bible does not necessarily teach that non-christians will be condemned

---"UNLESS YOU BELIEVE....YOU WILL DIE"--- ---"WHOEVER DOES NOT BELIEVE STANDS CONDEMNED ALREADY BECAUSE HE HAS NOT BELIEVED IN THE NAME OF GOD"S ONE AND ONLY SON"--- -"WHOEVER DOES NOT BELIEVE WILL BE CONDEMNED" Above are the verses we have been discussing.To be completely honest, and I'm trying not to be disrespectful here, but I have no idea what you are trying to say. I don't know what you meant by the man on the island, and even if I did, you need to elaborate and explain it for everyone who will be commenting and voting, so once again if you explain that I will have a response, otherwise I have no real reason to add anything. you said:"i will concede that the first verse could be construed to mean what you said that they'd be condemned, but the other verses explain more, and besides, that verse can be construed in my favor too." Unless if you believe, then you are condemned, that is the message of all of these passages.... I don't see how that can be construed to mean that if you don't believe you aren't condemned... I really don't know what else to say. I reread the verse just as you suggested, and I take: ---"UNLESS YOU BELIEVE....YOU WILL DIE"--- To mean exactly what it says... How does that mean you don't have to be a believer? You said: "if you take the presumption that you have to be told, then that verse makes sense" Not sure what exactly you were trying to say here, I think that you are referring to this passage : "I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I AM HE you will die in your sins" (John 8:24). Once again I'm not sure what point you were trying to make, but to boost my argument by this passage, it is supposed to be a direct quote from Jesus saying that he has taught them the rules, and you have to believe in him AKA be a Christian, or you will die in your sins. that is what the literal meaning of that passage is, and once again I thank you for using it to my advantage. John 3:16 whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.[g] 19This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." You said: "there's really nothing to debate here. most people get stuck on the fact that it says those wwho don't believe will be condemned... but it goes on to define what condemnatino means here (most verses say "and this is the condemnation" and not the "verdict")" ok.... I think you are right, There is no debate here. WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHALL NOT PERISH, meaning if you don't believe in him, then you perish, SAVE THE WORLD THROUGH<< Mark 16..... 15 He said to them, "Go into the whole world and proclaim the gospel to every creature. 16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned. You said: "there's nothing to debate here either. it says those who does not believe after having heard the gospel will be condmened. now, you could try to separate the first sentence from the second, and say all would be condemned who don't believe... but that's stripping the sentence from its obvious context." --once again I am just absolutely boggled how you think that could be in your favor. That passage in other terms means, go teach everybody the gospel, aka go teach every creature the bible..... "WHOEVER DOES NOT BELIEVE WILL BE CONDEMNED". I would also like to point out at this time that I have taken religious study courses, and some very intelligent professors stressed that the gospels were constructed purely to enforce the idea that you HAVE to believe in Christ to be saved: You need to be a Christian or you will be condemned according to the bible. Now, there were some gospels that got tossed out of the bible that had different meanings, but unfortunately for the argument you are attempting we are talking about THE BIBLE here and not other documents, therefore we have to look at the gospels, and they have a fairly clear message.