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HOUSMAIL
HM127 16
March 2007 WHAT
HAPPENS TO CHILDREN WHO DIE BEFORE "THE AGE OF ACCOUNTABILITY"? This
is a very emotional question for those who have lost a child before it could
reach the "age of accountability” and make a personal choice to accept
the Gospel. It is a question which has plagued the Church since its very
early days. In
what follows please understand that I am VERY sensitive towards the feelings
of grief that are experienced by bereaved parents who have lost children
before they could have an opportunity to accept the Gospel. And I understand
completely their desire to believe that there might be hope for the salvation
of their children at the resurrection. So
it is with some trepidation that I present a view that does not accommodate
this. Please accept the friendship I offer which dares to say things honestly
as I believe them, rather than as you might like to hear them. If I did the
latter, I would join the "ear ticklers". (2 Timothy 4:3) And you will
understand I am sure, that as a friend, I may not do that. For
members of Mainstream Churches, the problem has its origin in the doctrine of
the "Immortality of the Soul". If humans are born inherently
immortal, it logically follows that they must perforce also have an eternal
living destiny of some sort. Questions
about the destiny of children arise from the clear Gospel insistence that
there are only two possible destinies. Mark 16:16 says that those who believe the Gospel, and are baptised, will
be saved, but those who do not believe will be condemned. People who believe
that the dead are not really dead, but still alive somewhere, for ever, will
have an understandable concern about what might be happening to their
deceased children who never had an opportunity to accept the Gospel. Many
early Church theologians, followed Augustine, (AD354-430) who taught that
children who die unbaptised, are condemned to eternal torment in the fires of
Hell. Others have taught that unbaptised children who die "morally
innocent", are admitted immediately to heaven without being required to
meet the normal Gospel conditions. Within the Catholic Church others less
severe than Augustine have taught that unbaptised children are denied access
to Heaven, and admitted to an intermediate state, just outside Hell, where
they are free from punishment. From the middle ages on, this intermediate
state came to be known by the name "Limbo ". (Note
however that the Catholic Church has recently discarded this LIMBO teaching
in favour of "hope that unbaptised infants will be saved and enjoy
the beatific vision" (in Heaven) (Catholic News Apr-20-2007) Today
one encounters at least FOUR common opinions in the mainstream Churches.
THE
FIRST TWO – HEAVEN OR HELL? The
first two options above depend on belief in the "Immortality of the
Soul". They fall down when we begin to understand that this doctrine
is not found in the Bible. I
am not going to write a treatise here about "Conditional Immortality".
That is a subject in its own right. If you want to study it further for
yourself, there is plenty of good material available to help you. For this
present paper we will start from the assumption that you already know about
it. The following brief summary will remind us why neither of these first two
options can be true. First, death is NOT the conscious existence of an immortal soul. It
is a state of complete nonexistence, in which the dead know nothing, (Ecclesiastes 9:5) and experience
nothing. (Psalm 88:10-12, Psalm 115:17) Second, the reward of the righteous is ON EARTH – NOT IN HEAVEN! (Matthew 5:5) No one (except
Jesus) has gone to heaven. (John 3:13, Acts 2:34) Third, the Bible teaches clearly that immortality is conditional,
received only by the righteous at the resurrection which is to take place at
the second coming of Christ. (John 5:29, And
Fourth, the punishment of sin is NOT endless life in
torment. It is the SECOND DEATH, a cessation of all conscious existence, to
be inflicted at the judgment when Christ returns. The
most important conclusion from this is that NO ONE, especially deceased
children, is currently suffering torment in Hell! But then neither
are they in Heaven. If there is to be any comfort at all for grieving
parents, it must come from knowing what the Bible really does say about the
destiny of both children and adults, who die without having an opportunity to
accept the Gospel. THE
THIRD OPTION – UNIVERSALISM The
third option above, Universalism, is also not found in the Bible. Indeed, if
I may speak freely between friends, I believe it to be a FALSE GOSPEL
offering a FALSE HOPE of salvation. Its worst feature is that it suggests
that people may deliberately choose to reject the Gospel in this life, live a
life of debauchery, and yet still be saved after being raised from the dead
to experience further "training". I cannot find that in the
Scriptures at all. Universalism
simply can't be true! It contradicts other Scriptures which clearly say that
on the Day of Judgment MANY will be condemned and thrown into the Lake of
Fire, (Matthew 25:41, Revelation 20:15) where they will
suffer the punishment of "everlasting destruction from the presence of
the Lord". (2 Thessalonians 1:9) THE
