There is something called "Baptism of desire". Also, the catholic church teaches that all men have a chance, or series of chances, to acknowledge God and try to live their lives to serve Him.
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And further while there is some leeway in describing how god judges those who are in ignorance in some situations, infants and such and may also apply to people who have never been exposed to the word of God there is very little ambiguity about those who worship false gods, as the Native Americans would have been viewed to have done. In which case the only people who could ascend to heaven among them would have been those who rejected their gods, and didn't believe in them. So it is even possible that by rejecting christianity I am avoiding committing the sin of worshipping a false god in place of the real god who has not revealed himself to us (our planet or such) And thus avoiding being damned to hell.
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I agree with you, they would probably have to reject their false gods. Unfortunately I'm not God and I can't tell you how they will be judged. But because God is just, everyone has at least a chance, if not more than 1.
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So you use Christian church teaching to say that "rejecting Christian god because it might be false God"?
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Edited by Pellmell54: 9/7/2015 1:12:00 AMNaw, just pointing out a possibility, not one I believe in. An interesting thought to think that maybe just as Native Americans were ignorant of the word of the True God because of where they were born and lived, there could be a possibility of us being ignorant of a True God due to the planet we live on. Not really an argument, just an interesting thought.
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It comes down to conscience in a large part I guess. There is right and wrong and there is such a thing as universal morality.
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Edited by Pellmell54: 9/7/2015 12:26:18 AMAnd that is where is loses me. Can it really offer any evidence of native american tribes having any knowledge of god prior to the settlers arriving and shortly after that the kill or convert effort the Puritans waged against them? I'm sorry, but i find the idea that every native american prior to the arrival of European settlers had at one point in their life, a light bulb that flickered on in their head, exposed them to the word and truth of god, and that every single time they simply decided to ignore it and forget it ever happened to be beyond far-fectched.
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I feel you. It's tough. But God is merciful. The Indians would not all magically know about the church and Jesus Christ like you said. Rather, they all had a moment or several in their lives where they had to choose with free will whether it not to do good or do bad. Everyone with free will has a conscience, and they had to use it to make the good decision.