Be completely honest with yourself, is there something, about God that you do not want to find out truthfully because of fear?

[JohnB445]

My first year of being a believer, I first started out as a seeker for a couple of years, I was slow to study. I could not fathom the idea of there being a hell, even though I believe I am saved, it's not about me. It's about other people. It does bring me sorrow, the thought of other people burning in hell for eternity with no escape.

I did not want to believe that hell existed, I tried to convince myself that it must be something else, like annihilationism. For those who do not know what that means, here is the wiki definition. "In Christianity, annihilationism is the belief that after the Last Judgment, all unsaved human beings, all fallen angels and Satan himself will be totally destroyed so as to not exist, or that their consciousness will be extinguished rather than suffer everlasting torment in Hell." - Wikipedia

Why did I want to believe that, because it sounded so much better. But I have to be careful here.

I ask myself do I want to believe in truth or simply what sounds good. Even though the truth may be difficult to stomach I eventually ended up wanting to believe the truth and nothing but the truth. I did a deep study, I no longer took the annihilationism view anymore, and that view was very short lived. I now do believe there is a hell, and that it is eternal with no escape for the damned. There is no second chance. and that the suffering in hell for the damned will be so immense, that they would have wished they never even existed. That no human, can fathom what hell would feel like or how long it will be. There is no pain that can be felt living on this Earth, compared to hell, and it is almost nothing compared to hell.

Yes it seems very extreme, but this is what I am seeing here from deep study.

I ask myself again, when it comes to other topics, like

1. The unforgivable sin
2. Conditional Salvation
3. Can we fall from heaven once entered?
4. Predestination
5. Can we know if someone who has passed away was saved or not?

For any of those 5 points above, did you do a deep study on any of the topics, are you certain you know, or are you sticking your head in the sand in fear of finding out.

I ask myself this sometimes.

 

[BobRyan]

. It does bring me sorrow, the thought of other people burning in hell for eternity with no escape.

I did not want to believe that hell existed, I tried to convince myself that it must be something else, like annihilationism. For those who do not know what that means, here is the wiki definition. "In Christianity, annihilationism is the belief that after the Last Judgment, all unsaved human beings, all fallen angels and Satan himself will be totally destroyed

Interesting topic, interesting question raised.

Some texts in scripture do speak to this topic for those willing to read those texts.

Matt 10:28
28 And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

To not only kill both - but to destroy both.

And what about demons... what about the devil himself?? (Who was once Lucifer in heaven)

Ezek 28:
13 You were in Eden, the garden of God;
Every precious stone was your covering:
The ruby, the topaz and the diamond;
The beryl, the onyx and the jasper;
The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald;
And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets,
Was in you.
On the day that you were created
They were prepared.
14 You were the anointed cherub who covers,
And I placed you there.
You were on the holy mountain of God;
You walked in the midst of the stones of fire.
15 You were blameless in your ways
From the day you were created
Until unrighteousness was found in you.
16 By the abundance of your trade
You were internally filled with violence,
And you sinned;
Therefore I have cast you as profane
From the mountain of God.
And I have destroyed you, you covering cherub,
From the midst of the stones of fire.
17 Your heart was haughty because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.
I threw you to the ground;
I put you before kings,
That they may see you.
18 By the multitude of your wrongdoings,
In the unrighteousness of your trade
You profaned your sanctuaries.
Therefore I have brought fire from the midst of you;
It has consumed you,
And I have turned you to ashes on the earth
In the eyes of all who see you.
19 All who know you among the peoples
Are appalled at you;
You have become terrified
And you will cease to be forever.”’”

Who "alone" posses immortality as an intrinsic feature/attribute of His own being?

1 Tim 6:13-16
13 I direct you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate, 14 that you keep the commandment without fault or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which He will bring about at the proper time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.

Question. What to fallen humans have to do - so that they might "live forever"?

Gen 3:22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out with his hand, and take fruit also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out of the Garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove the man out; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.

Ps 22:29
All the prosperous of the earth will eat and worship,
All those who go down to the dust will kneel before Him,
Even he who cannot keep his soul alive.

