I usually try to restrict my posts on 5Doves to only those relating to watching for our blessed redeemer.  Still, this subject came up on the Bible Answer Man radio program last week and I felt prompted to write a response.  Prayerfully, this will meet the needs of someone.

A couple called in and told the Bible Answer man that they believed that babies go to heaven when they die while their pastor believed they went to hell.  Try as they might, they had been unable to convince their pastor otherwise.  The Bible Answer man stated that there are believers on both sides of this issue and that this is not a test for orthodoxy so we cannot be adamant either way on this subject.   But rest assured, whatever happens, it would be just, as God is a just God.

The couple said that their pastor had stated that if babies ended up in heaven then abortionists work would be increasing the kingdom of God.  The Bible Answer Man then related how David, after his sin with Bathsheba where the baby died, believed that he would see this baby in heaven.

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However, David also believed that his sin with Bathsheba would not be found out.  So what David believed and what is correct cannot be presumed to be the same a priori.  However, in this instance we are comparing David's theology with David's sin which he had justified in his own mind, which may not be a fair comparison.  What we do know though is that no man can enter the kingdom of Heaven unless he be born again.

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  John 3:5

What is correct?  Do babies have the chance to be born again?  Or does this apply just to men and women who have passed the age of accountability?

There happens to be exactly 153 Bible Verses (KJV) that have the word "born" in them.  As this is the exact number of fish caught:

Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken.  John 21:11

And exactly one third of all numbers in the universe when their integers are cubed and added together ultimately end up at 153; an analogy would be that one third of all humans at the end of time will end up in heaven.  Some believe this is way overly optomistic.  However, the Lord is lord of all.  If one third of the angels fell from grace following satan then why not one third of humans accepting grace and taking their place?  But I digress a little.

So what is just?  All humans who die before the age of accountability automatically go to hell?

Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.  Psalms 51:5

Surely the deceased young offspring of two parents bound for hell will not end up away from their parents?  But then the same could be said about the offspring of two people bound for heaven?  But then this is human reasoning.  And what about the offspring of two people, one bound for hell and one bound for heaven?  Would all these offspring be bound for Hell?  Or, to make it even, every other offspring?  I believe God is just in His decision in this case, and believe the Bible clearly states the outcome:

For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.  I Corinthians 7:14

It's just a little unclear how to interpret and accept this verse.  Is it saying that an unbelieving husband can go to heaven on the shirttails of a believing wife and vice-versa?   I don't think so.  These are people being sanctified that had never been justified.   The one is sanctified with the other when they become one flesh, I think in the same way that the Israelites were sanctified by the High Priest once a year.  But it is still up to each individual to confess with their mouth that Jesus is their Lord and believe in their hearts that God raised Him from the dead for them to be saved from Hell.  But that leaves the children who do not yet know the difference between right and wrong, .ie. the age of accountability.

For years I have believed that man is conceived with a sin nature and still do.  That man from the moment of birth and even before is sinful.  Still, there is the concept that before they know right and wrong, (like Adam and Eve), they can do wrong and not be accountable, (although Adam and Ever were still held accountable) .  However, even though I keep mentioning the "age of accountability", good luck finding this concept in the Bible.  Everyone needs to resolve this issue not on human understanding but what is in the Bible.  There are good Christian resources on the web from different sides that are worth reading for sorting this out such as:

http://members.aol.com/twarren13/account.html

http://www.gotquestions.org/age-of-accountability.html

http://www.ag.org/top/beliefs/christian_doctrines/gendoct_11_accountability.cfm

The first one emphasizes God choosing the babies He will save through His unmerited favor (grace) without regard to parents or anything else.  The second one emphasizes that God takes all children to heaven and when they able they can make a decision for or against Christ.  The third is the doctrinal position of AG where a baby dieing before understanding right and wrong would inherit eternal life.

(For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)  It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.  Romans 9:11-13

This verse tends to support that God chooses to save whom He chooses to save.  But then it could be asked why He didn't choose to save Adam and Eve and we wouldn't be in this pickle we are all in now?  Maybe a better explanation is God chooses to love whom He chooses to love.  Not all people are given the choice of the free gift of eternal life, such as apparently Esau, and as unfair as that sounds to our human minds.  Could the Nephilum have been saved?

Still that brings me back to since God does not lie, it would seem that He would choose to save only those:

For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.  I Corinthians 7:14

dead children conceived of at least one believing parent.  This can be justified to me in the sense that if these children are not accountable for their sins, and they do sin, then who is held accountable both in the moral and the legal arena?  The parents!  The parents are accountable and responsible, as can be seen especially when there are monetary damages involved.  If one of these parents is a believer, that parent when held responsible, has laid all of their sins at the foot of the cross, and has been forgiven all of their imputed sins, even those for whom they themselves are responsible for.  If there is an "age of accountability" I would say that it is when a person is no longer accountable to their parents and their parents no longer are responsible for their children and their children are responsible for themselves.  From a Biblical standpoint, for example Exodus and David, I would venture that this age is just under the age of 20.  Personally, I believe this could be exactly 1000 weeks past birth which is almost right at 20 years from conception, (1040 x 7 / 364 = 20).

Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD.  Exodus 30:14

Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward which have murmured against me.  Numbers 14:29

These were the sons of Levi after the house of their fathers; even the chief of the fathers, as they were counted by number of names by their polls, that did the work for the service of the house of the LORD, from the age of twenty years and upward.  I Chronicles 23:24

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I am not adamant about this position but believe it can be supported scripturally better than any other position that does not require one to be born again while alive here on earth, to enter the Kingdom of heaven.
 

-Shalom!