Why pray for a non-Christians salvation

[CountryBoy]

OK, this is a question I need answered for my non-Christian brother.

Why should I have to pray for his salvation? If God loves him so much anyway, isn't He doing all He can (without interfering with free will) to save my brother anyway?

Thanks,
CB

[bizzt]

OK, this is a question I need answered for my non-Christian brother.

Why should I have to pray for his salvation? If God loves him so much anyway, isn't He doing all He can (without interfering with free will) to save my brother anyway?

Thanks,
CB

We Must Pray!!

Luk 18:1 And he spake a parable unto them [to this end], that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

Col 1:9 For this cause we also, since the day we heard [it], do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;

1Th 5:17 Pray without ceasing.

1Ti 2:8 I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

Hbr 13:18 Pray for us: for we trust we have a good conscience, in all things willing to live honestly.

Jam 5:14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:

Jam 5:16 Confess [your] faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

So Giving you these Scriptures should help you realize that God is with us However we should always pray for the Sick, Posessed, Unsaved!

IN Christ

[CountryBoy]

B,

Thanks. Unfortunatley he does not believe the bible, so I was trying to find a common sense sort of thing to tell him.

There may not be one.

CB

[bizzt]

Now that I re-read that I realize you were making a question from your Brother addressing why you should not pray for him

It is not Gods Responsibility! Our Mission as Christians is to preach the Gospel! If we are not doing our job by Praying, talking about the Word then we are not Doing God's Will in turn we are not taking the Responsibility! God has laid that Responsibility on us...

[kateliz]

God has chosen to use us as a vessel for His work. He wants to work through us for this so that we may develope our relationship with Him and learn of Him. Those we witness to can learn of God through this as well. We are also Christ's Body, and as such we are to participate in what He does.

[Deborah]

Please read this article.

Are the Thousands Who Perished in the Tsunami Lost Forever?
What is the ultimate fate of the almost 300,000 men, women and children who lost their lives in the Indian Ocean tsunami?

Many who died were Buddhists who accept neither God nor the Bible. The majority of those who perished were Muslims whose religion teaches that Jesus was a prophet, but explicitly denies that He is the Son of God and Savior of mankind.

The Scriptures clearly state that belief in and acceptance of Christ is the only route to salvation—that "there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12, New International Version; compare John 14:6).

So what is the fate of these thousands who died in this disaster, many of whom knew little or nothing about Jesus Christ during their lifetime? Does the Bible give us any answers?

Confronting a quandary

The Scriptures clearly reveal that God is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9). Yet a great many believe that unless a person confesses faith in Jesus as personal Savior in this present lifetime, he or she will have no further opportunity for salvation.

So we are faced with a quandary: What happens to those who have been deceived (Revelation 12:9) and, simply through ignorance, have no understanding of God, His plan or His way of life? And what about those who, in this disaster or in centuries past, lived and died without ever so much as hearing the name of Jesus Christ? Are they eternally lost? What is their fate?

The Bible gives the answers to these questions—answers that reconcile all the scriptures about life and death, judgment and mercy, forgiveness and salvation. However, we need to pay close attention to what it says, because the truths that it actually reveals directly contradict what most people have been told that it says!

The Bible speaks of several different resurrections of the dead. It reveals that the "first resurrection," the resurrection of Christ's true followers, will take place at His return to earth (1 Corinthians 15:51-52; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-16; Revelation 20:4-6).

But it also teaches that "the rest of the dead . . . small and great" also are to be resurrected from the grave. Who are they? These are the majority of humankind, all those who have ever lived and died over thousands of years of human history never knowing God's truth. They are to stand before God and, for the first time in their lives, have the full truth of the Scriptures opened to their understanding (Revelation 20:4-6, 11-12).

For the vast majority of mankind, this will be the first time their eyes will be truly opened to God's wonderful truth. This will be the first time they will come to know mankind's Creator, His Word and His way of life! Most will then willingly reject their sinful ways, committed mostly in ignorance when they knew little or nothing of God and His ways.

If they sincerely acknowledge their errors and repent, then they also may be glorified and receive eternal life. This is not a "second chance" theology, as some might assume, but truly their first real opportunity to fully comprehend God's truth and then act on it with genuine understanding.

An opportunity for all humanity

In Matthew 11:21-24, Jesus explained that many godless people who lived and died in ages long before His time would have repented if only they had experienced Christ's preaching and miracles the way people of His day had. Moreover, He said that it would be "more tolerable" in the coming last judgment for the men, women and children who lived and died in ignorance than for those of His day who openly rejected Him.

But how could this be if those long-dead people were already condemned without hope of redemption? The fact is they never had an opportunity, with a full comprehension of repentance, to be saved. But one day, God promises, He will give them that opportunity.

Truly "God does not show favoritism" (Acts 10:34, NIV). He has made provision for all people ultimately to have an opportunity to enter a relationship with Him that can lead to glorified, eternal life.

This is why Jesus said: "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment" (John 5:28-29, New American Standard Bible).

"Judgment" in this passage refers to an opportunity to understand as opposed to the act of sentencing. This time of judging or deciding the future of those who have not yet had an opportunity to understand God's plan and purpose, whether they be small or great, is mentioned in Revelation 20:11-12, cited above.

This biblical resurrection to judgment (a time for sorting out and deciding, not for automatic condemnation) is a time when God's tolerant mercy will finally be evident to all who are willing to face up to and repent of their former sinful ways.

Though the Bible doesn't reveal many specifics about this resurrection—once more to a temporary physical life—Ezekiel 37, the famous prophecy of the valley full of dry bones, provides a vivid description of it.

The wonderful truth of the Bible is that all those who perished in this enormous tragedy are not lost to God. They are His children, and in His own time and according to His plan, He will give them (and the billions more like them) the opportunity to learn His wonderful truth and receive His priceless gift of salvation. He truly is a God of love, "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."

The idea I am getting from this is. The followers of christ will be the first resurrection, and it is those followers who preach to the rest of humanity in the 2nd resurrection giving every one the opportunity to know god through jesus it is only after this that anyone turning from him knowing of the certainty of his existence, that this could be the unforgivable sin.
My apologies if it is not very clearly put.


http://www.gnmagazine.org/issues/gn57/d ... s_lost.htm