My answer is unequivocally NO!
However, I am making this statement from the issues
of my heart, not from scripture. Fact is, I want to believe that God's mercy would not
send a new born baby to hell. My hope is any person that for some reason could not make an
intelligent decision for Christ, would have the comfort of a loving God. To me
that just would not be fair, But then if I say no, on the grounds of my feeling alone, than I’m
making a God in my image, not allowing the word of God be my guidance.
So let’s forget that I said no, and seek the
knowledge of scripture to answer this most difficult question. The Gospel is
the “good news” But before we can fully appreciate the “good news” we must first
understand the Bad News. But what is the bad news? Well the bad news says we
inherited a sinful nature because of the first man Adam Romans
5:12, 16 that through Adam, there was condemnation to all men Romans
5:18. The Bad News says that from the instant we leave our mother’s
womb we go astray Psalm
58:3 says that none of desire to do right, not one of us Romans
3:10-12 The Bad News says even when we try to do our best, , it’s
like a filthy rag before God Isaiah
64:6 But the most scary part of the Bad News says the cost for the
sin that we commit is death. The Bad News paints an almost hopeless situation
for all of us.
But there is Good News, The bible tells us where sin
abounds grace does much more abound. This is wonderful news in that it says even though
we are sinful in every imaginable way, that God has given us a way out of
eternal damnation (Grace) in the form of His sonJesus Christ. The Good News says the
death that we rightly deserve will not come to us, because “God made him who had no sin to be sin for
us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2
Cor 5:21). So the Good News is that there is hope. However, that
hope is only for those that can comprehend the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His
work at Calvary. So where does this leave babies who die in infancy, or are aborted, or are stilled birth? Where
does that leave those that may not be able to comprehend the Gospel because of
development issues?
OK, I know someone is going hate me for what I am about to write, and my
only defense is; test the scripture against what I write. Eat the meat and
throw out the bones. Nowhere is scripture does it speak of a dispensation of
accountability. As a matter of fact I have never even heard the two words used
together before I just wrote it. So where do
I get off writing (or proclaiming) this thing? Simply, scripture alludes to the
possibility of there being such a thing. In this dispensation God does not
whole accountable those that are, for some reason unable to make an intelligent
decision for Jesus Christ. Let's look at some scripture and see if this is real.
- In the Old Testament we see an example of this dispensation of accountability [1] whereas because of the harden hearts of the Israelite God promises that they [2] would never enter into the promise land. But the children, because of their inability to discern what was good and bad, were not held accountable for the harden hearts of their. parents. (Deuteronomy 1:34-39 )in verse 39 God Says “Moreover your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, and your children, which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil, they shall go in thither, and unto them will I give it, and they shall possess it.”
- This puts a major damper in the concept of generational curses, or the doctrine of parental covering. However, that is for another blog. Let’s stay focused. So even though there is no scripture to prove this, we can use God’s past action as a guide to His future actions (Malachi 3:6) especially as it concerns how He handles the life of His creation.
- Again to a
lesser degree I see how God dealing with those that willingly rebel against
him is not the same as with those that cannot discern their rebellion. In 1 Kings 14, when
God speaks to Jeroboam through the prophet Alijah he tells Jeroboam
of the humiliating deaths that his whole family will experience. Some will
die in the streets of the city and their body will be eaten by stray dogs,
and others in country and the wild birds will consume the flesh from their
bones. But God makes an exception for Jeroboam’s infant son, giving him an
upright and honorable burial before the people (1Kings
14:10-13) Now even though the child still dies, he is
spared the judicial punishment of those that willingly rebelled against
God.
- Psalm
22:9
Yet You are He who brought me forth from the womb; You
made me trust when upon my
mother’s breasts. This
powerful psalm, though it is surely messianic in nature, may have much
more to tell us. Albert Barnes commentary
on Psalm 22:9 suggest that it could very well be attributed
to child who was unable to make a decision for Christ. So, that children who from the conception are under the Fall of
Adam, God is able to make them believe and trust in him.
