What is the spiritual state of very young people?

[directory]

I have heard some Christians say that the very young are innocent– that one does not become complicit in humankind's sinful nature until one is capable of rational decision making, since only then does one begin to "choose" sin. As such, anyone who dies before "the age of reason" dies with a clean conscience. Other Christians seem to think that even infants are sinners. What's the common belief on this matter?

 

[ViaCrucis]

I have heard some Christians say that the very young are innocent– that one does not become complicit in humankind's sinful nature until one is capable of rational decision making, since only then does one begin to "choose" sin. As such, anyone who dies before "the age of reason" dies with a clean conscience. Other Christians seem to think that even infants are sinners. What's the common belief on this matter?

In Western Christianity (Catholic, Anglican, and Protestant) the concept of Original Sin means that we enter into the world inheriting the sinful disposition (concupiscience) and human nature of Adam, such that nobody is born truly "innocent", at least in the sense of being free from the stain of Sin with a capital 'S'. Infants have not yet committed personal sins, but the reality of Sin itself is present in them from which actual personal sin will arise. So that nobody is free from Sin or its insidious effects in us.

Some modern Protestant, or neo-Protestant, groups reject Original Sin; and/or believe in the concept you mention above of an "Age of Reason", but the idea that there is some magical age when a person suddenly becomes responsible for their sin is foreign both from the historic theology of the Christian West as well as the Christian East.

Eastern Christianity does not believe in Original Sin as such, but instead believes in Ancestral Sin. So rather than inheriting the sinful human nature of Adam the ancestral sin of Adam instead, in a sense, sells over all creation to sin, death and the tyranny of the devil; thus all are born in an environment in which sin is inevitable as the whole of creation has been sold over to tyranny and oppression and it effects us all.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[bling]

They are in a safe condition until they can be held accountable for their sins.

 

[GracetotheHumble]

When a baby poops his diaper do you consider him innocent or a sinner? Little children know how to be selfish and fight with their brothers and sisters.

They also scream and cry when they don't get their way. So yes they are sinners.

 

[1watchman]

The Bible is our source of truth, not the ideas of man! We are born in sin, as God says, and it is that nature He is talking about, not what one may do or fail to do in his weak and sinful nature. God would be justified in destroying all mankind, even as He did in the days of Noah, and chose to save Noah and his family (which was a type of what He is doing in this age, and a lesson for us).

Children are born sinners before our holy God, because they have the same malady that we all have from the very beginning, as God says. If they die before they have ability to acquire knowledge of the truth, or are otherwise mentally incapacitated sufficient to render them unable to discern, they cannot be held guilty, though all are procreated by man in sin. They are what they are, and God is a merciful and gracious God, and you and I do not know all of His mind, so speculation is of little help. The Bible does not give us a full answer to this.

The other consideration here is that all mankind is of the "elect" of God or not, and He alone knows by "foreknowledge" who will receive Him (even in a simple way), and who will not. Let us not hurry to make judgments beyond our knowledge.

 

[98cwitr]

They are in a safe condition until they can be held accountable for their sins.

When a baby poops his diaper do you consider him innocent or a sinner? Little children know how to be selfish and fight with their brothers and sisters.

They also scream and cry when they don't get their way. So yes they are sinners.

Do either of you have Scripture to support your position?

 

[GracetotheHumble]

Do either of you have Scripture to support your position?

There are no scriptures that come to mind but the bible does say that in Adam all die.

 

[ToBeLoved]

I'm not trying to derail your thread.

I just do not think that this is our call to make it is God's. God is the only fair and just judge.


I don't think we need to wonder about this, IMHO. God is far and just.

 

[GracetotheHumble]

The bible also says that all have sinned.

 

[ToBeLoved]

The bible also says that all have sinned.

And .....

I don't get your point?

Why does this mean we should concern ourselves and wonder if a just and righteous God will righteously and justly judge babies? Do you believe that God is the ONLY perfect and righteous and just judge?

 

[bling]

Do either of you have Scripture to support your position?

Scripture has described what just and unjust are and it would be unjust to punish a baby for sins it did not commit.

 

[1watchman]

Scripture has described what just and unjust are and it would be unjust to punish a baby for sins it did not commit.

Yes, and as I said above, God does all things righteous and well and not to be challenged. The elect will be saved, and we can be settled with that and humbly bow to God.