 

[BurningBush84]

I hear ya. For me its hard to accept the belief that babies can go to Hell. But Psalm 51:5 seems to support that belief. And if babies are sinless then why do they die ? Because Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. And babies die all the time. If babies were sinless , then they shouldn't die, because the wages of sin is death.

 

[Diamond7]

For me its hard to accept the belief that babies can go to Hell.

Babies go to heaven and there are a lot of them. World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 73.3 million abortions occur annually worldwide. I think there are going to be a lot of their parents that do not go to heaven.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Babies go to heaven and there are a lot of them. World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 73.3 million abortions occur annually worldwide. I think there are going to be a lot of their parents that do not go to heaven.

I hold out hope that there will be many who were never formally within the Church who shall be found with God on that final day; and that certainly includes unbaptized infants and young children. But it seems problematic to make a bold and dogmatic statement where God Himself has not chosen to tell us.

Because if we say that infants have some kind of automatic salvation purely on the basis of their infancy we are effectively saying that something like abortion actually guarantees salvation and that life is actually dangerous to salvation. And that certainly isn't a Christian belief. So while I do not "disagree" with the sentiment of infants and young children being received into God's eternal loving care--such should be understood as a matter of something in extremis, rather than ordinary. We know God's ordered means, though God is not constrained by His ordered means and can act absolutely in accordance with His own good pleasure--whatever that may be. Hence we can say, positively, that salvation is by grace alone through faith in Christ, we cannot say--apart from this--who is or is not saved.

There are many unknowns, but we have a loving God, a good Father in heaven, a wonderful Savior who gave His life for all sinners, and the Holy Spirit who gives life and wonderfully so. So that in all things God will accomplish His good for all.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Bob Crowley]

I've got good reason for believing Hell exists. I've often claimed the night my father died, he appeared in my room. We argued and conversed, and at the end he gave this almighty terrifying scream and then disappeared. It was obvious something was coming for him.

There have been other events as well which give me strong reason to believe Hell exists.

But I also believe Heaven (and Purgatory) exist. Heaven is the flip side. When it's all said and done, God is offering us eternal life. There may be some suffering before we get there, and in Purgatory, but that's what He's offering. It's up to us whether we'll take the offer or not.

I've long accepted that God can be quite tough, particularly God the Father. If we think He's going to be some sort of celestial Grand Daddy, we're in for a big shock when we get to meet Him.

I'm Catholic and we have a routine prayer we say at mass every week, called "The Confiteor" (Latin for "I confess").

Part of the phrasing is that "I confess to Almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned, in my thoughts, in my words, in what I have done and what I have failed to do ...."

The business about the "unknown" failure to do certain things is my main concern. My sins of commission are known to me - my sins of omission are not so clear.

As for God, I've long accepted He is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient and all the other "omni's". The fact that I sometimes seem to get hints about events that are years off (and a reminding nudge when they happen) no longer surprises me. I can still be surprised by human abilities - a show called "The Chase" comes to mind here where a team of laypeople try to outscore a super-nerd on general knowledge. I am constantly amazed at just how much the "Chasers" know. If you knew one of them personally, you wouldn't even need Google.

But God? He knows the lot, past, present and future, and forgets nothing. I've long accepted that.

My "sins of omission" though? That's another matter.

 

[eleos1954]

My first year of being a believer, I first started out as a seeker for a couple of years, I was slow to study. I could not fathom the idea of there being a hell, even though I believe I am saved, it's not about me. It's about other people. It does bring me sorrow, the thought of other people burning in hell for eternity with no escape.

I did not want to believe that hell existed, I tried to convince myself that it must be something else, like annihilationism. For those who do not know what that means, here is the wiki definition. "In Christianity, annihilationism is the belief that after the Last Judgment, all unsaved human beings, all fallen angels and Satan himself will be totally destroyed so as to not exist, or that their consciousness will be extinguished rather than suffer everlasting torment in Hell." - Wikipedia

Why did I want to believe that, because it sounded so much better. But I have to be careful here.

