Where Does He Go?

 A boy grows up in a small village in Saudi Arabia. He has never really heard of Jesus, other than that he was a prophet. He has never heard the Gospel, the only stories he has heard of Christianity are stories of the Crusades. From an early age he memorizes the Koran, Prays to Allah five times a day, from an early age he strives to follow the Five Pillars. As he grows into adulthood he continues to practice the Religion that he grew up in.

He does so not out of an attempt to earn his way to paradise. He is not merely following some legalistic behavior code. He does them as his way to worship God in Spirit and in Truth. He follows the Five pillars not out of tradition, but because he sees them as the best way for him to Love God with all his heart, all his soul, and all his mind, and the best way to love his neighbor as himself.

The man lives a long life and finally dies in the same village as he grew up in, with out ever hearing the gospel. Now this man had obviously never “Accepted Christ as his Personal Savior” a term not even found in the New Testament, he didn’t have a “personal relationship with Jesus” yet another term not found in the New Testament.  The man wasn’t perfect, but he did try to make amends for any wrongs he had committed. The question is- Does this Man go to hell when he dies?

Many Christians will quote John 14:6 and maybe some verses in Romans and say yes. Until recently I would have been one of them. But now I ask myself- Wasn’t this man, in the only way he knew how, following Christ? Wasn’t this man, though a Muslim, following Christ more closely than many who call themselves a Christian? Would a God of Love, Justice, and Mercy condemn this man to eternal separation from Him, when all his life this man served God, and loved others the only way he knew how?