Ray Comfort: People Won't Go to Hell for Not Having Heard of Jesus
Evangelist Ray Comfort says people who never hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ before they die will not go to Hell specifically for that reason, but suggests they could still end up in eternal torment due to other sins.
Comfort framed the question in a Facebook post, asking, "What happens to those who never get a chance to hear the Gospel and die before they do get a chance?"
Get Our Latest News for FREE
To that he answered: "No one will go to Hell because they haven't heard of Jesus. They will be condemned for murder, rape, adultery, fornication, lying, stealing, etc."
Referring to non-believers, Comfort added: "Put your concern for others to hear the Gospel aside for the moment. If you died right now you will justly end up in Hell. I would hate that to happen to you."
The evangelist suggested that those who "really care about the lost" need to get right with God, and possibly become a missionary.
A number of prominent evangelists, including Pastor Greg Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship church in Riverside, California, have also tackled the question of what happens to people who have never heard the Gospel.
Laurie suggested in a Facebook video in August 2016 that God would not be sending such people to Hell.
"You're going to be held accountable for what you know, not what you don't know," the megachurch pastor said at the time.
"But to the point: the testimony of God is everywhere. It's in nature, it's all around us, the handiwork of God. Then there's the human conscience that tells us what right and wrong really are. God will judge you accordingly," Laurie added.
The Harvest Christian Fellowship pastor further encouraged Christians to "redouble our efforts to get the Gospel out [to people] so they can respond to the essential Gospel message."
Comfort's efforts to reach out to atheists in his 2016 "The Atheist Delusion" documentary received a surprising recognition earlier this week, after the film was nominated for an award at the Raw Science Film Festival.
"We are so honored to have this film officially recognized by such an important film festival," Comfort said in a statement.
"To be recognized for our scientific approach and proofs of what is normally dismissed as simple religion is humbling. In the argument of religion versus science, we hope to show people that it's not either/or, but that science supports the existence of the Creator, and our creator is the very author of science," he added.
"The Atheist Delusion," which says that it seeks to "destroy atheism with one scientific question," features the evangelist talking with various atheists about their beliefs, and attempts to show how the Bible is true by assessing some of its claims about the universe and how they have since been proven to be scientifically true.
