I’ve often wondered whether children, when they die before accepting Christ, go to Heaven anyways. I mean won’t Jesus take pity on those little children and take them to Heaven? I used to like to think so, until I read a scripture in Genesis 8. God is promising Noah that He will never flood the earth again. The bible says:
21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though [a] every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. (genesis 8:21)
Read the part about ‘every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.’ So does that mean that people are evil and have to be taught to be good? So does that mean that God would send young children to hell because they’re evil? Its hard to say…
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6 comments:
hey man- great idea to set up a blog for open forum discussion on these things. i hope that the engagement in dialogue that ensues is meaningful...
but, you know, even if nobody writes anything in your comment boxes, you are still working through the questions in your own journey and if writing is part of your process then your objectives are already being met- everything else is blessed gravy.
as for the questions of afterlife and who goes where, it is important to remember that God is holy and God is good and God is just and God does what is right.
sounds like a pat answer- perhaps it is. however, it is of great comfort to me to hold to this truth- recognizing that whereas there are many details i can't work out, the default is set to acknowledgement that God isn't a passive agressive, 'talk-to-the-hand' diety, nor is God a powermad jerk.
it may help to look at it this way: God's creativity in problem-solving is expressed in God's plan of salvation- God seeks to redeem, not to damn.
the really great (or awful, depending on your perspective) thing about it is that God makes these cosmic overtures to us in the revealed word and the incarnation of Christ to be administered by the Holy Spirit, but leaves the choice up to us as to what we will do with all that's been done.
my answer to your thoughtful question is predictably 'unstable' (in a balancing act kinda way):
in the absense of a freewill decision, God is holy and just and good and will do the right thing.
i think that this is what is meant by the grace of God.
bless you as you seek truth.
Great blog...Kaleb and very challenging questions...I will do some soul searching before I post an answer...love you Granny
There's an interesting verse that relates to this discussion. Let me find it, and I'll post it on here...By the way, really cool blog!
I Corinthians 7:18 says this, "For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy." This seems to say that the children of Christian parents are sanctified in some way, meaning that they would go to heaven - if they died before they could make a decision about Christ. What do you think?
I've been thinking about this question for long enough...I need to write my feelings. I've been trying to find the verse I know is there somewhere. It talks about children going to heaven. When I find it I'll write it. But, in the meantime, here are my thoughts. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23. The word all doesn't exclude anyone. However, God loves the little children. I believe there is an age of accountabilty. It isn't the same for each child because each child developes at his/her own rate or speed. There does seem to be an age when a child knows right from wrong and has an understanding of sin. If a child dies before that time I have to believe he/she goes to heaven. Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Matt.19:14 I may be wrong but that verse sounds like when we, who are born again, die and go to heaven we become innocent as a little child. I'll keep looking for the verse I mentioned at the beginning of this little grandma discourse!
I want to believe that little children go to heaven, but I also want to find the truth.
I do really really hope that kids go to heaven Grandma!
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