The Everyday Club

4/5/11 Francisco, about 25
Is ignorance of the Gospel an excuse for unbelief? If that was true then we believers should hide the truth of the Gospel, lest people that hear it become condemned when they reject it. But the Bible says that we are condemned already (John 3) and without excuse (Romans 1). Yesterday I was out walking the dog at the park and came across a young man named Francisco sitting on a bench. He said he doesn’t believe in God or any sort of afterlife, has had no religious background or upbringing, and has never really thought much about it. He didn’t come across as having rejected God or religion, just apathetic and ignorant of it all. He had heard of the Ten Commandments but didn’t know any. It was hard not to just view him as being innocent of rejecting the Gospel due to ignorance. Yet he did say he knows right from wrong, and a few questions showed that he often does wrong anyway. I explained that the Bible teaches he will be held accountable to God on judgment day whether he believes in Him or not. He suddenly began to say that he has indeed been to church and read the Bible on occasion, maybe thinking this would let him off the hook, but he has rejected what truths he has already heard. He still seemed somewhat disinterested and there were some language barriers, so I gave him a Spanish gospel tract to read later, praying he won’t continue to reject the truth God is revealing to him.