I ask myself do I want to believe in truth or simply what sounds good. Even though the truth may be difficult to stomach I eventually ended up wanting to believe the truth and nothing but the truth. I did a deep study, I no longer took the annihilationism view anymore, and that view was very short lived. I now do believe there is a hell, and that it is eternal with no escape for the damned. There is no second chance. and that the suffering in hell for the damned will be so immense, that they would have wished they never even existed. That no human, can fathom what hell would feel like or how long it will be. There is no pain that can be felt living on this Earth, compared to hell, and it is almost nothing compared to hell.

Yes it seems very extreme, but this is what I am seeing here from deep study.

I ask myself again, when it comes to other topics, like

1. The unforgivable sin
2. Conditional Salvation
3. Can we fall from heaven once entered?
4. Predestination
5. Can we know if someone who has passed away was saved or not?

For any of those 5 points above, did you do a deep study on any of the topics, are you certain you know, or are you sticking your head in the sand in fear of finding out.

I ask myself this sometimes.

God is not a torturing monster of some kind .... to believe God tortures people for eternity is turning God into a torturing monster.

Hell is the grave .... all wait there until resurrection (except for a very few exceptions) 1st of the saved when Jesus returns .... later those of the lost.

The end times .... two groups ..... one exists for eternity .... other does not exist for eternity. Like in the days of Noah .... Noah preached the word of repentance for around 120 years ..... then the flood came and swept them away .... (swept away the lost) .... likewise in the end times. All need to get into the ark of salvation ... else be swept away for eternity.

5. Can we know if someone who has passed away was saved or not?

Fact is we don't know specifically, we are not privy to that information ... it's totally up to Jesus, only He knows the heart.

For those who do not know what that means, here is the wiki definition. "In Christianity, annihilationism is the belief that after the Last Judgment, all unsaved human beings, all fallen angels and Satan himself will be totally destroyed so as to not exist, or that their consciousness will be extinguished rather than suffer everlasting torment in Hell."

The above IS what His Word teaches.

Life (existence) for eternity ... or death (non-existence) for eternity ... very simple and easy to understand.

Life is life ...... death is death. The second DEATH is for eternity .... not an eternal torture chamber.

 

[BobRyan]

I hear ya. For me its hard to accept the belief that babies can go to Hell. But Psalm 51:5 seems to support that belief. And if babies are sinless then why do they die ? Because Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. And babies die all the time. If babies were sinless , then they shouldn't die, because the wages of sin is death.

Rom 6 is not talking about the first death - but the second death.

In Ezek 18 - the righteous do not die - only the wicked die.
In John 10 Jesus said Lazarus sleeps and then argues that those who believe in Him - never die.

But that is only true of the 2nd death.

Rom 6 is not saying that babies that die - die the second death.

James 4:17 "to him that knows to do the right thing and does it not - to him it is sin"

If you know it is right to not get angry and curse your neighbor - but you ignore that and do it anyway - then it is a sin

Babies are not born with that knowledge -- so even though they have a sinful nature, a bent toward sin they are not sinning with their eyes open, aware of what they are doing when they scream out in rage.

Jesus said "if you were blind you would have no sin"

 

[BobRyan]

I've got good reason for believing Hell exists.

Me too. The Bible says that hell is real.

John calls it the lake of fire - in Rev 20.

But it wont be active until after the 1000 years of Rev 20 as that chapter points out.

I've often claimed the night my father died, he appeared in my room. We argued and conversed, and at the end he gave this almighty terrifying scream and then disappeared.

"the living know that they will die - but the dead know not anything" Eccl 9:5
1 John 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God

Gal 1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we (Apostles) or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!

So what does God want us to think about when a loved one dies? At the funeral? What shall we say?
1 Thess 4:13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. 14 For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. 15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.


Two resurrections - too different fates -
John 5:
28 Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.



Rev 20:3-5 says "blessed and holy" is the one who partakes of the FIRST resurrection (the one that begins the 1000 years of Rev 20) "over these the second death has no power".

But then after the 1000 years comes the second resurrection and those in it are cast into the lake of fire according to Rev 20

 

[BurningBush84]

Rom 6 is not talking about the first death - but the second death.

