WashedClean said:
Hi Lotar,
Thanks for your response. But I have a couple of questions:
1. What about babies who are aborted and don't have a chance to be baptized?
2. So if a baby is baptized and dies as an infant, he/she goes to Heaven because of their baptism alone? And at what age does this "insurance" run out and the child/young adult become accountable (there's that word again) to God for their sins?
I'm sorry, but I don't understand how baptising an infant suddenly makes God "accountable" to man and insures their temporary salvation. Maybe I'm misinterpreting what you're saying. If so, please clarify.
Thank you very much!
In His Love,
WC
1. What about babies who are aborted and don't have a chance to be baptized?
Answer: Questions of this nature help to sober us to the reality that this modern, ever-distracting world we live in is serious-- life and death are real!-- and so are the consequences of sin...this life is not a game. It is not our system of fairness nor our understanding of justice that matters, it is God and Him alone. We must remember also, that God's greatest attribute is mercy and He creates and sustains faith in all of His believers. This aborted child could have heard while in the womb his/her salvation and faith most certainly could have been reckoned to the child. If the mother at anytime during the pregnancy was exposed to the Word, then there is always that hope that the child is eternally saved. God does not hand out free passes but pardons according to the righteousness of Christ. Infants surely can have faith and I believe many do! But God also promises that He will punish to the third and fourth generation of those that reject Him. All are sinful and in need of a Saviour, even those who have not yet developed the abilities to carry out sinful actions, they still are lusting for the day in which they can. The spoken Gospel will create faith, no joke, so proclaim to anyone you can, even a fetus could be listening!
2. So if a baby is baptized and dies as an infant, he/she goes to Heaven because of their baptism alone?
SALVATION: BY GRACE ALONE THROUGH FAITH ALONE IN CHRIST ALONE
Water with Word... God causes Himself (God: Father, Son, Holy Spirit) to physically be Present. He washes and cleanses you of all unrighteousness. The Holy Spirit regenerates and creates faith inside the believer.
And at what age does this "insurance" run out and the child/young adult become accountable (there's that word again) to God for their sins?
When does your insurance run out? All are accountable from conception.
Our insurance lies in the trust given to us. Trust that God's Promises apply to all who have faith, and He reckons and keeps those in faith, even in the womb. There is always chance for anyone to stray and reject Christ. You and I, able adults of sound mind and body, are probably at greater risk of losing our faith than saved children. We have full ability to perform and act on all of our sin, opposed to a child who is still learning how to carry out his/her lusts.
This question still sounds as if you doubt that infants can have faith. What do you base that on? Your own reasoning and logic? What keeps you in faith?
Your ability to understand the Gospel? Faith in God is foolishness and the older we get, we tend to strengthen our stance against God. You must have faith as a child does. God hides Himself in that which is utter foolishness.
"An infant can have faith?" someone ponders quietly to themselves.
And then determines an answer after much analyzing according to man's great intelligence, "Oh, I dont believe that....that makes no sense!"
Well, there will never be enough evidence to convince man and suffice his reasoning, regarding infant faith, but there is no evidence for Christ rising from the grave either. That is accepted by blind faith alone. My two year old nephew knows that Christ died on the cross for his sins, and can tell you that (already proclaiming Truth, and has more understanding than many of my college friends and their socialist education). He is just learning how to talk but can almost recite the Lord's Prayer. God has Washed and Claimed him. God is sustaining his faith and Koby's faith is growing (not because of Koby, but because God causes his faith and sustains it). Could Koby, in his sinfulness, eventually reject Christ? As with anyone else, one can reject the Gift given and be allowed to pursue one's own will, and die eternally. Satan is at us always and we are being bitten and afflicted daily. Look to the Bronze Snake and trust that His death was sufficient for your sins. Do not keep the children from the font and foolishly assume they cannot have faith. Your faith was not from you and yet you believe. Do not suffer the children, allow them to come to Christ, to come to the font and be cleansed.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen.
Pax Christi,
ChiRho
