A "quick" question to the Christians - do babies go to heaven?

[CarGirl]

Yes I've always been taught that they do because they are not old enough to seek God and reject him IYSWIM but which scritpure(s) back that up or any good websites where I can get the theological reasoning behind.

The joys of helping out on a youth discipleship group when we have no Pastor to ask the tricky questions to......

I don't think anyone is inherently bad, God gives us a choice, called free will, as to how we live our lives.

But MaryBS, the question here is what happens to those who never do live those lives - how can they be judged? I think I have to go along with Sue Baroo's link, (good old MacArthur!) with the 'inherently sinful but with no deeds to condemn' line, if I've read it correctly.

SB - you don't have a link to part two do you?

Well, they can't be judged, can they? I have an opinion, but no-one can truly know for sure, this side of death.

I've been doing the RCIA course recently, as my son is about to baptised into the Catholic church, so wanted to get up to scratch on what exactly it all entails (my DH is RC). My RCIA instructor says that unbaptised babies and children are viewed as 'innocents', and so do 'go to Purgatory and then eventually Heaven', as most good Catholics do :-) I don't know if I believe any of this, but anyhoo...that's what she said.

Quick answer - yes, I believe so. Because God is, above all, loving and merciful and I cannot believe he would condemn a life that had barely started.

But I am a bit of a wooly liberal and have a sneaky feeling that there will be a lot more people in heaven than some Christians would have us believe...

procrastinatingparent, yes, this is part 2. Chuffed someone else has heard of MacArthur

I've heard of MacArthur too and seen what he has written on the subject of women in ministry . I don't know about the rest of his writings, but those have coloured my opinion of him...

Well, no doubt, but it's a wildly off-topic. it's perfectly possible for someone to believe something you completely disagree with but still they talk sense about something else, I would have thought.

Just to clarify, not all Christians believe that it's purely God's grace which you need to rely on to be 'saved'. Catholics, for example, place emphasis on the life you lead. Justification by faith alone is a traditionally protestant belief.

Eliza, you are quite correct.

Hope I didn't sound as if I were sniping, SueBaroo. I usually find myself nodding vigorously when I read your posts.

lol, not at all, Eliza, it's helpful clarification. Just to make my position clear - I'm a reformed baptist protestant christian, so when I tend to come from that perspective as a default position. I shall try and make it clear when I'm talking in a broader sense {smile]

Thanks a lot, SB. Link noted - this is a topic which very sadly comes up for people we work with from time to time so it's great to read something so meaty on it! Actually it is reinforcing the view of God's grace working to rescue us, which is great. (Eliza, I'm coming from a similar perspective to SB, but really enjoyed thinking through the differences between protestant and catholic when I did my degree. Nothing like a protestant being taught Reformation History by a Roman Catholic for raising the hard questions! )

Yes--that does sound like a good way to get to the nitty-gritty, procrastinating parent!

This topic is on my mind at the moment as today is the funeral of friend of my eleven-year old son's. He was a boy so kind and generous that nobody seems to be in any doubt that he would have been 'beamed' straight up and while I mourn for the seventy-odd years of life he's lost, most of my sadness and prayers go to his parents. Especially his mother. I keep thinking of all the mornings she's going to wake up for the rest of her life and have it hit her that she's never going to see him again. But perhaps that's where God's grace comes in.

So sorry to hear that, Eliza2. I guess what I said before about knowing a gracious God and trusting him to do right is the only way I can even begin to get my head around such a sad situation. How heartbreaking...

Thank you both.

Yes i believe that babies/children go to heaven when they die. They are too young to understand the concept of believing in Jesus and turning away from sin and God is all gracious and mercyful and i have no doubt in my mind that children who die will be there with Jesus in heaven. He loves children so much. xxx I also believe this is true for those who are mentally handicapped and although they may be alot older, mentally they are still children.

Matt 19:14 may be helpful too:

But Jesus said, "Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

If the Kingdom belongs to them - they must have access to it from whatever age they enter.

yes of course, i think jesus specificially says so at least twice in one of the gospels.(don't ask me where, as i'm not great at finding the exact chapter/verse) in fact if we want to go to heaven he says we should become like children ourselves.

absolutely Yummers