Pastor Greg Laurie answers: Will God send those who have never read the Gospel to Hell?

Megachurch Pastor Greg Laurie weighed on the importance of the Gospel as a criterion for how God chooses who gets to Heaven and who gets sent to Hell.

The 63-year-old senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California talked about how God judges rationally and how God holds one accountable.

"What about the person who has never heard the Gospel? Will God send them to Hell?" Pastor Greg read a reader's questions on a Facebook video on Aug. 17.

"You're going to be held accountable for what you know, not what you don't know," he answered.

Pastor Greg then went on to explain that "the testimony of God is everywhere" and so it reaches everyone. God's imprint can be seen through nature and one's surroundings. He added that God also created human beings with a conscience to guide them from what's right and wrong.

"God will judge you accordingly," he said simply.

He then urged Christians to double down on spreading the Gospel in order to help others respond.

The pastor did not address how one could get to Heaven or get sent to Hell, as he promised to discuss the topic further on his next sermon at his church.

Dr. J.T. Bridges, Southern Evangelical Seminary's academic dean and assistant professor of philosophy, said the verses Romans 3:21-22 as well as Romans 4:4-5 provided the answers on how one gets to Heaven.

Romans 3:21-22 reads, "But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known. ... This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe."

The academic's choice of the biblical passages suggested his belief that one gets saved through placing one's trust in Jesus Christ and not on one's own works.

"There is a mantra common in churches, motivated by genuine piety though false, that in Christ Jesus I am 'just a sinner saved by grace,'" Bridges told The Christian Post.

He explained that those who relied on their own efforts rejected the salvation offered by Christ and rather clings to the idea of God as a "wrathful judge" they need to appease. He called this a "works-based Christianity."