Question:
Did the Indians that had never heard of God go to heaven? I know the things around them should give them a clue that someone was higher, but they didn’t have any Bibles to tell them how to be saved and live as Christians.
Answer:
Let me start out by saying that God has given ALL men (including Indians) knowledge of Himself, and it depends on what they do with this knowledge that will determine their eternal destiny. I am speaking, primarily, of the light of creation which all men have. Allow me to quote a few Scriptures regarding this.
“Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead [Divinity]; so that they are without excuse” (Romans 1:19, 20).
These verses make it crystal clear that God has revealed His glory and power through His marvelous creation. Every part of God’s wondrous creation has the Creator’s fingerprints stamped upon it, and ALL men are responsible to acknowledge Him as Creator. (As you said, “The things around them should give them a clue that someone was higher.”) If they do not, they will be judged for rejecting God’s knowledge given to them in creation, and even though they never saw a Bible or heard of how to be saved, they will be “without excuse” (Romans 1:20) on judgment day.
It has been reported by many missionaries that in their travels to heathen lands they have found many people steeped in idolatry, men worshipping the creature instead of the Creator (see Romans 1:21-23). But it has also been reported by others that they have found people who had acknowledged their Creator and were willing and eager to learn more about Him.
There is one more thing that men have (besides the light of creation) which makes them responsible to God, and that is their conscience. In Romans 2:14-16 we learn that God will judge those who had no Bible, according to what their consciences accused them of. Verses 14 and 15 bring out that though men have never seen God’s holy Law, yet the work of His Law is written in their hearts, and when they break it their conscience bears witness to their sin. If men would only allow this “inner light” from God to bring them to repentance, they would no doubt be given more light from God.The important thing to grasp is that ALL men have light from God and are responsible to live up to the light they have. No man will go to heaven who rejects the light he has been given. And the very light he rejects will be the principle by which God will judge him.