In Ezek 18 - the righteous do not die - only the wicked die.
In John 10 Jesus said Lazarus sleeps and then argues that those who believe in Him - never die.

But that is only true of the 2nd death.

Rom 6 is not saying that babies that die - die the second death.

James 4:17 "to him that knows to do the right thing and does it not - to him it is sin"

If you know it is right to not get angry and curse your neighbor - but you ignore that and do it anyway - then it is a sin

Babies are not born with that knowledge -- so even though they have a sinful nature, a bent toward sin they are not sinning with their eyes open, aware of what they are doing when they scream out in rage.

Jesus said "if you were blind you would have no sin"

But you said Adam and Eve would have lived forever if they didn't sin. Sinless means sinless. Why should a sinless Adam and Eve live forever yet a sinless baby not ???

 

[BobRyan]

But you said Adam and Eve would have lived forever if they didn't sin. Sinless means sinless

Indeed - God created them sinless.

It is God who says that He would deprive them from the tree of life - once they sinned - lest they should eat and live forever as sinners.

. Why should a sinless Adam and Eve live forever yet a sinless baby not ???

The baby has a sinful nature. Adam and Eve did not have it when they were created.

If the Baby with the sinful nature should then eat of the tree of life that God was blocking all mankind from accessing in Gen 3 then the same rule holds - the baby would live forever as God said in Gen 3 because under that alternative system - the baby always has access to the Tree of Life

 

[BurningBush84]

Indeed - God created them sinless.

It is God who says that He would deprive them from the tree of life - once they sinned - lest they should eat and live forever as sinners.

The baby has a sinful nature. Adam and Eve did not have it when they were created.

If the Baby with the sinful nature should then eat of the tree of life that God was blocking all mankind from accessing in Gen 3 then the same rule holds - the baby would live forever as God said in Gen 3 because under that alternative system - the baby always has access to the Tree of Life

So babies are sinless yet have a sinful nature ?? Are babies holy ? Do they need a Saviour ?

 

[BobRyan]

So babies are sinless yet have a sinful nature ?? Are babies holy ? Do they need a Saviour ?

They all have a sinful nature -- and that is "bent" toward sin - to fix that they need a Savior, and 1 John 2:2 - they have one.

 

[Strong in Him]

I hear ya. For me its hard to accept the belief that babies can go to Hell. But Psalm 51:5 seems to support that belief.

I don't believe it does.
I don't believe that a perfect, loving Father would send babies to hell because they died before they could know him. Unfortunately babies, toddlers and children die because we live in a fallen world. Sickness came into the world at the same time as sin.

 

[Mark Quayle]

My first year of being a believer, I first started out as a seeker for a couple of years, I was slow to study. I could not fathom the idea of there being a hell, even though I believe I am saved, it's not about me. It's about other people. It does bring me sorrow, the thought of other people burning in hell for eternity with no escape.

I did not want to believe that hell existed, I tried to convince myself that it must be something else, like annihilationism. For those who do not know what that means, here is the wiki definition. "In Christianity, annihilationism is the belief that after the Last Judgment, all unsaved human beings, all fallen angels and Satan himself will be totally destroyed so as to not exist, or that their consciousness will be extinguished rather than suffer everlasting torment in Hell." - Wikipedia

Why did I want to believe that, because it sounded so much better. But I have to be careful here.

I ask myself do I want to believe in truth or simply what sounds good. Even though the truth may be difficult to stomach I eventually ended up wanting to believe the truth and nothing but the truth. I did a deep study, I no longer took the annihilationism view anymore, and that view was very short lived. I now do believe there is a hell, and that it is eternal with no escape for the damned. There is no second chance. and that the suffering in hell for the damned will be so immense, that they would have wished they never even existed. That no human, can fathom what hell would feel like or how long it will be. There is no pain that can be felt living on this Earth, compared to hell, and it is almost nothing compared to hell.

Yes it seems very extreme, but this is what I am seeing here from deep study.

I ask myself again, when it comes to other topics, like

1. The unforgivable sin
2. Conditional Salvation
3. Can we fall from heaven once entered?
4. Predestination
5. Can we know if someone who has passed away was saved or not?

