". . . what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God . . ."
Romans 1:18-21
It's the age-old question: How can God be just to condemn people who never had a chance to hear the Gospel? The first chapter of Romans clearly tells us that there will be no valid excuses on Judgment Day. Why? First of all, because God is manifest in Man -- that is, the human heart is designed with an instinctive knowledge that there is a great Being, a rational, emotional, intelligent Being like himself, to whom he owes his existence. Also, the world around Man speaks to him of an eternal, powerful Deity with supreme authority over Creation.
But someone will say, "Nature says nothing at all about the Gospel of redemption in Jesus. It's not the fault of the poor jungle natives that they never got an opportunity to hear. They worship God in the best way they know -- surely God will give them credit for that." True, they never heard the Gospel. And that is not the criteria by which they will be judged. They will be judged because, contrary to all the clear evidence in and around them, they chose to invent gods that did not measure up to the invisible attributes of the One True God. If Man's conscience and Creation merely hinted at some ambiguous creative force, a god somewhere out there, then Man would be justified in worshiping a god in whatever detail he imagines. But nature doesn't just tell us that there is a God, it says quite a lot about what He is like. And when Man in his pride conjures up a nice, manageable deity who is not the eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere-present, unchanging, sovereign, transcendent Being that nature declares Him to be, he is guilty of idolatry.
In reality, no one in his natural state really wants to worship God as He is. But since Man can't escape his innate need to worship something, he invariably creates an object of worship that he can manipulate and control. Even the Israelites, who saw the glory of God every day, made themselves a golden calf -- that was certainly not ignorance! God could hardly have been more clear about the basics of His nature than He has been in the Creation, and in the end, no one will stand before Him and say, "I had no idea that the Creator would be anything like this." There can be no excuses.