FOURTH OPTION – SIMPLY TRUST Of
course, "Trust" is always the ONLY answer for every problem where
we don't have a clear Bible answer! However, this is a case where
"trust" means living with unanswered questions about the first two
options above. That would be very hard, perhaps even impossible. Who could
ever really "trust" a God who might behave so unjustly as to
"judge" and "condemn" an "innocent"
child to the terrors of the "Lake of Fire"? Is it
"justice" to inflict such terrible punishment on someone who never
had an opportunity to meet the Gospel conditions for salvation? If
that is what "trust" means, we are NOT talking about the God who
reveals Himself to us through Jesus! REAL
"trust" requires a Biblical foundation – NOT a false hope
for something which contradicts the Bible. And that means we must rule out
all of the three options above. However, we still need a Biblical foundation
for "trust" that does not leave us in fearful uncertainty about the
character of God, and the fate of children who die before reaching an "age
of accountability". I
believe the Bible does offer something much more comforting than either the
crushing fear from the first option discussed above, or the false hope
offered by the second and third. It is an answer which neither maligns the
justice of God, nor breaches the conditions on which the Gospel offers
salvation. More about that below. WHAT
IS THE ETERNAL DESTINY OF CHILDREN WHO DIE IN INFANCY? The
simple fact is that the Bible contains no explicit statement about the
eternal destiny of children who die in infancy, before reaching an age of
accountability. This of course accounts for the several widely differing
FALSE speculative views, discussed above. Many have gone beyond the
Scriptures to offer a false hope which tickles "itching ears". (2 Timothy 4:3) There
is however certainly a clear statement about STILLBORN children. In Job 10:18-22, we are explicitly
told that stillborn infants NEVER SAW LIGHT. I understand this to be a Jewish
way of saying they NEVER EXISTED. Their life never began. They never left the
darkness of nonexistence. Resurrection
is the recreation of a person who had a previous existence. And I conclude
from that, that there will be no resurrection of something that has never
existed. If something never existed, there is nobody to raise, and no eternal
destiny to speculate about. For
children who do survive birth, we are left to derive prayerful, but
nevertheless speculative, conclusions based on other less than explicit
information. We must refer to other verses which define some general
principles about the Gospel, and the conditions on which salvation is
offered, and what will happen at the resurrection and judgment. ACCOUNTABILITY Any
thought of infants being held accountable for what they never had a chance to
learn, is completely unacceptable. God is not like that at all! The
term "age of accountability" is NOT found in the Bible.
However, the CONCEPT is certainly there. For instance, there is a strong hint
of an unspecified age of accountability in Isaiah
7:16, which says that there is a time when a child
becomes able to "know how to refuse the evil and choose the good". On
another occasion, when the children of Israel were banned from entering the
promised land, only those over the age of 20 were rejected. All under the age
of 20, were not held responsible for the actions of the older generation. (Numbers 14:26-35) I
certainly don't believe that this incident can be used to say that those
under 20 were saved to inherit the everlasting Kingdom of the future. All
they got was an entry to the promised land in their own time. Their lives
were still under probation for any eternal inheritance which lies beyond the
resurrection and judgment. From the record of their subsequent behaviour, it
is clear that at the Judgment, some of them will inherit the eternal Kingdom,
and some will not. Nor
do I believe that this incident should be made into a "doctrine"
that 20 is an arbitrary LEGAL age for responsibility! Experience ought to
tell us that this age can vary widely for different children. And experience
should also tell us that we can't always clearly discern the time when the
line is crossed! What we can safely say is that infants only a few weeks or a
few years old, have definitely not reached the age of accountability. BUT
for the rest of us, God does know when that age is reached. And
that is the important issue. The fate of the dead is in God's hands - NOT
ours. God won't get it wrong! Nor will He judge or punish the ignorant for
failing to do what they never knew. (Acts 17:30) God isn't like that at all! We
should be trusting Him to make the right decision about that -- and we
shouldn't let any strong emotional feelings or concern about deceased loved
ones get in the way of our complete TRUST about that. In any case, worry
about the possible fate of our deceased loved ones is futile. We cannot
change anything. Far better to direct our energies to other important issues
about the living, especially ourselves! DOES
LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY EQUATE TO SALVATION? There
is NO Bible verse that says lack of accountability offers any assurance of
salvation. In Acts 17:30 Paul
says clearly that it is only after ignorance is dispelled that men are
