The thread was closed before I could conclude. This is a long post, and I hate making long posts, because they don't get read. Skip to the last two paragraphs for a direct answer to the question.
Honestly, once one thinks it through, and realizes how ludicrous it is to think of the spirit as a baby-shaped ghost in either heaven or hell, doesn't it placate our carnal sense of justice a bit? Doesn't one realize one might have been too harsh in his condemnation of God? (Because that's who's really being blamed, isn't it?) In all honesty, that spirit is "bowing the knee," so to speak, and acknowledging God's righteous judgment. His thoughts are not toward his mommy and daddy, wondering where they are to comfort him and save him from torment if that's where he is.
When one gets a glimpse at the heart of a little child, then it's much easier to think of them as monsters. Just ask any mother whose child is bullied by another child in the day care. To hear the talk about the bullies and their mothers would shock you. I'm surprised Psalm 137:9 isn't on a bumper sticker somewhere. But then, to hear the bully's mother defend him—insanity is the only description that even comes close.
On earth where there is law, marriage, birth, death, infants, adults, young and old, ignorance and learning, etc. Justice is of one kind. It's administrated by men. In heaven where there are none of those things, justice is of a different kind. It's administrated by God. On earth, we take into account one's age and cognition, as well we should, though that is little comfort to the victims. In heaven one is either whole or corrupt. There is no mitigating circumstance.
On earth, where we look on the outward appearance, we see an innocent. But God looks on the heart, and He sees the reign of death. Corruption.
Salvation is only by grace through faith. So the question is, how does an infant respond in faith? The same way we do. If we think that our brains and learning and carnal communication skills has anything to do with our ability to respond in faith, we're deceiving ourselves. We're told straight out that these things are spiritually discerned.
But even so, there is a tremendous assumption that infants have no capacity to discern even carnal things. What learning did John the Baptist have when he lept for joy in Elisabeth's womb at the sound of Mary's greeting? There are only two possibilities. 1) John the Baptist knew it by nature, which means that infants are capabable of much more discernment than we Darwinists give them credit for, or 2) That it was revealed to him by the Spirit of God, which means that an infant can respond in faith, for the natural man receiveth not the things of God.
The answer to your question is, JUST children who placed faith in Jesus get saved. Men look on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. The great objection to the idea that an infant can be condemned doesn't spring from a spiritual view of justice, but a carnal one. When one thinks of children or infants in heaven or hell, they're not thinking of spirits, they're thinking of children and infants, and herein is the critical flaw. Is the spirit ignorant? Is it a baby-shaped ghost with a peurile mentality cooing and giggling as it's passed from angel to angel? And in the end, when the body is resurrected, is it resurrected a child or an infant?JesusFan said:
Honestly, once one thinks it through, and realizes how ludicrous it is to think of the spirit as a baby-shaped ghost in either heaven or hell, doesn't it placate our carnal sense of justice a bit? Doesn't one realize one might have been too harsh in his condemnation of God? (Because that's who's really being blamed, isn't it?) In all honesty, that spirit is "bowing the knee," so to speak, and acknowledging God's righteous judgment. His thoughts are not toward his mommy and daddy, wondering where they are to comfort him and save him from torment if that's where he is.
When one gets a glimpse at the heart of a little child, then it's much easier to think of them as monsters. Just ask any mother whose child is bullied by another child in the day care. To hear the talk about the bullies and their mothers would shock you. I'm surprised Psalm 137:9 isn't on a bumper sticker somewhere. But then, to hear the bully's mother defend him—insanity is the only description that even comes close.
On earth where there is law, marriage, birth, death, infants, adults, young and old, ignorance and learning, etc. Justice is of one kind. It's administrated by men. In heaven where there are none of those things, justice is of a different kind. It's administrated by God. On earth, we take into account one's age and cognition, as well we should, though that is little comfort to the victims. In heaven one is either whole or corrupt. There is no mitigating circumstance.
On earth, where we look on the outward appearance, we see an innocent. But God looks on the heart, and He sees the reign of death. Corruption.
Salvation is only by grace through faith. So the question is, how does an infant respond in faith? The same way we do. If we think that our brains and learning and carnal communication skills has anything to do with our ability to respond in faith, we're deceiving ourselves. We're told straight out that these things are spiritually discerned.
But even so, there is a tremendous assumption that infants have no capacity to discern even carnal things. What learning did John the Baptist have when he lept for joy in Elisabeth's womb at the sound of Mary's greeting? There are only two possibilities. 1) John the Baptist knew it by nature, which means that infants are capabable of much more discernment than we Darwinists give them credit for, or 2) That it was revealed to him by the Spirit of God, which means that an infant can respond in faith, for the natural man receiveth not the things of God.
