Why do Baptist believe in an age of accountability?

Question

Where is this explicitly taught in the Bible?

Answer 1

yes, it id when you come to and age where you know the difference between wright and wrong, and that age is different for different people, some don't get there until they're 70. but most hit it by the time they're're 10.

Answer 2

The age of accountability just means an age where you know the difference between right and wrong.

We all know when we lie, that we are lying.
That is the age.

Any expressed teachings out of the bible that would preach this would also be found in verses that do not say it right out.

I was taught by the spirit of God, given to me by the Resurrection of Christ, only begotten son of God, that to follow any man made laws, ideas, or teachings would be contrary to what God wants for me.

I suggest reading Romans, and colossians.

Answer 3

New testament book of Mark chap 10 "these little ones of mine" when the kids were annoying the disciples read the entire chapter//Its kinda like this" sound as if you want everyone to think they have the same power to decide as a mature person , but little children are not accountable as well as the mentally & physically challanged who are helpless///

Answer 4

A child is not held accountable for sins until he/she knows the difference between right and wrong.

For some, it is a younger age, for some, an older age.

Answer 5

The old Testament taught that around 13 was the age children were responsible for their own actions (ie, bar mitvah age). In the book of Samuel, King David spoke of his disceased child that "I will go to him when I die", referring to heaven.

Answer 6

It mostly comes from a story in 2 Samuel. David was grieving over his son's death, and he told his servants, "He will not come to me, but I will go to him." Therefore, some believe that children go to heaven because David made reference to it, and because they're too young to understand sin and repentance. No one knows what the "cut-off" age is, though.

Answer 7

Its not in the bible, people assume that, we dont want feelings to be hurt. But all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God. Its our sinful nature to sin. therefore kids lie, be bad even when they know it is wrong.

Answer 8

Because in that faith, each person has to personally chose to accept Christ as their savior, it is necessary to explain what happens to kids that die when they are too young to have made this choice. No one wants to believe a little kid that dies goes to hell.

Answer 9

it's caLLed faith.

Answer 10

There is no such thing as age of accoutability in the Bible. If the Bible taught it then the early Christians wouldn't have baptized infants. New christian denominations had to look for justification of not baptizing infants so the "Age of Accountability" was invented. In fact, in 250 AD, before the Bible was born, the Church discussed if an infant should be baptized on the eigth day after it was born. This clearly shows that infant baptism was already practiced by early Christians because the didn't ask wether to baptize or not but WHEN to baptize babies.

Irenaeus of Lyons
"`And [Naaman] dipped himself . . . seven times in the Jordan' [2 Kgs. 5:14]. It was not for nothing that Naaman of old, when suffering from leprosy, was purified upon his being baptized, but [this served] as an indication to us. For as we are lepers in sin, we are made clean, by means of the sacred water and the invocation of the Lord, from our old transgressions, being spiritually regenerated as new-born babes, even as the Lord has declared: `Except a man be born again through water and the Spirit, he shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven' [John 3:5]" (Fragment 34 [A.D. 190]).

Irenaeus of Lyons
"He [Jesus] came to save all through himself; all, I say, who through him are reborn in God infants, and children, and youths, and old men. Therefore he passed through every age, becoming an infant for infants, sanctifying infants; a child for children, sanctifying those who are of that age . . . [so that] he might be the perfect teacher in all things, perfect not only in respect to the setting forth of truth, perfect also in respect to relative age" (Against Heresies 2:22:4 [A.D. 189]).

Hippolytus
"Where there is no scarcity of water the stream shall flow through the baptismal font or pour into it from above; but if water is scarce, whether on a constant condition or on occasion, then use whatever water is available. Let them remove their clothing. Baptize first the children, and if they can speak for themselves let them do so. Otherwise, let their parents or other relatives speak for them" (The Apostolic Tradition 21:16 [A.D. 215]).

Origen
"Every soul that is born into flesh is soiled by the filth of wickedness and sin . . . In the Church baptism is given for the remission of sins, and, according to the usage of the Church, baptism is given even to infants. If there were nothing in infants which required the remission of sins and nothing in them pertinent to forgiveness, the grace of baptism would seem superfluous" (Homilies on Leviticus 8:3 [A.D. 248]).

Origen
"The Church received from the apostles the tradition of giving baptism even to infants. The apostles, to whom were committed the secrets of divine sacraments, knew there is in everyone innate strains of [original] sin, which must be washed away through water and the Spirit" (Commentaries on Romans 5:9 [A.D. 248]).

Cyprian of Carthage
"As to what pertains to the case of infants: You [Fidus] said that they ought not to be baptized within the second or third day after their birth, that the old law of circumcision must be taken into consideration, and that you did not think that one should be baptized and sanctified within the eighth day after his birth.In our council it seemed to us far otherwise. No one agreed to the course which you thought should be taken. Rather, we all judge that the mercy and grace of God ought to be denied to no man born" (Letters 64:2 [A.D. 253]).

