How about babies, children, those of diminished capacity... are they 'heavenbound'?

The day before Thanksgiving November 2006 our daughter gave birth to our 6th grandchild - her fourth son. He died 45 minutes after he was born. There was no 'reason' for this tragedy - no answers have been forthcoming as to why this happened. She and her husband are believers. They didn't do anything 'wrong' that anyone can think of.

I say all that to share with you the attack that comes on you when you experience 'things' that cause you to take a deeper look at your faith and why you believe what you do and how to reconcile it all with the reality of the actual experience/circumstance you are facing.

The Christians that tried to offer words of comfort said things like "He's in a better place now." "God needed another angel in heaven." "He's in heaven with Jesus waiting for you." All of the people who offered these words are Christians. None of them realize the questions that resulted from these comments.

We believe that one must make a profession of faith to heavenbound. With that said, the question came up as to how a baby (or someone of diminished capacity) would 'make heaven' if they didn't make a profession of faith. When the questions were verbalized we received all sorts of answers - none of which could be solidly backed up with scripture to our satisfaction - they always produced either another question or a conflict with a previously held belief (or understanding) of the Word.

It boils down to a couple of things. First, do you believe that people are born spiritually dead and remain so until they make a profession of faith? Or, do you believe that we are not born spiritually dead but somewhere along the way we die spiritually and remain in that condition until we make that profession of faith and are born again? At least, for us, this was the starting point, and where the rubber met the road for the desperate need to be able to back up our faith with the Word of God or it was all in vain.

If you are born spiritually dead, then anyone who dies without making a profession of faith goes to hell. Period. End of story. No exceptions for any reason because God is not a respector of persons.

If you are not born spiritually dead, then at what point does one die spiritually in order to need to be born again?

For me, personally, I believe that we are not born spiritually dead. I believe that our spirit is alive to God from the moment of conception. (That includes every single conception - diminished capacity or not.)

So, the next question is - when does one die spiritually?

Well, there were many people who offered the 'age of accountability' theory. However, they couldn't give any scripture to back it up. All they could offer is that they couldn't believe God would allow a child or someone unable to confess Christ (diminished capacity, infant, etc.) to go to hell. They gave the example of David and Bathsheba's son who died after he was born and how David said he would go to his son but his son wouldn't be able to come to him. However, that didn't satisfy the questions.

Then I was reading, unintentionally, Genesis. I noted that Adam and Eve were alive spiritually to God. Adam was told that they could eat the fruit of any tree of the garden except from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He was told that the day they eat of it they will surely die. (Since they didn't die physically, one assumes He was saying spiritually. A study for a different day...)

As you know the story goes... then Eve was tempted and deceived and she ate from that tree and gave to her husband who was with her and he did eat also.

What happened at this point is they 'sinned' against God's commandment and died spiritually when they ate from that tree. Until that moment, they only knew GOOD. Once they sinned/disobeyed God, they then knew EVIL. Now they have the KNOWLEDGE of good and evil. And because of that, the sin has passed from Adam through each generation since.

This is where, I believe, the 'age of accountability' comes in. This is why I believe that babies, children, and those of diminished capacity go to heaven. They would never come to that KNOWLEDGE of good and evil. I also believe that each person comes to that place at different times. (That there is no set 'age'... it is just as individual as being born again is.) I believe, because of the example of Adam and Eve, that we all come to a point where we have the 'knowledge of good and evil' and it is at that point that we are now accountable to God to receive the salvation He has provided for us through His Son Jesus Christ or to reject it all. Up until then, however, I believe we are all heavenbound.

I'm hoping that I'm communicating 'the why's and how's of my faith' with regard to justification for babies, children, and people of diminished capacity. I'm not always able to put into words in a way others can understand so I apologize, in advance, if I'm simply blithering and not making much sense.

I do take comfort also in the words of Jesus as He said, "Let it be to you according to your faith." In or out of context, I afford myself the room to believe - according to my faith - that it is so that I don't afford myself the temptation to think wrongly of my Lord. Does that make sense? Its not as if I just flippantly decided that 'this is how it is' without having sought out counsel through His Word, prayer, and godly people... so if I'm wrong I'm wrong!

It would seem that tragedy brings with it so many questions that may take a lifetime to find the answer to... or that we never find the answers to! But it is a life of faith that we live... and we walk by faith, not by sight.