An article at Patheos came across my radar recently that piqued my interest. It’s peddling the tired old Roman Catholic view of “invincible ignorance”, or the idea that maybe atheists can slip into heaven if they just don’t “know better.” It’s not nuance, it’s nonsense. It’s essentially universalism, and the Scriptures don’t pat ignorance on the head. It brands it rebellion and judgment.

The Bible’s verdict on this so-called “ignorance” is not vague. They do know. We all know. Creation testifies. Conscience accuses. Paul says that although they knew God, they refused to honor Him, and so they are without excuse (Romans 1:21). Ignorance is not innocence. It is rebellion in disguise, suppression of truth clawed down into the chest until the heart hardens.

Catholicism likes to draw buckets… on one side, the open-minded ignorant. On the other side, the obstinate rejecter. But Christ slashes that spectrum in half. “Whoever is not with me is against me.” (Matthew 12:30). There is no third camp. There is no neutral ground. Unbelief is not softer rebellion—it is rebellion all the same.

And salvation is not offered to the sincere, or to those who tried their best, or to those who can claim ignorance as a shield. John writes:

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already.” (John 3:18).

Condemned already.

Not later, not someday—already. The gospel is not just another option for the devoted few. It is the only way, the narrow gate, the name above all names by which men must be saved (Acts 4:12).

Even Paul’s sermon at Mars Hill gets twisted into a proof text for this lie. Yes, he quoted their poets. Yes, he spoke with care. But his conclusion was no velvet glove:

“The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.” (Acts 17:30).

Paul was not canonizing ignorance in this passage, he was detonating it with a command to repent and believe, or else!

And that’s the whole point. God doesn’t grade atheism on a curve or weigh it out on a spectrum. There are no innocent atheists, no secret saints of sincerity. There are the redeemed who cling to Christ, and the lost who refuse to bow. Rome has always tried to obscure that line, flattering God-haters with “maybe,” while gutting the urgency of the gospel. But the Bible leaves no door ajar where Christ has shut it.

Look through the Scriptures. Look throughout history. The martyrs did not give their blood so Rome could tell pagans their ignorance might save them. They chose lions’ jaws and burning stakes over denial and disobedience because they knew there was one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

Fire fell on Nadab and Abihu for offering unauthorized fire. Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead for lying to the Spirit. Judgment does not soften with ignorance—it sharpens.

And that is why we preach. Not because we delight in saying hard things, but because there is no other hope. Without Christ, atheists are not “possibly saved.” They are lost, perishing, under wrath already.

And unless they repent, they will discover too late that ignorance is not a shelter—it is a grave.

No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. —Luke 13:3,5