"Universalism" is the belief that all people will be in heaven, whether they trust in Christ or not. A subset of this position is "Christian universalism," the assertion that all people will go to heaven because of Jesus' atonement for their sins, whether they know and accept his love or not. Such a belief is more attractive than we may wish to admit.

Do you truly believe that your good and moral neighbor, a man who loves his family and works hard but has not made Christ his Lord, is destined for an eternity in hell? That your friend at work, who loves her husband and kids and volunteers for all sorts of community activities but has not trusted Christ as Savior, will be forever separated from God? Why should you?

Several facts are clear in God's word, and essential to our question. First, Jesus alone claimed divinity. In John 14:9 he asserted, "Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." Earlier the authorities tried to stone him to death "because you claim to be God" (John 10:33). Other religious leaders claimed to reveal God; Jesus alone claims to be God.

Second, Jesus is preparing our place in heaven (John 14:2). Other religious leaders taught about heaven or the afterlife; Jesus alone claims to be preparing it for us. Third, Jesus will take us to heaven personally (John 14:3). Other religious leaders taught about the way to heaven; Jesus alone claims to take us there.

Fourth, Jesus is the only way to the Father (John 14:6). His Greek was emphatic: "I am the way, the truth, and the life." Later he was even more emphatic: "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18). No one in all of human history ever made this claim. Peter would later make the same announcement (Acts 4:12).

We may agree or disagree with Jesus, but we need to know what he believed about himself. He never claimed to be a religious teacher or leader, or one way to God among many. He claimed to be the only way to eternity in heaven.

Jesus' statements are politically incorrect, to say the least. Three "isms" dominate our culture and reject everything we've seen so far. The first is relativism, the idea that all truth is relative and subjective. As we discovered in our Friday series, our culture believes that language is only a convention of human power; words do not describe reality, but only our version of it. There can be no objective truth claims, only subjective experiences. It's fine if Jesus is your way to God, but don't insist that he must be mine.

The second word for our society is pluralism: different religions are roads up the same mountain. They're all worshipping the same God, just by different names. A recent poll revealed that 64 percent of Americans believe all religions pray to the same God. It's fine if Jesus is your road to God, but don't make the rest of us travel it.

And pluralism typically leads to universalism, the idea that everyone is going to heaven, no matter what they believe. Only two percent of Americans are afraid that they might go to hell. Sixty-two percent say it doesn't matter which God we believe in, so long as we're sincere. We're all on the road to God, whatever we might believe about him.

First, we have already learned to respond to relativism with the fact that objective truth is an intellectual and practical necessity in life. To deny absolutes is to affirm them. If I say, "There is no such thing as absolute truth," haven't I made a claim to absolute truth? We don't accept relativism with regard to the historicity of the Holocaust, or our doctor's diagnosis, or the airplane mechanic's assurance that the plane is safe. Objective truth is an intellectual and practical necessity in life.

Next, let's respond to pluralism with the fact that the world's religions teach radically different truth. If one is right, the others are wrong. These cannot be different roads up the same mountain--they are different mountains.

Third, we can respond to universalism with the fact that Jesus is the only way to God we need, or can trust. It doesn't bother me that only one key in my pocket will start my car, so long as it works. And only Christianity works. Our basic problem with God is called "sin." We have all made mistakes and committed sins in our lives. These failures have separated us from a righteous and pure God. The only way to heaven which works is the way which deals with these sins. And only Christianity does. No other religion offers forgiveness for sins, grace for sinners, and the security of salvation. Only Jesus.

If your daughter were facing the threat of polio in 1955, would you accept a doctor's relative assurances that she would be well? Would you try every possible vaccine, in the belief that they're all the same? Would you complain if you were given only one proven option? Or would you gladly vaccinate your child? What about your soul? What about those you can help this week?

I spent the summer of 1979 working in East Malaysia as a Baptist student missionary. For the first time in my life, I met people who had never heard the gospel. Some had never even heard the syllables, "Jesus Christ." To them, our Lord's name was as unfamiliar as the ancient Persian kings are to us. Missiologists estimate that as much as one-third of the world's population has no realistic opportunity to know or understand God's offer of salvation through Christ. What happens to them when they die?

