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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | IS there any answers out there? | NT general Archive 1 | Reformer Joe | 98544 | ||
You wrote: 'What is he on about? I was asked a simple enough question, " when a child dies, in the age of innocence, where does the soul go and how can the soul return to Heaven if sin is not allowed into the presence of Holy God? The word I was researching was," Limbo" the Catholic doctrine that is their answer, what is ours?' The confession that my denomination adheres to answers the question thusly: "Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated, and saved by Christ, through the Spirit, who works when, and where, and how He pleases: so also are all other elect persons who are incapable of being outwardly called by the ministry of the Word." --Westminster Confession of Faith 10.3 --Joe! |
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2 | IS there any answers out there? | NT general Archive 1 | Hank | 98546 | ||
Joe - It's been some time since I did a systematic study of WCF and I forget the precise definition of 'elect infants' in 10.3. Can you help? BTW, you're back from your summer at Vandy I presume? --Hank | ||||||
3 | IS there any answers out there? | NT general Archive 1 | Reformer Joe | 98555 | ||
"It's been some time since I did a systematic study of WCF and I forget the precise definition of 'elect infants' in 10.3." Well, I think that this paragraph is intentionally vague, since there isn't a lot in the "source material" (i.e. the Holy Scriptures) on an "age of accountability." It is based on covenant theology, which holds that children of believers (esp. those who are baptized) are "set apart" from the world by virtue of their parents' belief and commitment to raise them as followers of Christ. Those who hold to this understanding look to passages such as Deuteronomy 6, with its attendant blessings and curses, and Acts 2:39 with its promises to the promises to believers and their children. At the end, we know that the infant is not cognitively capable of a reasoning faith in Christ. We also know that no one comes into this world "innocent." However, we also know that the infant is not cognitively capable of committing reasoning acts of sin, and we can see from examples like David and Bathsheba's first child that at least some infants go to heaven. I think it would be going too far outside the bounds of Scripture to conclude that EVERY dead baby is therefore carried up to heaven (since God does work covenantally, in my view, what about those who fell under God's judgment when He has the Israelites kill them along with their Baal-worshipping parents?), but we cannot say much more than the Westminster guys did when they said that "the Spirit...works when, and where, and how He pleases." --Joe! |
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