accountable to judgment for their failure to obey the call to repent. The
Gospel is unequivocal. To hear and believe and obey the Gospel is to be
saved. To believe it not, is to be condemned. (Mark
16:16) And that must surely mean that those who
never hear it, and are thus unable to believe it, CANNOT be saved. BUT
what does "condemned" mean in such cases? It certainly cannot mean
that they are to be punished or tormented for
their lack of opportunity. That would not be just at all. And it does not fit
at all with the character of God revealed in the Scriptures. ONLY
TWO CLASSES AT THE JUDGMENT In
the Bible passages which describe the judgment, there are only two classes,
both of which are accountable for their choices in this life and judged
accordingly. The righteous inherit the Kingdom. The wicked are condemned. All
are to be judged according to their works! However,
although there is no "not accountable" third class
amongst those raised for judgment, the Bible certainly does speak about a
third class who will NOT rise from the dead to be judged. A
THIRD CLASS NOT AT THE JUDGMENT? I
do not believe that the Scriptures teach UNIVERSAL resurrection of every
single man woman and child who has ever lived. Isaiah
says clearly that there are some who will NEVER rise from the dead. "They are
dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore,
hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish" (Isaiah 26:14) Jeremiah
says the same thing. "I will make drunk her princes, and her
wise men, her captains, and her rulers, and her mighty men: and they shall
sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is the
LORD of hosts." (Jeremiah 51:57) Psalm
49:20 says, "Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish." Beasts do not rise for judgment - neither do these men who do
not understand. They have simply perished like beasts. It
would seem that any who have died without reaching an age of accountability
might be in this category. WHAT
DOES THE GOSPEL OFFER? The
Gospel authorises us to speak of ONLY TWO classes.
Acceptance
of the Gospel requires:
There
is NOTHING in the Gospel which speaks of any third class who will be saved on
other terms. IS
GOD UNFAIR TO LET CHILDREN PERISH WITHOUT OPPORTUNITY? If
that is what God does, it can never be UNFAIR! There will ALWAYS be a just
and fair reason for God's decisions. Nor
can we really say that the child had no opportunity. Does the death of a
child take God by surprise? Is it a mere accident over which He has no
control? "See now that I, even I, am he, and
there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal:
neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand." (Deuteronomy 32:39) That
means that NO ONE lives a moment longer or dies a moment sooner than God
permits! Further,
Jesus says that NONE of those who the Father has given into his keeping can
be lost, unless they are "sons of perdition" like Judas. (John 17:12) And if the day of
salvation is only for this life, (2 Corinthians 6:2) that means that any who die without coming to an age of
accountability must not be included in that number who are "kept
safe". Is
that unfair? Of course not. God knows what is in the heart of a man. And God
also knows the names of those written in the book of life. We can be certain
that if God lets anyone die without growing to an age of accountability, or
hearing the Gospel, He has already determined that for reasons best known to
Himself, they would not respond. There has been no "lost
opportunity". If
we take a little time to think about it from the point of view of a God who
knows ALL, including the future, there may well be other reasons why some are
taken prematurely. In
what follows please don't misunderstand me! I am not entering into judgment
of any particular child of believing parents, who might have died before
reaching an age of accountability. I simply don't know what God knows about
each individual case. We don't have to spend time heart aching over things we
do not know! All I am trying to do is present a broader view of God's
involvement in His creation, which might increase our trust in His infinite
ability to get things right. It
might be, for instance, that God has spared believing parents the untold
grief and suffering they would have experienced if the child had lived long
enough to contract a painful incurable illness lasting many long years. In
such a case an early death would be an be an expression of God's love for the
believing parents, and act of great mercy for the child, wouldn't it? Sometimes
children are born, who if God had been obeyed, would NEVER have come into
existence. The case of the child of David and Bathsheba is one such. David's
murder of Uriah, his adultery with Bathsheba, and the birth of the child from
their illicit union, had given "great occasion for blasphemy"
on the part of God's enemies. Was
God acting unfairly to the child? Never! Of course, it doesn't happen to
every child born in that situation, through no fault of its own. But might
not something like that still happen sometimes in other cases? Then
there is the almost unthinkable anguish of the parents of the monster who
just a few days ago, took the lives of those 32 college students in USA.
