1. CLarify

To understand where your friend is coming from, here are some questions you may ask:

·       What do you mean by “fair”? Do you mean equal opportunity, equal outcomes, or something else?

·       Who has the right to decide what is fair?

·       Who do you think of when you refer to “good people”?

·       What criteria do you think God should use to judge fairly?

 

2.    Explore (Context) 

We learn from a young age, that good deeds should be rewarded and bad deeds should be punished. It’s natural or your friend to extend this expectation to God, believing that it’s only fair for Him to reward those who do good deeds.

This is why your friend may think it is illogical or even disturbing when we say that salvation from suffering, evil, and death come only through faith in Christ.

Moreover, large numbers of people have never had the chance to hear about Jesus (for example, uncontacted peoples in the Amazon rainforest).

The idea that they may be judged by God when they had never been given equal opportunity to respond to His message can feel unjust and troubling.

 

 

3.    Agree 

Your friend is right to expect God to be just and to show true fairness in His actions and judgments.

The Bible affirms that God shows no favouritisim (Romans 2:11) and that in Christ Jesus, everyone is equal (Galatians 3:28) regardless of their background.

4.    Reveal

Christianity invites us to reconsider what is truly fair and good. If God is our creator, then He is the one who defines what fairness and goodness really mean.

 

What we think is fair and good may not measure up to His standard, because He is perfect and we are not (Matthew 5:48; Romans 3:23).

 

Christians believe that all people have failed to be completely good (1 John 1:8). Even if someone has done very little wrong, that person’s conduct still falls short of perfection. It’s like how a drop of poison is enough to make a whole glass of water unsafe to drink.

 

Our good deeds will never be able to prove that we are “good” because our good deeds remain imperfect. But God opened the way the salvation: to confess Jesus as Lord (Romans 10:9).

What about those who never hear the gospel? Scripture doesn’t give us every detail but we do know that God is love (1 John 4:16), that He is patient and merciful towards us (2 Peter 3:9), and that He desires all people to be saved (1 Timothy 2:4).

The Bible also tells us that God has compassion for those who are ignorant (Jonah 4:11). This gives us confidence that both God’s justice and mercy are greater than our limited perspective. If someone has never heard about Jesus, God will  take that into account.