Cyprian of Carthage
"If, in the case of the worst sinners and those who formerly sinned much against God, when afterwards they believe, the remission of their sins is granted and no one is held back from baptism and grace, how much more, then, should an infant not be held back, who, having but recently been born, has done no sin, except that, born of the flesh according to Adam, he has contracted the contagion of that old death from his first being born. For this very reason does he [an infant] approach more easily to receive the remission of sins: because the sins forgiven him are not his own but those of another" (ibid., 64:5).
Ambrose of Milan
"Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. No one is excepted, not [even] the infant." (Abraham 1:3:21 [A.D. 387]).

Gregory Nazianz
"Do you have an infant child? Allow sin no opportunity; rather, let the infant be sanctified from childhood. From his most tender age let him be consecrated by the Spirit.Do you fear the seal [of baptism] because of the weakness of nature? Oh, what a pusillanimous mother and of how little faith!" (Oration on Holy Baptism 40:7 [A.D. 388]).

Gregory Nazianz
"`Well enough,' some will say, `for those who ask for baptism, but what do you have to say about those who are still children, and aware neither of loss nor of grace? Shall we baptize them too?' Certainly [I respond], if there is any pressing danger. Better that they be sanctified unaware, than that they depart unsealed and uninitiated" (ibid., 40:28).

John Chrysostom
"You see how many are the benefits of baptism, and some think its heavenly grace consists only in the remission of sins, but we have enumerated ten honors [it bestows]! For this reason we baptize even infants, though they are not defiled by [personal] sins, so that there may be given to them holiness, righteousness, adoption, inheritance, brotherhood with Christ, and that they may be his [Christ's] members" (Baptismal Catecheses in Augustine, Against Julian 1:6:21 [A.D. 388]).

Augustine
"What the universal Church holds, not as instituted [invented] by councils but as something always held, is most correctly believed to have been handed down by apostolic authority. Since others respond for children, so that the celebration of the sacrament may be complete for them, it is certainly availing to them for their consecration, because they themselves are not able to respond" (On Baptism, Against the Donatists 4:24:31 [A.D. 400]).

Augustine
"The custom of Mother Church in baptizing infants is certainly not to be scorned, nor is it to be regarded in any way as superfluous, nor is it to be believed that its tradition is anything except apostolic" (The Literal Interpretation of Genesis 10:23:39 [A.D. 408]).

Augustine
"Cyprian was not issuing a new decree but was keeping to the most solid belief of the Church in order to correct some who thought that infants ought not be baptized before the eighth day after their birth. . . . He agreed with certain of his fellow bishops that a child is able to be duly baptized as soon as he is born" (Letters 166:8:23 [A.D. 412]).

Augustine
"By this grace baptized infants too are ingrafted into his [Christ's] body, infants who certainly are not yet able to imitate anyone. Christ, in whom all are made alive . . . gives also the most hidden grace of his Spirit to believers, grace which he secretly infuses even into infants. . . . It is an excellent thing that the Punic [North African] Christians call baptism salvation and the sacrament of Christ's Body nothing else than life. Whence does this derive, except from an ancient and, as I suppose, apostolic tradition, by which the Churches of Christ hold inherently that without baptism and participation at the table of the Lord it is impossible for any man to attain either to the kingdom of God or to salvation and life eternal? This is the witness of Scripture too . . . If anyone wonders why children born of the baptized should themselves be baptized, let him attend briefly to this . . . The sacrament of baptism is most assuredly the sacrament of regeneration" (Forgiveness and the Just Deserts of Sin, and the Baptism of Infants 1:9:10; 1:24:34; 2:27:43 [A.D. 412]).

Augustine
"Unless we voluntarily depart from the rule of the Christian faith, it must be admitted that inasmuch as infants are, by the sacrament of baptism, conformed to the death of Christ, they are also freed from the serpent's venomous bite" (ibid., 2:27:43).

Council of Carthage V
"Item: It seemed good that whenever there were not found reliable witnesses who could testify that without any doubt they [children whom had been found abandoned] were baptized and when the children themselves were not, on account of their tender age, able to answer concerning the giving of the sacraments to them, all such children should be baptized without scruple, lest a hesitation should deprive them of the cleansing of the sacraments. This was urged by the [Northwest African] legates, our brethren, since they redeem many such [abandoned children] from the barbarians" (canon 7 [A.D. 401]).

Council of Mileum II
"[W]hoever says that infants fresh from their mothers' wombs ought not to be baptized, or say that they are indeed baptized unto the remission of sins, but that they draw nothing of the original sin of Adam, which is expiated in the bath of regeneration . . . let him be anathema [excommunicated]. Since what the apostle [Paul] says, 'Through one man sin entered into the world (and sin through death), and so passed to all men, in whom all have sinned' [Rom. 5:12], must not be understood otherwise than the Catholic Church spread everywhere has always understood it. For on account of this rule of faith even infants, who in themselves thus far have not been able to commit any sin, are therefore truly baptized unto the remission of sins, so that that which they have contracted from generation may be cleansed in them by regeneration" (canon 3 [A.D. 416]).

The African Code
"Concerning the Donatists it seemed good that we should hold counsel with our brethren . . . concerning those infants alone who are baptized by Donatists, lest what they did not do of their own will, when they should be converted to the Church of God with a salutary determination, the error of their parents might prevent their promotion to the ministry of the holy altar" (canon 47[51] [A.D. 419]).