My wife was going through her dad’s papers (see my blog on Robert Allen Coy from January 29, 2019) when she came across a newspaper article that he had kept. The article was about the memoirs of a Japanese pilot who had participated in the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Zenji Abe describes the intense training he went though and notes that he had no idea he was training for this historic mission. However, whether he had known what his mission would be or not most likely would not have made a difference. Why? The reason is because we are finite. As a result we are the creatures of the culture in which we are raised. We adopt the belief system, the world view of our culture. Zenji Abe was just doing his best within the framework of his culture.
So how can God condemn to hell those who are raised in a culture that espouses another religion or no religion? God is the one who made us finite. God has allowed different cultures to exist within our world. Why would he do so if that leads us to erroneous beliefs? This is a question Christianity has not answered.
We have attempted to answer the above questions in my book but I find very few Christians who want to discuss them. Why?
_______________________________
[1] Benjamin Kline, “’I bombed Pearl Harbor’”, Journal-News, December 2, 2001, pp. A1-A5.
