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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Child may go to hell | Acts 4:12 | ronbur | 176057 | ||
I have a Preacher Say that if a childs parents have never been saved.That if the child dies it will go to Hell .Does anyone have a response to this outlandish statement??????? | ||||||
2 | Child may go to hell | Acts 4:12 | BigJohnUkraine | 176063 | ||
That's an interesting position. A key question to ask him is, "Why do you believe that is true?" "From where in the Bible do you derive this?" The implication is that if a child's parents are believers and the child dies, it goes to heaven. That would mean that a child's eternal destiny is determined by the will of his parents. This is unthinkable, that one person determines the eternal destiny of another. Another question for this person would be, "What if the parents become Christians later?" What if just one parent is a Christian or eventually becomes a Christian? Even if he could find a place in the Bible where it infers that the faith of the parents determines eternity for a child who dies in infancy--which he cannot--he will by no means be able to point to a Scripture and answer these other questions. Yet, the question, "Where does a child who dies in infancy go?" is a great question. Unfortunately, we are not give much to go on for that. The best example is the death of the child born to David through his immoral relationship with Bathsheeba. In his prayer he states, referring to the child, "You will not return to me, but I will go to you." The question could be broadened to encompass mentally handicapped individuals who appear to be unable to understand the things of God. What I always come back to for these questions is the Cross of Christ, because I am convinced that it is the place where the character of God is most clearly revealed. If He, being God, suffered and died to purchase my pardon because of His love for me, the unloveable, then I can trust His character and know that He will do what is noble reqarding difficult questions such as these. I would be interested in hearing what this pastor has to say when asked to prove his position from the Scriptures. With all due respect, though, this is not a position that seems to have been arrived at after a great deal of study and thought. I hope this helps. |
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3 | Child may go to hell | Acts 4:12 | DocTrinsograce | 176071 | ||
Dear John, Very well written, sir. We have another instance in Scripture in addition to the one you cited from 2 Samuel 12:23. The clear prenatal salvation of John the Baptist as evidenced in Luke 1:41. The persuasive weakness of these passages, however, is that neither is truly didactic, but both are statements couched within narratives. (Granted, from a certain perspective, the 2 Samuel verse might be argued to be didactic.) Consequently, they may give rise to interesting speculation, but they would, at best, give only a tenuous foundation for sound Biblical doctrine. That is why I didn't mention them in my post to Ron. But I did want to comment on your assertion that "this is not a position that seems to have been arrived at after a great deal of study and thought." A cursory study of Christian history will reveal that the belief mentioned by the preacher in Ron's post was held by men like Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, John Owen, Thomas Cranmer, Matthew Henry, Jonathan Edwards, Robert Lewis Dabney, A. A. Hodge, J. Gresham Machen, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and Francis Schafer. Modern proponents of this position -- if I properly understand it -- would include Doctors J. I. Packer, R. C. Sproul, Rod Rosenbladt, John Frame, and D. James Kennedy. (It is a doctrine that is held by Lutherans, Presbyterians, and Anglicans -- to name a few.) As an historic Baptist I do not fully share the covenantal position of my Reformed brethren. However, the amount of "study and thought" on Biblical matters by those mentioned in the previous paragraph is truly staggering -- and they are only the ones that came immediately to my mind as I wrote this post! We may not embrace their position on this issue, but we do exceedingly err in suggesting that such men, renowned for their scholarship and faith, had not arrived at their positions without a very great deal of careful deliberation! :-) In Him, Doc |
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4 | Child may go to hell | Acts 4:12 | BigJohnUkraine | 176078 | ||
You bring up a good point. I appreciate the clarification. There certainly are those who reach such a conclusion through careful and diligent study, and the do deserve my respect. However, I am wearied by many others in our day who loudly proclaim positions which they affirm from association rather than investigation. I jumped to a conclusion in assuming that the person being referred to in the post was in this genre. Thanks for calling me on that. |
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