Would not any believing parent far rather that their child was taken before
he lived long enough to do something like that? "The most High
ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to
whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the
basest of men." (Daniel 4:17) If,
as Daniel says in the quote above, God gives the kingdom to some, it also
means He withholds it from others. Perhaps a person is taken early because
they might have become another Hitler, who cannot be permitted to have any
place at all in God's creation. What believer would want their child to live
to become a monster like Hitler? Or Idi Amin? Or Pol Pot? If they had that
potential, would we not rather that God took them before it could happen?
Would we not count it a blessing for both the child and the parents, and also
for the many millions of people they might otherwise oppress? WHAT
HAPPENS TO CHILDREN ALIVE AT THE SECOND COMING, BUT NOT YET ACCOUNTABLE? The
Scripture simply does not discuss this question in specific detail. However,
there are precedents which might offer an answer. The problem is that there
are different precedents offering different possible answers! 1.
From the story of the
Flood, we learn that Noah was allowed to take his wife and family into the
ark with him. (Genesis 7:7)
All of the wicked, and their children, were utterly destroyed. 2.
When Sodom was
destroyed, the children of the wicked died with their parents, but righteous
Lot, and his wife and daughters were taken out of the city by the angels. But
we also note that Lot's wife chose to "look back" and was
destroyed. (Genesis 19:26) 3.
When the Israelites
rebelled and refused to enter the promised land, the rebel parents were
banned from entering the land and condemned to die in the wilderness, while
all children not held accountable for the rebellion of their parents, were
allowed to enter the promised land 40 years later. What
that amounts to is that there are precedents for just about anything you want
to choose! And no firm answer as to which of the three will apply. Further,
note carefully that none of these precedents offers even a glimmer of
suggestion that any children of previous generations of the righteous were
raised to participate in the limited temporal "salvation" of Noah,
or Lot, or the under 20s in the wilderness. The salvation in all of those
incidents was for this life only. It did not guarantee them immortality in
the "Age to Come". It is prophesied that just prior to the second
coming, the earth is going to suffer the same worldwide destruction as it did
in Noah's Flood – this time by fire. (2 Peter 3:8-13) Some
think that there are hints that believers will be taken to safety when this
happens. From the precedents above it might be possible to say that if there
are any children of believers alive when the fire falls, they might also be
taken to safety with their parents. But
these precedents leave little hope for the children of the wicked! It seems
more than likely that most of them might be destroyed with their parents. The
most we could say is that if there are any children of the wicked left alive
after the fire, who God does not hold accountable for the wickedness of their
parents, they will probably be included with any other adults who survive the
fire, to enter the kingdom age as mortals on probation for salvation. But
that is all speculation! We will have to wait and see. The
real message is that we should not be placing our hopes on any uncertain
SPECULATION about Old Testament precedents, which might not apply at all to
the events surrounding the second coming, and the establishment of the
everlasting Kingdom of God. Rather we should be concentrating on "working
out our own salvation in trembling and fear" (Philippians 2:12)
and fulfilling our obligation to pass on what we know to the LIVING,
including our children whose eternal future is not yet assured. ANOTHER
LOOK AT SOME VERSES OFTEN QUOTED AS "PROOF" OF THE SALVATION OF
CHILDREN 1. 2 SAMUEL 12:23 Speaking
of the child of his adulterous union with Bathsheba, David said: "But now
he is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go
to him, but he shall not return to me." Many
interpret this to mean that David expected to join the child in Heaven.
However, those who know that NO ONE goes to heaven, including this child,
also know that this interpretation is WRONG! All
David is saying is that he will one day die and go the grave where the dead
child already is, and from whence it WILL NOT BE RETURNING! Taken at face
value, David did not believe that the child is ever going to be raised from
the dead. 2. 1 CORINTHIANS 7:14 Another
verse commonly misunderstood is 1 Corinthians 7:14 "For the
unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is
sanctified by the husband; otherwise, your children would be unclean, but now
they are holy." I
do not believe that this passage has anything at all to do with SALVATION of
spouses and children of believers. Paul is answering a different question. We
don't have the exact wording of the question, but we can deduce what it must
have been, from the answer. It
must have been something like: "Should believers married to
unbelievers stay married or get divorced?" and "what is the
status of their children?" His answer concludes with: "For the unbelieving husband is sanctified
by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband;
otherwise, your children would be unclean, but now they are
holy." Note
carefully that Paul says it is NOT the status of the believing partner which
decides whether or not the children are unclean or holy! Paul says that if
the UNBELIEVING spouse is NOT "sanctified" by his
relationship with the believer, the children are "unclean".
