Hi beads!
beads wrote: I agree. But just because a baby does not expereince guilt does not mean it has not experienced/committed sin. I'm actually a little surprised you left off verse 7 of the Romans passage: "What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." But even here again, Paul does not say, "I had not committed sin, but by the law." He says, "I had not known sin, but by the law." A baby, indeed even a full grown man, can be guilty of sin without experiencing the feelings of guilt.
James 4:17 - Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.
beads wrote: This question is irrelevant. If it were, and the baby did have to make a choice for salvation, then 1) it would be unfair for God not to let it live long enough to come to an understanding of what that means, and 2) it would be against the teachings of the Bible, because the Bible teaches we cannot work for our salvation, and I believe that if it is up to us to decide to follow Christ, then that must be considered a work.
Unfair? Let me see now, God not allowing it to live old enough to makes its own decisions and choices, free will is bestowed upon all mankind, if a baby is killed due to other circumstances whereby the mother or father willfully disobeyed God then you have free will which may or may not result in the death of a child. Furthermore, the baby is neither working for salvation because it does not recognise salvation!
beads wrote: I don't see how you can draw this comparison. The blood of Christ covers Christians, but you cannot (or at least in my mind have not yet) established that babies are Christians up until some age of accountability, at which point they lose their salvation until they choose to make a decision for Christ.
Are you sure about this beads?
Covers? The Blood of Jesus Christ
cleanses us from all sin!
If a man or woman is dirty because he/she has played in the dirt of the earth and afterwards
covers themself with clothing to hide the dirt on their body, does the dirt still remain?
And if a man/woman cleanses themselves with water and soap and afterwards are clean, the dirt and filth is now gone. A baby losing His/Her salvation?Now back to the point, If a baby dies at birth, that baby has never really obtained salvation in the first place. And Jesus who has all judgment would not condemn the guiltless. I have noticed that many Christians underestimate the Sovereignty of God, you beads are entitled to your belief, and what i know is what is given to me by God.
To be born with sin and knowing not what sin is are not the same!
The Lord will say to some at the judgment seat of Christ, why have you undermined my Sovereignty and Perfect Judgment.
God Bless!
For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. Romans 9:15,16