This is a great question people (mostly Christians) often ask. If a person was born on some remote place or island, and they never heard of Jesus, would they go to hell? Another related question is: What about people in the Old Testament who never met Jesus? Will they go to hell? These are all great questions to ask, and they deserve a closer look.
Will People Who Never Heard of Jesus Go to Hell?
I don’t think so at all! If that were true, then only the people alive after Jesus was born will go to heaven. I am under the belief that God is a judge of the heart. I believe very deeply in God, and it frustrates me as well when people go around saying, “If you don’t know Christ you will burn.” I believe Jesus was God’s son. But at the same time, I don’t think God will condemn someone who was born before Jesus or never heard it. Or perhaps a child that died before they could hear about Jesus’ sacrifice.
Did Moses know Jesus? Did Abraham? What about Noah? Probably not since he was not yet born of Mary, and he is not mentioned at all during this time. Yet God found favor in them.
It is true that Jesus said, “No one comes from the father, except through me.” And also, “Whoever shall believe in me shall not perish, but have everlasting life.”
But we have to look at what he is really saying. What does he mean no one comes through God except through him? I think he means unless you accept his teachings (the way to live your life), you will not find favor with God. And if you believe in him (his ways and teachings), you will know how God wants you to act. Noah lived the way Jesus taught, thus, he found favor in God’s eyes. Same with Abraham. You don’t have to know or even hear of Jesus to make decisions of how to live in your own heart.
If you were born on a remote island, or before Jesus’ time, you still had the opportunity to follow his basic way of life. That is what God judges us on. On our true intentions, on our true motives, on our true thoughts.
God is a loving God, and I believe he will hold us accountable to that which we know, not that which we do not know, or cannot know.
At the same time, those who choose wrong, will face consequences. Those who reject God or “good” will be judged accordingly. Those who reject Jesus’ teachings of how to conduct our life, will also be neglecting this.
Also, one interesting side note: Almost any tribe of people in the world had some belief in some kind of God. So we can’t assume that God may not have manifested or appeared or communicated in some fashion