Let's review some popular rational approaches to our question. One common suggestion is that God judges the "ignorant" according to his self-revelation in nature. In other words, he holds them accountable for the "light" they already have. Romans 1 is usually quoted in support of this theology: "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse" (Romans 1:18-20). The Creator has revealed himself through his creation, so that there are no truly "ignorant" people on earth.

However, those who advocate this view do not typically continue reading in Romans 1. Paul goes on: "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened" (v. 21). Note that the people to whom he refers in verses18-20 are said to "know" God, the word indicating a personal relationship with him. These people have "the truth of God" (v. 25), have chosen not to "retain the knowledge of God" (v. 28), and "know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death" (v. 32). It's hard to see how those referenced in vs. 18-20 are "ignorant" of God's word and will.

Furthermore, if God judges the "ignorant" according to the light they have from creation, why is it necessary that Christians give them any more light? Yet we are commissioned and commanded to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20), to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). If the "ignorant" have enough knowledge to be condemned, but not enough to be saved apart from our witness, how is their condemnation fair? Can a just and loving God sentence a person to hell for rejecting a Savior she has never had the chance to know?

A second "answer" to our question suggests that God knows what the "ignorant" would do if they were given the chance to hear the gospel. Of course, God's omniscience and foreknowledge give him the ability to know the "future" as we know the "present." But if people don't need to hear the gospel in order to be saved (assuming they would have responded positively if they did hear it), why must we share it? This approach neuters the Great Commission and renders missionary sacrifice irrelevant.

A third approach claims that God would never send a person to hell for rejecting a gospel he has not heard, with the implication that the "ignorant" will be in heaven. If this is true, we'd best not share the gospel with such persons lest they reject it and go to perdition. The first two "answers" make missions unnecessary; this approach makes evangelism positively dangerous.

So far we've sought speculative answers to a speculative question. But the Bible was written in a pragmatic worldview, and is more interested in relevance than rationalism. If we could ask the Apostle Paul what happens to the "ignorant," here's his likely answer: go tell them. If you know that someone has not heard the gospel, share it with them. Don't speculate--evangelize. We are clearly commissioned by Jesus to share our faith with the entire world, starting wherever "Jerusalem" is located on our personal maps.

But what happens to those who do not hear the gospel, despite our redoubled efforts? Three biblical facts may help frame a scriptural approach to this difficult subject. First, the Bible consistently teaches that the Son is the only way to the Father. I know of no biblical text which allows us any hope for a person outside of faith in Christ as Savior and Lord.

Second, if the Church would multiply disciples through the method Jesus taught, the entire world could be reached, more quickly than you might imagine. Jesus wanted disciples to make disciples, Christians to multiply through personal evangelism and ministry. If you were the only believer on the planet today, but you won me to Christ, there would be two disciples. If each of us could win someone to Christ tomorrow, there would be four Christians on the planet. If each of the four could bring someone to Jesus the next day, eight believers would exist. By this process, 16 Christians would be produced the next day, 32 the next, 64 the next, and so on. By such multiplication, how long would you guess it would take for the entire world to be won to Christ?

Thirty-four days. As of this writing, the world's population is estimated to be 6,506,789,591. By multiplication, if each Christian won another person to Christ per day, the total in 34 days would be 8,589,934,592. But we can't all win one person a day, you say. Could we win one per year? In 34 years the entire planet would know Christ. This kind of multiplying discipleship is how Jesus intended the Church to reach the world. His plan still works.

One last fact: God is love (1 John 4:8). He grieves the lost even more than we do. We can trust the "ignorant" to his grace, all the while doing all we can do to share Christ with them. We have no biblical support whatever for believing that anyone can be in heaven apart from faith in Jesus. So we are called to solve the problem of the "ignorant" not with our theology but with our witness. With whom will you begin this week?