Do I believe Atheists are going to hell?

[Catholic_Lady]

I also wanted to discuss this specifically. Because I do very much see it as still being a chance/unlucky thing.  

Let's just be reasonable for a second here. If you were raised a Muslim, believed in salvation through Islam, believed in Mohammed, etc etc... how would you know that you had a moral obligation to examine Christianity in the first place?? How would you be like "Well, I was taught by my parents and everyone I love and trust that Islam is the way to salvation... but someone mentioned something about some Jesus guy today and said I need to be Christian to be saved. Yikes! I better look into it." I mean, do we, as Christians, feel like we have a moral obligation to look into other religions because people of those religions also say you need to be saved through their own prophet? If you and I were raised Muslim chances are we'd both be Muslim today lol.

We all have a moral obligation to seek truth, yes, but we can't discount the fact that people can make honest mistakes and that upbringing and other factors which are outside their control doesn't play a role in their conclusion of the truth.

So going purely by whether or not you've heard of Jesus still seems unfair and unlucky if you happened to be born into a different faith.

Let me clarify a little.

When I say "heard of Jesus" I don't mean the literal name of the context the Muslims would put him in (great prophet). I am talking about being presented with the plan of salvation and understanding it. You can't truly reject what you don't understand. 

I have heard (in person) former Muslims talk about the numerous people they know who were devout Muslims who had a vision or dream (sometime repeated) of Jesus which prompted them to investigate further. My point here is that God knows the heart of everyone and can and does give people opportunity to respond to him even in their context. 

I think everyone has an obligation to seek out truth about God. There is excellent evidence that this desire is built into us. I personally am aware of the basics of all the worlds main religions. I find Christianity to be the most evidenced, most internally consistent, and most closely aligned with reality.

Ok, yes... that sounds more reasonable.

Though I would say my standards of what constitutes deliberate rejection is still a bit more relaxed than yours. A person can be presented with Christianity, understand it, and still be unable to conclude that it is all true. An honest mistake on their part - a distinction from knowing it is true and choosing to reject it/be dismissive about it.

As you said though, God knows the heart, not us.