For any of those 5 points above, did you do a deep study on any of the topics, are you certain you know, or are you sticking your head in the sand in fear of finding out.

I ask myself this sometimes.

I hear ya. For me its hard to accept the belief that babies can go to Hell. But Psalm 51:5 seems to support that belief. And if babies are sinless then why do they die ? Because Romans 6:23 says the wages of sin is death. And babies die all the time. If babies were sinless , then they shouldn't die, because the wages of sin is death.

God is not a torturing monster of some kind .... to believe God tortures people for eternity is turning God into a torturing monster.

Hell is the grave .... all wait there until resurrection (except for a very few exceptions) 1st of the saved when Jesus returns .... later those of the lost.

The end times .... two groups ..... one exists for eternity .... other does not exist for eternity. Like in the days of Noah .... Noah preached the word of repentance for around 120 years ..... then the flood came and swept them away .... (swept away the lost) .... likewise in the end times. All need to get into the ark of salvation ... else be swept away for eternity.



Fact is we don't know specifically, we are not privy to that information ... it's totally up to Jesus, only He knows the heart.


The above IS what His Word teaches.

Life (existence) for eternity ... or death (non-existence) for eternity ... very simple and easy to understand.

Life is life ...... death is death. The second DEATH is for eternity .... not an eternal torture chamber.

There is one thing in all of this, that we can know for sure. That in spite of what we see (and we only see the surface), God is absolutely, precisely, and thoroughly, just. Nobody will get what they do not deserve, except the Redeemed.

 

[biblelesson]

I hold out hope that there will be many who were never formally within the Church who shall be found with God on that final day; and that certainly includes unbaptized infants and young children. But it seems problematic to make a bold and dogmatic statement where God Himself has not chosen to tell us.

Because if we say that infants have some kind of automatic salvation purely on the basis of their infancy we are effectively saying that something like abortion actually guarantees salvation and that life is actually dangerous to salvation. And that certainly isn't a Christian belief. So while I do not "disagree" with the sentiment of infants and young children being received into God's eternal loving care--such should be understood as a matter of something in extremis, rather than ordinary. We know God's ordered means, though God is not constrained by His ordered means and can act absolutely in accordance with His own good pleasure--whatever that may be. Hence we can say, positively, that salvation is by grace alone through faith in Christ, we cannot say--apart from this--who is or is not saved.

There are many unknowns, but we have a loving God, a good Father in heaven, a wonderful Savior who gave His life for all sinners, and the Holy Spirit who gives life and wonderfully so. So that in all things God will accomplish His good for all.

-CryptoLutheran

Little children are the kingdom of heaven, they do not go to hell. In Matthew 19:14, Jesus said, “But Jesus said, “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

Here is another verse explaining that little children automatically enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3, “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Children automatically enter the kingdom of heaven. Adults do not. To be converted like little children is to walk in the the same spirit a child has, which is the Holy Spirit.

Little children’s spirits are pure, humble, and trusting, they have no guile. Matthew 18:3 is telling us we must possess these same fruits bestowed on children by the Holy Spirit to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

 

[biblelesson]

Here is a good site that explains how children are innocent and cannot sin:

Lesson 20: Infants Are Not Lost

 

[trophy33]

Babies go to heaven and there are a lot of them. World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 73.3 million abortions occur annually worldwide. I think there are going to be a lot of their parents that do not go to heaven.

They did not develop any personality (soul) that could go to heaven.

I see it as more probable that their body goes back to the ground and their spirit back to God.

But its just a speculation of course, its not revealed to us.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Little children are the kingdom of heaven, they do not go to hell. In Matthew 19:14, Jesus said, “But Jesus said, “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.”

Here is another verse explaining that little children automatically enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3, “And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Children automatically enter the kingdom of heaven. Adults do not. To be converted like little children is to walk in the the same spirit a child has, which is the Holy Spirit.

Little children’s spirits are pure, humble, and trusting, they have no guile. Matthew 18:3 is telling us we must possess these same fruits bestowed on children by the Holy Spirit to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.

I understand the sentiment of wanting to think that children aren't sinners. But the truth is that each and every single one of us entered into this world a sinner, we were conceived and born with this broken, wounded humanity.

