This is a touchy subject, yet I must speak my heart on the issue, and again beg for responses.
There is a very popular belief among Christians in "The Age of Accountability". In essence, it states that until a certain age, children are not accountable for their sins and in one sense or another are innocent until a certain age or level of maturity. It is a very nice idea, and a wonderfully comforting way to assess the fate of children. But, I have never found a shred of Biblical support for this notion. It is clear from Psalm 51:5 that we are sinful from birth!
The other common way of dealing with the death of children is through infant baptism. Accordingly, we can somehow impute righteousness unto a child through the sacrament of baptism. This does not hold much water either.
The death of children is an uncomfortable subject, and one for which we want answers and I believe that in response we have dreamed up some pretty good sounding ones. Nonetheless, I believe Scripture is silent on the issue. That being the case, I personally have simply resolved that it is in God's hand to trust that he will do what is right with his own. It does seem consistent with his character that there would be some provision for those of a certain age, but I can with no certainty make that claim.
There is one passage that gives me lots of hope. After David's son dies he explains his peace in the situation by saying, "I will go to him, but he will not return to me". David clearly believes that his son is in heaven waiting for David to join him. Here lies my theological question of the day. I believe the Bible to be true. Therefore, I believe that David truly said what he said and believed what he did. But, David was fallible. So, just because David believed it, is that authority enough for me to?
Before I close I would like to emphasize the goodness of God. We can trust his will completely, for his ways and thoughts are infinitely above our own. So, just because I believe that neither infant baptism nor "The Age of Accountability" sufficiently deal with the issue, I am fully confident that we can trust our Heavenly Father to do what is right with all that go to meet Him.
I again look forward to comments on this post! Please justify for me either of the two popular notions or address how much faith we can put in the true words of David.
I agree with you completely on this one Ryan. At the end of the day, I hang my hat on the fact that God is completely sovereign, completely just, all loving, all knowing, gracious, and compassionate. He will do what He will do and I will humbly submit (or at least learn to) to His will. Since the Bible is seemingly silent on a CLEAR answer, I trust God completely.
ReplyDeletewhy did you write on this?
ReplyDeletefor the most part I agree with you on sin and everything... but I also know that God is above sin and death...
tough question to reconcile...
"Nevertheless for David's sake did the Lord his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him, and to establich Jerusalam: Because Dave did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from any thing that He commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite." 1Kings 15:4-5
ReplyDeleteIn pairing this with David's speech about seeing his child again, one could come to the conclusion that what David said must be true. Had it been a lie, it would have been added to the 5th verse in 1Kings 15. "..save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite and his false statement about his dead child." The death of the king's child would not have been a secret affair and if David said these things and they were false, the Lord wouldn't have cared for that too much.
When all is said and done, God is about justice and unlike human judges, He doesn't need to weigh the evidence over and over again to make a decision. He just knows the right answer already.