Question on justification.

There are people in my church who seem to believe in the following doctrine.

That God justifies people who has either never heard the gospel and or who has rejected the gospel.

Or God imputes Christs' righteousness to people throughout time and continues to do so who don't have a personal relationship or living faith in the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

The examples that people give:


1. Someone like Mahatma Gandhi. Here we have a man who was created in the image of God. So he along with all humanity is a witness to Gods general revelation. He has a moral conscience and he recognizes that there is a higher power in the Universe.

He is religious and he lead a prayerful life. He dedicated his life to good deeds and helping others.

But, he never accepted Jesus Christ as his lord and savior. He rejected the truth claims of the Bible and didn't worship the one true God of the Bible.

But because he lead a pious life and obeyed and followed his conscience and asked "his" god to forgive his trespasses, does this mean that he was one of Gods children and had Jesus Christs' righteousness imputed to him and therefore be saved in the final judgment?


2. A tribal leader deep in the Amazon who has never seen a missionary or a Bible or heard of Jesus Christ or the gospel.

Let's say this leader, again like Gandhi, follows his conscience and prays and asks for forgiveness to his nature gods. i.e.; the Great Lizard Totem, or the Great Sloth in the Great Tree. Is this a means by which this person could have Christs' righteousness imputed to him by God. Could this individual be an adopted son of the Father and be saved at the final judgment?


3. A mentally challenged person or children. These are people who cannot fully understand Gods general revelation and or their own sinful condition so therefore are exempt from Gods condemnation. ( I don't care to get into a discussion in this area, I'm just adding this, because people always seem to fall back on this one as well )



So that is my question. After sharing the gospel over and over again in my local assembly, there seems to always be people who bring these issues up. It's like they know that some people can be offended by the "bad news" of the gospel, so it seems that they are trying to "soften" it by including this doctrine.

It's one of those; "Oh yes, but what about people who never hear the gospel?" or "Well, what about people who have done good deeds all their life?" or "Wait! what about children and mentally challenged people??"

I've always believed that the New Testament teaches us that Jesus is the way the truth and the life and that no one comes to the father accept through Him. But I've tried to tell people this and they look at me like I'm some kind of weirdo.

So anyway, any assistance with this would be most helpful.

Dave

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. - Galatians 2:16