Children And Salvation

[TheSword]

Would we hold a 4-5 year old child accountable for murder if he took a loaded pistol and shot and killed his father??  He may be acting out something he saw on TV.

How do we deal with someone who may have been borne with a mental problem of not being able to grasp reality.

 

I think that's an invalid comparison because God is the one that decides when someone is accountable. Man's judgment is inherently flawed and inconsistent.

 

With the mentally handicapped, I would think they would be held accountable according to their mental capacity. If it has nothing to do with an age number and all about understanding, then someone who is 30 years old but has the mind of a 3 yr old only understands as a 3 yr old and wouldn't treated as such. Maybe...?

[Bro K]

I think that's an invalid comparison because God is the one that decides when someone is accountable. Man's judgment is inherently flawed and inconsistent.

 

With the mentally handicapped, I would think they would be held accountable according to their mental capacity. If it has nothing to do with an age number and all about understanding, then someone who is 30 years old but has the mind of a 3 yr old only understands as a 3 yr old and wouldn't treated as such. Maybe...?

Its valid because it is showing a comparison between the two: God and Man

God determines the age of accountable for the salvation of the soul.

Man determines the age of accountable for the crime of the individual.

[TheSword]

Its valid because it is showing a comparison between the two: God and Man

God determines the age of accountable for the salvation of the soul.

Man determines the age of accountable for the crime of the individual.

 

I think I see what you're saying now, but how are you connecting the two? I guess I'm not understanding you point.

[no name joe]

I suppose I'd say yes to some of that...? (I'm scratching my head too) They're unaccountable because they don't understand. However, we are accountable because we do kow. The Bible is clear that the saved Christian doesn't get away with sin (Heb 12:6-8) so is therefore still accountable for it, even though is not culpable in the judgement.

 

With children, I think I'd say they are "kept" until they can reasonably understand at which point they recognize their sinful state and either become lost or saved. It brings to mind Genesis 3. Adam and Even were naked before they ate the fruit and sinned. Only after they sinned did they understand that being naked was not a good thing, which was affirmed by God when he made them clothes out of animal skin. Only after they came to understand that it was bad were they accountable. I understand it to be the same with children.

So is one saved until they affirmatively reject a calling from Christ...until that moment that when they understand and know they need to follow Christ but reject it?  Even if you don't call it that, it sure sounds that way.  I do agree with you, that God's grace covers young children who do not understand.

But how do you reconcile that with the fact we are all born sinners?  Is the story of Adam and Eve someone a representation of us all?  We are born innocent, though with a capacity and propensity to do evil, and then when we understand, and we see and understand, we must then affirmatively put our faith in Christ. At some point, all of us will be tempted and lured by evil, just as Eve was.  Just as Adam and Eve realized their nakedness, we all at some point realize our disobedience to God. 

[GraceSaved]

Here are some encouraging verses.

 

Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

 

Mark 10:15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.

 

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.

[GraceSaved]

Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

 

Even children can do this.  Children sometimes can believe this better than adults.

[Standing Firm In Christ]

I agree with you on this.  But this leads to a further question.  How do you reconcile this with we are born with a sinful nature?  If a child who is not yet capable of understanding will go to heaven, through the grace of God, is that child "saved?"  Or is that child innocent due to an incapacity to understand and thus accepted by God by grace.  In other words, at a very young age, is it possible for a child to be "lost?"
 
If a child in not accountable and will go to heaven, isn't that the same as us being "unaccountable" for our sin since we put our faith in Christ and because he was the one who took payment for our actions?  
I'm still scratching my head on this, and will likely always be.

Psalms 58:3 (KJV) 3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.

[John81]

Scripture says there is one One Way. Do we believe this or does it mean something else?

[GraceSaved]

Deuteronomy 1:39 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.

 

Children are innocent and not capable of discerning good and evil nor can they make a decision to accept or reject salvation.

[John81]

If you have children or have been around children much at all you know that at a very young age they clearly know the difference between good and evil.

 

That verse from Deuteronomy wasn't speaking specifically of little children anyway, but to all of their children 20 years old and younger, who had no say in whether or not the Hebrews entered Canaan.

[GraceSaved]

Psalm 22:10 I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother's belly.

 

Psalms 103:17 But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children's children;

[John81]

These verses have nothing to do with salvation. Read them in context.

 

Although I have heard some "Calvinists" use the Psalm 22 verse as one of the verses proving their claim of predestination.

[GraceSaved]

Romans 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

 

The unpardonable sin is rejecting Christ.  Children, the unborn, or mentally handicapped cannot commit the unpardonable sin since they don't have the capacity to make that decision.

[GraceSaved]

Proverbs 3:21-22 My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.

 

We can use our common sense on this issue.

[John81]

Do we *know* that the Holy Ghost can't appeal to the unborn or a child or a person who is mentally handicapped, in such a way they may make a response known only to God?