’t believe in hell.Jesus believed that Hell was real and spoke of it more often than He spoke of Heaven. I wonder where this Episcopalian draws his conclusions about Jesus?
Then there was this straw man argument:
If we as Christians focus more on who is going to Hell rather than how to do God’s will, then we do not share Jesus’ views at all.That assumes that teaching the doctrine of Hell means you are doing it at the expense of the rest of God’s will or that teaching it would not be God’s will. Was Jesus violating the Father’s will when He taught of Hell?
I am certain that God would not turn his back on this remarkable man just because he happened to have been born and raised in a predominantly Hindu culture.That is a teaching foreign to the Bible.
If Gandhi is in hell, I don’t want to go to heaven.That is a common misconception. Hell is not a party of unrepentent sinners. So many people go to incredible lengths to optimize every little bit of our tempory comforts in this life yet blithely dismiss an eternity in Hell.
If you think that people go to heaven just because they say they believe in Jesus, then YOU’ve missed the point of the Bible, Neil.My response: Not to nitpick, but people go to Heaven because they do believe in Jesus, not because they say they do. The Bible teaches that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Are you claiming that Gandhi never sinned? Do you realize how judgmental you are being? Insisting that someone is in Heaven requires just as much judging as saying someone is not in Heaven. Please re-read the comments carefully and note that I never claimed I knew where Gandhi is. I merely noted what the Bible teaches. You are playing God and insisting that you know where Gandhi is, and implying that if he is not in Heaven that the real God is somehow unfair.
I want to emphasize what so many universalists and people like the commenter in question don’t seem to notice: Insisting that someone is in Heaven requires just as much judging as saying someone is not in Heaven.
Then the commenter said how I was being self-righteous, to which I replied, “But considering that my theme has been that we need Jesus’ righteousness to be saved and can’t be righteous enough on our own, I find it odd that you would say I’m being self-righteous.”
So where’s Gandhi? It depends on where his faith was placed.
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