Predestination
We believe that God did give us free will. That being the case, how can He know what we are going to do before we do it? If He knows what we will do, then He must be controlling what we do and we don’t have free will. How can we reconcile this and still say that God is omniscient? Omniscient according to the dictionary means “all-knowing, infinitely wise”. What does “all-knowing” mean? What does one who is “all-knowing” know and when does He know it? Does it mean that one who is omniscient knows not only what is but what will be? Most people apparently do understand “all-knowing” to mean that. But how can God know what will happen before it happens if we have free will? Is it possible, even more likely, that “all-knowing” means knowing what can happen rather than what will happen?
In Genesis 6:5-8 we learn that “..the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the LORD said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” Praise the Lord for Noah!!!! If God knew for certain that the thoughts of the hearts of men would only be evil continually would He have been sorry that He had made man and been grieved in His heart? Would that have caused Him to determine to destroy man because He was sorry He had made them? No. If when God created man He knew that the thoughts of the hearts of men would be only evil continually He would not have been disappointed or sorry. He would have expected it. Men’s hearts would have been that way because He made them that way and He would have known what to expect.
Let’s accept this definition (and it’s a far more encompassing definition) that “all-knowing” instead of meaning knowing everything that is and will be, really means knowing everything that is and can be. The latter requires much greater knowledge than the former but let’s accept that definition and look again at Genesis 6:5-8. We can say that God knew (and knows) every possible way that His creation, man, could develop every possible thing that he might do. Successful earthly leaders try to envision every possible consequence of any action they take so they can be prepared to deal with those consequences. One of the things they consider is what is called the “worst case scenario”. The worst case scenario is when everything that can go wrong does go wrong. God is certainly infinitely wiser and more intelligent than any earthly leader so when God created man and gave them free will, He (being omniscient) knew that there was a possibility that things might not turn out the way He wanted them to turn out. In essence, Genesis 6:5-8 is almost the “worst case scenario”. “Almost”, because “Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord”. If it hadn’t been for Noah, it would have been the “worst case scenario”.
Knowing everything that is and will be is easier than knowing everything that is and can be. In the former case the One who is omniscient must have planned what would be or it couldn’t be known. In the latter case it means that the One who is omniscient has the ability to (and must) visualize every possible way that an individual could respond to a given situation. In Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) we read “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope.” This seems to say that God doesn’t have just one plan for us but many plans. He’s got a plan for every possible step we might make! Even if it’s a misstep, He has a plan to deal with that! God is so great that He doesn’t need to know what will be. He knows what can or might be and is prepared for every possibility. You might say, “That’s impossible. How could He have a plan for every possible decision (right or wrong) that we might make?” Well, let’s consider computers for a moment. You may know that interactive computer games leave the player with a number of choices at each step and the computer program is prepared to deal with whatever choice the player might make. But what the computer can do is less than child’s play compared to what the designer and creator of the entire universe and everything in it can do. Is it too much to believe that God can have a response already prepared for every decision which 6 billion (plus) people might make every minute of every day? No! Not for our God! We serve a Great Big God! It’s well within His capabilities. There is nothing that He can’t do (except that He cannot lie [Numbers 23:19] and if He cannot lie He would not have said that we have free will if we didn’t. He said that we were made in His image therefore we must have free will). He doesn’t need to preprogram us so that He will know what we will do. All He needs to know is what we might or could do, and He knows that.
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Babies In Heaven
Question: Do babies go to heaven when they die?
Yes, infants who die go to heaven. Babies are in the spiritual state of innocence because they don't know right from wrong. We become sinners through breaking the Law (1 John 3:4).
Paul said, "I would not have come to know sin except through the Law" (Rom 7:7).
Romans 3:20: "For through the Law comes the knowledge of sin."
Romans 5:13: "For until the Law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no Law."
"To one who knows the right thing to do, and does not do it, to him it is sin" (James 4:17).
Babies cannot sin because they have no knowledge of right and wrong. When David's baby died he said, "But now he has died; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he will not return to me" (2 Sam. 12:23). David knew his child was in heaven and looked forward to being reunited with him.
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Question:
"If a baby dies, does it automatically go to heaven?"
Answer:
Many people believe that if a child dies before reaching an "age of accountability," that child will go to heaven. The idea is that infants and young children are not mature enough to understand about sin and about Jesus' sacrifice for our sins, and therefore they are not held accountable for sin. Scripture seems to support this idea.