For the children to be regarded as "holy" the unbeliever
must be "sanctified". I
think we need to see the question against its early Church background, and
the problems caused by the JUDAISERS. There were certainly Jewish believers
at Corinth, (Acts 18:1) who would have been
asking pointed questions about the status of believers married to
unbelievers. These
questions would have their origin in the Law of Moses, which forbids marriage
between Jews and non-Jews. (Deuteronomy 7:3) Such marriages were illegal and therefore NOT VALID. They were
supposed to be undone. There are Scripture "case histories" of two
separate occasions on which this happened, in Ezra
9 & 10, and Nehemiah 13:23-30. Further
the children of such unions were considered ILLEGITIMATE. The basic meaning
of the Jewish word used for it is "mongrels". (Hebrew
MAMZER) According to Thayers Greek Lexicon it
means: 1a) bastard 1b) mixed population
(fig.) 1c) born of a Jewish father and a heathen
mother or visa versa The
Law of Moses had something to say about that also. "Mamzers"
were regarded as ritually "unclean". Malachi 2:11 tells us that such
illegal unions "profaned the holiness of the LORD". and
their children were NOT a "godly seed". (V15) "Mamzers" could NEVER "enter the
congregation of the LORD". (Deuteronomy
23:2) And the same prohibition applied to their
descendants for the next 10 generations! A fearful prospect indeed. No wonder
the Corinthians were concerned! It is completely understandable that they must
have been wondering whether or not this OT law applied to the marital status
of believers in Corinth, especially the Gentiles. Were they bound by the same
law? And if so, what should they do about it? From
all this we conclude that when Paul uses similar terms to those used by
Malachi, about the spouses and children of believers married to unbelievers,
he is talking about whether or not the marriages are valid in God's sight,
and whether or not the children of such marriages are legitimate or
illegitimate. Especially, can these children have any hope of "entering
the congregation of the Lord"? His
answer to the question, is that the Corinthian marriages between believers
and unbelievers were "sanctified", (=legally valid and recognised
by God) and the children were NOT "unclean". (= illegitimate and
banned from the "congregation of the Lord") Instead they were
"holy". (=legitimate and just as acceptable to God as any
other child with TWO believing parents) IT CANNOT BE ABOUT THE SALVATION OF UNBELIEVING SPOUSES AND
CHILDREN! Could
Paul possibly be saying that unbelieving spouses can be saved, without either
faith or repentance, on the technical "legal" ground that they are
lucky enough to be married to a believer? Could
Paul possibly be saying that a child with one believing parent is saved on
the technical "legal ground" that they are lucky enough to have a
Christian mother? UNTHINKABLE!
That would make a complete mockery of the Gospel! The
Gospel offers salvation ONLY to believers. Unbelievers are
"condemned". (Mark 16:16) (Note
here that "condemned" does not necessarily mean "consigned
to punishment or torment in the lake of fire". In the case of those
who are not accountable because of lack of knowledge or opportunity, the
lesser dictionary meaning of "officially declare to be unfit for use"
would be much more appropriate) CONCLUSION There
is no specific Scripture which does say that children of believing parents
are saved without meeting the conditions imposed by the Gospel. Nor is there
any that says children of unbelieving parents are condemned to everlasting
torment in the lake of fire. Those
who want to believe either of those things, must argue from silence! However
there certainly is Scripture which provides enough information to conclude
that God does NOT hold anyone accountable for things they never had any
opportunity to hear. That includes children who die before reaching the
"Age of Accountability". The
comfort offered by the Scriptures for the grieving parents of such children,
is that they are now asleep in the grave in the same state as "infants
who never saw the light", and where "the weary are at
rest" and where even "the wicked cease from troubling".
(Job 3:16-19)
Like all men that are "in honour and understand not" they
have simply perished like the beasts and will never rise again. (Psalm 49:19-20) I
do not know why that is so for any individual case, but God does! And I know
that He has got it right! With that I am truly comforted for any who have
died in the total ignorance that God "winks at". (Acts 17:30) They will never
again rise, and they will never know that they have missed anything. Allon Finally, a quote from Hebrews 11:6 "Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that
cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he
is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." And another from Jeremiah 29:12-13 "Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will
hearken unto you. And ye shall
seek me, and find me, when ye shall
search for me with ALL your heart." And another from 2 Corinthians 6:2 "For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the
day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, NOW
is the accepted time; behold, NOW
is the day of salvation." |