- In 2
Samuel 12 King David and Bathsheba have a child out of wedlock who
becomes terminally ill. King David adorns himself in sackcloth
and ashes fast and
mourns the possibility of losing his child. When King David finds out that
the child has died, he put on normal clothes and stop mourning. The
prophet Nathan ask why he was no longer in mourning and David replies “While
the child was still alive, I
fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows, the Lord may be gracious to
me, that the child may live.’ But
now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I
will go to him, but he will not return to me.” 2
Samuel 12:22–23 (KJV)
Now if we pay good attention to the text we see that it implies that the child went to heaven when King David says, "I will go to him, but he will not return to me” The Bible says that David was the apple of God's , so I am assuming ( I Think safely) that David did go to heaven so we have to have confidence that the infant son of David died without ever discerning what is good or bad , or making a decision for Christ is now in heaven worshiping God with all the other saints that have the inheritance through faith in Jesus Christ.What really frighten me about much of the teaching in the modern church is that when confronted with difficult statements they do not rely on scripture but on their own sometimes heartless interpretations.
For much of my childhood I struggled with a God that I called Just, Righteous, and God that went out of his way for the Christian, but was lazy in meeting the needs of the poor, homeless, and infants, and those that just could not make an intelligent decision for Christ. Some of the most caring churches today ascribe to this most horrible doctrine of hell for infants when they die. Due to error teaching of many church fathers like John Calvin many people are taught that sin of the parents are passed from one generation to the next. Somehow honest loving Christians believe that Children inherit the sins of their parents. Yet the Bible is very clear that this is just not true! One more time in case you missed this “The Bible is very clear that this is just not true!”The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself. Ezekiel 18:20(NASB)The big problem those that teach God send infants to hell is that they overlook who God is, and more important the fact the only thing God can’t do is stop being God.God is Just.
The Bible teaches a number of times that God's punishment is on the guilty but nowhere is scripture does it say God's wrath is on the guiltless or innocent. It is God’s Justice that save Lot and his family. God would not destroy the whole city of Sodom if there was even one innocent. Because God is Just! He would not destroy the thousands of wicked in Sodom for the sake of the four innocent, because God is Just. Yet we are to believe that God will send an innocent child to and infinite damnation because he was not able to make a decision for Christ?
God’s Grace Abounds (Romans 5:20)
The Second reason I believe that we got it all wrong is because God's Grace Abounds this is the truth of the Gospel, That where sin abound God’s Grace Much More Abounds. But to say that God sends infants to hell is saying, that the very same God that devised this plan to step out of eternity, and become the sacrifice for us that we could in no way provide for ourselves, who while we were still in our sin, was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: and took the chastisement of our peace upon himself; Hung on a cross lay in the earth dead for three days and rose up again so that He could reconcile us no good sinners back to Himself. This God that devised this great plan could not, or did not want to show his Grace on innocent children?
- Again to a
lesser degree I see how God dealing with those that willingly rebel against
him is not the same as with those that cannot discern their rebellion. In 1 Kings 14, when
God speaks to Jeroboam through the prophet Alijah he tells Jeroboam
of the humiliating deaths that his whole family will experience. Some will
die in the streets of the city and their body will be eaten by stray dogs,
and others in country and the wild birds will consume the flesh from their
bones. But God makes an exception for Jeroboam’s infant son, giving him an
upright and honorable burial before the people (1Kings
14:10-13) Now even though the child still dies, he is
spared the judicial punishment of those that willingly rebelled against
God.
Your Brother in Christ
T.Charves FireSpeaks
[1] There is no such thing as dispensation of
accountability, but for lack of another term I have called it that in this example. funny thing is that after much study I found there is something called the Age of accountability which is very much like what I called the dispensation of accountability ( though I do not agree on all points)