2 Samuel 12: 23 But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.
I see that the above passage would definitely suggest that babies go to heaven because David said he would go to the baby. Therefore, David, a man after God's own heart, obviously went to heaven with Abraham. So therefore, we can see that babies must go to heaven.
Except Jews don't have that theology; you are reading into something that, in context, doesn't exist. Jews do not believe going to heaven or hell; sheol only.
Furthermore, zipping right off to heaven or hell is
not Christian because it denies the rightful place of the Second Advent, the Resurrection, and the Judgment in our Christian belief.
I Corinthians 7:14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through his wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.
Would this above verse suggest that children of unbelievers (or divorced people) go to hell? And, if so, would it suggest that children who are of believers (who are already children of God) are protected by their parent's marriage so they go to heaven?
The verse has to do with familial relationships in terms of whom the children belong to: the parent whose faith is Christianity. It doesn't have to do with salvation. That is why, for example, in the Vatican Church that the non-member spouse must agree that any children be raised in the member-spouse's faith before they may even get married in the Church. That's what the verse is about.
Mark 10:14 (as observed by another poster) would suggest that children go to heaven as Jesus said, "such is the kingdom of God."
I particularly like Sturgeon's thinking on this (posted by Osage Bluestem). He was a great man of God. Though I have to say, like another poster said, a man's view is just that--man's view--and following a man, any man except the God man, is dangerous (though I would say following Sturgeon's view would be fairly safe.)
Having faith like children doesn't mean all children go to heaven. It is having trust like children have, not that children go to heaven. Unfortunately, I sadly think some rotten ones will experience hell, baptized or not.
Because the Old Testament is Jewish in origin and a foreshadowing of the Christ (which New Testament believers believe that Jesus is the Christ as I do), then we have to at least give some credence to the Old Testament's view of the bar/bat mitzvah (13 for boys and 12 for girls) as being the age of accountability.
That's Judaism. Not Christianity.
The circumcision is gone. Holy Baptism, which circumcision foreshadowed, is what we go by. And infants may and ought to be baptized, for faith is not of the intellectual but of the spiritual.
I am not Catholic. I learned of the term "age of accountability" from a Christian pastor. I did complete all the work to become Catholic, but never walked the last walk to be accepted into the Catholic community. I have always gone to Christian churches, but I know of the doctrime of the age of accountability (if such be such).
I see quite a bit of bickering on this thread. I'm disappointed because I didn't want to create bickering. Sadly, that happened.
1. It isn't just a "Roman" Catholic belief. It is the belief of the vast majority of Christians, past and present.
2. All threads in GT become debates unless you specifically request otherwise.
I cannot believe man's viewpoint on this. I am looking for a Godly viewpoint. A few scriptures have been brought to mind, and I thank those posters.
All interpretation is reading comprehension. Asking for Holy Scriptures means
nothing unless the context is given. I showed above how the passages you cited have nothing to do with what you suggested because the context was ignored or not known of. That's one of the biggest problems, particularly with Evangelical Protestantism, with interpretation: many rarely possess the schema or research the context properly, and often when they do, it is only for their own benefit. Not all of them of course, but way, way too many.
I personally consider this shoddy scholarship and an abuse of the Holy Revelation which the Holy Writ is.
Are there any other scriptures that I might have missed that would indicate there was, indeed, an age of accountability and what it might be?
There is no Scriptural evidence for an age of accountability. Otherwise, the Early Church would have commented on it surely, as they commented on so many issues when it came to reconciling with God. Whole heresies and schisms, notably the Montanists and Donatists, had to do in key part to such things, and it was never addressed.