Notice, for example, that the apostle Paul said that he died spiritually as a result of becoming aware of sin, but he said that he was alive before this happened:
"Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died." (Romans 7:9)
Paul said that he died spiritually when sin "sprang to life" within him, but before this happened he was spiritually alive. Here's what a prominent Bible commentary says about this verse:
"Evidently the apostle was speaking of his personal experience as a child and perhaps even a youth prior to his awareness and understanding of the full impact of God's commandments. ... The result was that the principle of sin within made its presence and power known (it sprang to life) in his violations of the commandment. As a result Paul died spiritually" (The Bible Knowledge Commentary, Walvoord and Zuck, Dallas Theological Seminary, p.466-467)
According to Paul's example, we were all spiritually alive as children until sin "sprang to life" within us. At that point we died spiritually.
Here's another example. Notice that the Bible says that we were all dead in our sins:
"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient." (Ephesians 2:1-2)
"When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ." (Colossians 2:13)
So we were all dead in our sins before we accepted Christ as our Savior. But consider that an inanimate object such as a rock can never die because it has no life in it to begin with. So if we were spiritually dead in our sins, the implication is that we must have been spiritually alive before we died. This supports the idea that babies and young children will go to heaven if they die before they reach an "age of accountability," because they are spiritually alive before sin "springs to life" within them.
In a similar way, Adam and Eve were spiritually alive before the "Fall":
"The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."" (Genesis 2:15-17)
According to this passage, when Adam and Eve ate the fruit, they died. They did not die physically, because they lived for several hundred years and had a number of children after being banished from the Garden of Eden. Instead, they died spiritually, just as Paul said that he had died spiritually when sin "sprang to life" within him (Romans 7:9 , above). Since Adam and Eve died spiritually, this means that they were spiritually alive before they ate the fruit.
All of these examples demonstrate that people are spiritually alive until sin "springs to life" within them, causing them to die spiritually. The Bible does not say at what age this happens (and possibly it happens at different ages for different people), but it does say that we need the new birth through Christ in order to receive spiritual life again.
Now, here's something else to consider. Jesus said that we must become "like little children" in order to enter the kingdom of heaven:
Matthew 18:3: "And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children [paidion], you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."
Matthew 18:4: "Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child [paidion] is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
Matthew 18:5: ""And whoever welcomes a little child [paidion] like this in my name welcomes me."
Matthew 18:6: "But if anyone causes one of these little ones [mikros] who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea."
Matthew 19:14: "Jesus said, "Let the little children [paidion] come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.""
The Greek word for "little children" in these verses is paidion, which means "an infant, or (by extension) a half grown boy or girl; figuratively an immature Christian," according to Strong's Greek Dictionary. But notice that the "little ones" who believe in Jesus and who can be enticed to sin in Matthew 18:6 (above) are not paidion, but rather they are mikros, which means "least, less, little, small," according to Strong's Greek Dictionary. In this context, the "little ones" in Matthew 18:6 (above) are people who have humbled themselves and who believe in Jesus. Now, notice in the above passages that Jesus did not say, "unless you change and become like murderers, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." We would not expect Jesus to say such a thing because unrepentant murderers are excluded from heaven (1 John 3:15, Revelation 21:8, 22:14-15). Since Jesus said that we must become like little children in order to enter the kingdom of heaven, the implication is that little children are not excluded from heaven for any reason.
Here are several more interesting passages:
"Jesus said, "If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains."" (John 9:41)
"And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad --they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it." (Deuteronomy 1:39)
"Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. He will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste." (Isaiah 7:14-16)
In John 9:41 (above), Jesus said that those who are "blind" are not guilty of sin, and Bible scholars tend to point out that He was referring to those who are ignorant of sin rather than those who are physically blind. This would mean that infants and young children, who are too young to understand about sin, are innocent of sin. In Deuteronomy 1:39 (above) we see a reference to children who were too young to know good from bad. This demonstrates that young children are ignorant of sin, and Jesus said that those who are ignorant of sin are not guilty of sin (John 9:41, above). In Isaiah 7:14-16 (above) we see once again that there is a period when young children are ignorant of sin, and therefore they are not held accountable for sin.
Conclusion
The Bible does not explicitly tell us where infants and little children go when they die, but the Scriptural evidence leads me to believe that they all go to heaven if they have not yet reached an "age of accountability" (which is probably a different age for different children).
However, this brings up an interesting question. If the Bible says that everyone must believe in Jesus in order to go to heaven, then how can babies go to heaven when they are too young to believe in Jesus? In order to answer this question, let's think about why we must believe in Jesus for salvation. Remember, Jesus died on the cross in order to atone for our sins, and when we put our faith in Jesus as our living Lord and Savior then our sins are wiped from our record. In other words, we need to believe in Jesus because God is holding us accountable for our sins. If we don't put our faith in Jesus then our sins (our sin nature) will send us to hell. But what we have seen in this article is that God does not appear to hold infants and young children accountable for sin. Therefore, since infants and young children have no sins on their record (because God is not holding them accountable), then they do not need to believe in Jesus in order to wipe their slates clean. Their slates are already clean until they reach an "age of accountability."
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