Matthew 18:3 does not say that children are sinless, it says that we must be converted and become as children. Compare that with what Jesus says in John chapter 3 about being born again. Yes, we are to become as children, by new birth. To such as these belongs the kingdom because the kingdom isn't for the wise, the powerful, the elite--but for the simplest, the lowliest, the most vulnerable. Jesus also says, "The tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom ahead of you" (Matthew 21:31).

Why? Because the little children, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the sinners, the lepers, the outcasts--the least and the outcast--were experiencing the breaking-in of God's kingdom through Jesus Christ in their midst; meanwhile the religious elites, the powerful, the wealthy were snubbing their nose at Jesus.

In Jesus God's kingdom is revealed, as He said to His accusers in Luke's Gospel, "The kingdom does not come with observation ... but rather the kingdom is in the midst of you" (Luke 17:21). How was the kingdom in the midst of hostile religious leaders? In the very Person and work of Jesus Himself.

So it is, that God came into our midst, God became man; and by Him and through Him is peace and reconciliation with God by His perfect life, death, and resurrection. So that all who trust in Him shall never be put to shame; but rather by the grace of God we are born anew as new people in the Messiah, with a new life from God with God in the Messiah. And this gift, this grace, is for all men, for all sinners. For infants and the old, for the weak and the infirm, for the tax collector, the prostitute, the sinner, the weak and the unwanted. For Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female.

So I understand the sentiment, but it is a monumental failure at understanding Scripture and is terrible theology.

Children aren't sinless and therefore get a free ride to heavenly bliss. Instead, God is good and gracious to us sinners, that's what the Gospel is all about. It is by His own grace and kindness, not by human purity or goodness, that He brings us into union and communion with Himself through Jesus. And this He does purely out of His own goodness toward us.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[biblelesson]

I understand the sentiment of wanting to think that children aren't sinners. But the truth is that each and every single one of us entered into this world a sinner, we were conceived and born with this broken, wounded humanity.

Matthew 18:3 does not say that children are sinless, it says that we must be converted and become as children. Compare that with what Jesus says in John chapter 3 about being born again. Yes, we are to become as children, by new birth. To such as these belongs the kingdom because the kingdom isn't for the wise, the powerful, the elite--but for the simplest, the lowliest, the most vulnerable. Jesus also says, "The tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom ahead of you" (Matthew 21:31).

Why? Because the little children, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the sinners, the lepers, the outcasts--the least and the outcast--were experiencing the breaking-in of God's kingdom through Jesus Christ in their midst; meanwhile the religious elites, the powerful, the wealthy were snubbing their nose at Jesus.

In Jesus God's kingdom is revealed, as He said to His accusers in Luke's Gospel, "The kingdom does not come with observation ... but rather the kingdom is in the midst of you" (Luke 17:21). How was the kingdom in the midst of hostile religious leaders? In the very Person and work of Jesus Himself.

So it is, that God came into our midst, God became man; and by Him and through Him is peace and reconciliation with God by His perfect life, death, and resurrection. So that all who trust in Him shall never be put to shame; but rather by the grace of God we are born anew as new people in the Messiah, with a new life from God with God in the Messiah. And this gift, this grace, is for all men, for all sinners. For infants and the old, for the weak and the infirm, for the tax collector, the prostitute, the sinner, the weak and the unwanted. For Jew and Gentile, slave and free, male and female.

So I understand the sentiment, but it is a monumental failure at understanding Scripture and is terrible theology.

Children aren't sinless and therefore get a free ride to heavenly bliss. Instead, God is good and gracious to us sinners, that's what the Gospel is all about. It is by His own grace and kindness, not by human purity or goodness, that He brings us into union and communion with Himself through Jesus. And this He does purely out of His own goodness toward us.

-CryptoLutheran

We all are born into sin, but to be punished for sin we must “commit a sin.” A child does not commit sin. The requirements to be forgiven of sin a child does not posses! A child cannot be under the law of sin because to sin is the transgression of the law. A child cannot transgress the law. So the law does not apply, and where there is no law, there is no transgression, Romans 4:15.