# Witnessing to People with Dead Loved Ones that Never Received the Gospel



## Daniel M. (Dec 21, 2016)

I regularly talk to a bright young man I work with about my faith in Christ. Just by listening to him, I suspect his heart is fertile ground to be collected by God. 

He's well-versed in philosophy, and identified as an agnostic, but he talks of wanting to be assured of God, but being unable to make the "willful suspension of reason" it takes to make a "leap of faith". I addressed that. Naturally, he's on my prayer list.

I overheard him telling someone that his mother died when he was younger. He comes from an African Muslim background, and his father regularly urges him to search the Bible and Qu'ran for their "teachings of wisdom".

It then dawned on me that, for many of the lost, our message is especially hard because it means their dead loved ones are now condemned.

I have never had this happen, and I thank God I haven't. Brethren, what do we tell someone whose loved ones have passed into condemnation?


----------



## Ed Walsh (Dec 21, 2016)

Daniel M. said:


> Brethren, what do we tell someone whose loved ones have passed into condemnation?



Speak the truth in love.

My grandmother became a Christian (I hope) later in life. My grandfather died years before her conversion. They were very much in love. Time and time again the subject of the need to believe in Christ to be saved would come up. The thought that her husband was most likely not in heaven became a real stumbling block to her for the rest of her life. The subject of her beloved husband being lost came up over and over again. As a result she never fully grasped the gospel, maintaining a false hope that somehow he was in heaven. He was an excellent moral man who loved his wife and cared for his children. She raised me from the age of about eight to ten years old, and I knew and loved my grandfather deeply until his death when I was ten.

Like I said. You need to speak the truth in love to your friend. Who knows if this situation, in God's providence, will be a crucial factor in his coming to Christ. Counting the cost and believing the truth are essential to becoming saved. Don't be afraid of the topic when and if your friend asks what you think.

God bless.


----------



## py3ak (Dec 22, 2016)

The doctrine of original sin would teach us that all people deserve judgment. The wonder is not that any are condemned but that any are delivered. Of course, even when that is understood, this is not an area where we can change anything by thinking about it, so it doesn't help to spend a lot of time on it. Other people's exposure or response to the gospel are not intrinsically relevant to my being confronted with it; nor is their ultimate end. That is God's business, not mine. 

The important point for the believer is to present the gospel; for the non-Christian, it's to believe the gospel. If the fate of loved ones comes up, the real question is if we trust the judge of all the earth to do right or not. Sometimes trusting God means leaving an issue in his hands without knowing the outcome; sometimes it means accepting an outcome that is bewildering or painful. But we know that those who place their trust in him shall not be put to shame.


----------



## ReformedInSweden (Dec 22, 2016)

"It then dawned on me that, for many of the lost, our message is especially hard because it means their dead loved ones are now condemned."

I've thought of this many times, especially because Christian faith is so rare over here and there are hardly no entire Christian families. Every sincere Christian has at least several lost close relatives. I always find it strange to hear American pastors say in sermons that in heaven we will be reunited with our loved ones. I always wonder what world those pastors are living in. (For me it's enough to be fully united with God in heaven, but that's another subject.)


----------



## Dachaser (Dec 22, 2016)

Daniel, that question also has troubled me, as know that when witnessing to say Jewish people, Muslims, or other faiths, have been asked on " Are you saying all of those who believe like me are lost in Hell"?


----------



## Daniel M. (Dec 22, 2016)

Many times, brothers, I have been put in a position where I've been "cornered" into letting out a hard-to-handle truth. (i.e., lost control of the conversation)

Rick Warren, though not of sound theology, gives good advice regarding this: put it on Jesus. 

"I know that what I'm saying is divisive and it may stir hard feelings, but I believe every word Jesus ever said, and He said it. I would be a liar if I told you I didn't believe it. I do, and my hope is that you will search what the Bible says Jesus said as well."


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------

