Were the post-Christ-pre-Columbian Native Americans saved? The Bible tells us that there is no salvation outside of the knowledge and belief in Christ as the only saving God. But what of the Native Americans who lived between the years of 0 AD and 1492? Did God abandon two entire continents worth of people for 15 centuries, or did someone come to the western hemisphere and tell the Native Americans about Jesus? And if someone did, that means that the western hemisphere was known long before Columbus, because it would have been common knowledge in order for the apostles and first Christian missionaries to cross the Atlantic. The knowledge that there is another half of the world would not have just died. So does that mean that Columbus knew about the New World and all of the people living there before he left Spain? Or was the knowledge of this world purposefully buried in history? And if so, why? Or the third option is that God left these people to their own devices for 1500 years? Any thoughts?
2 comments:
I don't think that Columbus knew about the "New World" before he got there, but I also don't think that he was the very first one to discover it. I think that it is very possible that there were one or more explorers that came accross the "New World" before Columbus got there, and that they just didn't take credit for it.
I agree with the last "blogger" or whatever you want to call him/her. You never know about the Native Americans that were there, though. Even though there's the popular belief that all of the Native Americans were pagan, we don't really know, do we, whether or not all of them were. I also agree on the other point (I feel like all I've done is point out the obvious - here's a possibly-feeble attempt to redeem some dignity) that this other "anonymous" has brought up about previous explorers. Maybe some ancient Greeks or Romans (the earlier Christians, I believe they were mostly in these areas. . .sorry for all these parenthesis) traveled there and shared, became a part of these tribes. Fantastical thoughts, I know. I just believe it's very possible because in Columbus' time, all the explorers who claimed to be going out for "God, Glory, and Gold," were probably more interested in the latter two based on the way they treated the Natives when they reached the land (Eugene Weber has a great video on this subject, though it's rather horrible to watch). I just don't know, though, and I can't pretend to think that I can ponder and predict God and how He works. Who knows? I'm sure that there was some chance at salvation, and if there wasn't then those Natives weren't at fault. God doesn't punish people for ignorance, only impertinence and purposeful disbelief and defiance. Here's some thoughts for you.
Post a Comment