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Home › Bible Study Discussions > Bible Study Discussions with Gary PanellQuestion: My husband cannot read and write, and I have tried to explain to him about God and how to be saved. I do not think he really understands what being saved means. He is 57 years old and what does the Bible say about someone who can't read or is not smart enough to understand about His Word? This really bothers me. I am saved and I have tried to talk to him, as some pastors have also, but I'm not sure he has been saved since he really doesn't understand it. How can he be? Or, can he be?Answer: God does not require that a person know how to read or write in order to be saved. God has made the way of salvation very simple and easy to understand. Jesus is saying here that the Gospel is simple enough for a small child to understand. Children are trusting and don't question. As adults, we try to reason, understand, and think things through logically. The Gospel message is not logical. We cannot understand why God would allow His Son to die in our place. This is where faith comes in. “For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:14-19) What you need to know in order to be saved, is this: 1: Jesus is God. (John 1:1-2) “In the beginning was the Word (God's Son, Jesus), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” 2: God loves you. He loves you so much that He sent Jesus to die in your place! (John 3:16, 17) “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” 3: You are a sinner. (Romans 3:23) “… for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” 4: You deserve death (or eternal punishment) for your sin. (Romans 6:23) “For the wages of sin is death…” 5: God offers you a free gift of life, instead of the punishment of death that you deserve. (Romans 6:23) “… but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 6: Salvation is a gift that you must receive (or take) in order to have it. (John 1:12) “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” All a person needs to do is pray. Tell God you know that you are a sinner. Acknowledge that Jesus died in your place for your sin. Ask Jesus to come into your heart and take away your sin. That doesn't seem to be hard, and it doesn't seem to be logical. However, that is the way God said that we could have eternal life. Once we do that, then we are a child of God, and will one day go to be with Him in heaven. Even people with low understanding, can grasp these concepts. However, there are people who have a very low intelligence level, that will never be able to understand that they are sinners and need to receive Christ as their Savior in order to have their sins forgiven. I believe that these people will one day be in heaven, because they have not reached the “age of accountability.” These would be babies and young children. It would also be people who have a mental disability that would keep their minds at the level of a young child. Gary has written an article on “The Age of Accountability.” This article would explain it in more depth than what I have here. I do not get the feeling that your husband is mentally deficient to this degree. Right now I would say that you need to pray for him, and keep praying for him. We cannot save anyone. We cannot talk anyone into getting saved. That is not our job! Our job is to witness for Jesus. “And He said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.'” (Mark 16:15) The Holy Spirit is the One who brings conviction. He is the One who draws a person to God. “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” (John 16:7-8) If your husband cannot truly understand the way of salvation, then God knows that, and will consider that he has not reached a place in his mind where he would be held accountable to God for not receiving Christ as his Savior. However, if he has the capability to understand, but chooses not to receive Christ, then he will be judged for that at the Great White Throne. We are not responsible for the choices other people make. We do need to pray for others and be a good witness with both our words and our lives. The Holy Spirit will bring conviction and bring the person to a saving knowledge of Christ, but God will not go against anyone's will. He wants people to come to Him because they choose to, not because He forced them to! Yes, we would love to see all of our family and friends receive Christ. Unfortunately, we cannot make choices for other people. They must make their own choice. God expects us to pray and witness. We need to read God's Word, attend church regularly, and live our lives in such a way that we would be pleasing to God and people could look at us and see that we are different because of God in our lives. Here is a little tract Gary wrote to give people something to put in the front of a Bible that simply tells the way of salvation. Going to heaven is as simple as A B C! Admit that we have sinned. Pray this prayer: God, I admit I have sinned. I
In Christ, Marlene Panell
For more information e-mail me at To view other questions visit our Interactive Bible Study Page or read some of our Christian Literature at Bible-Christian.org |
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Please feel free to contact Bible Christian: Gary Tomás Panell © 2005-2009 by Gary T. Panell The articles on this website may be freely copied and distributed. Source credit with a link to bible-christian.org would be appreciated. Keywords: salvation, age of accountability, understanding, Holy Spirit, witnessing, prayer, Gospel |
