Christians: At what age does one stop getting a free ride? read on...?

Question

By that I mean, where ends "innocence" ?

I've been reading some of the comments about aborted embryos and fetuses all getting to go straight to heaven. And Mormons apparently believe children up to age 8 who die, will go to heaven (why 8???)

I'm curious about your thoughts, or what you've been taught in your particular church.

At what point does God damn children to hell if they die before they've made a decision to accept Christ?

Susie, the question wasn't about "God's love". God's plan for humanity is clear...accept his dead son as your saviour, or face eternal hellfire.
And none of this "age of accountability" equivocating.

God won't fry a fetus or a newborn. You are agreed on that? Will he roast a 1 yr old? bake a 2 yr old? Where does God draw the line...I've met some pretty mature 6-7 year olds, do they have to be saved to avoid the flames for all their sins?

Answer 1

The age of accountability is one of many misleading terms which are often used in Christian circles. Most people would agree that basically it means, 'a person who is young enough that he is not yet able to understand fully the results of his actions' (It being theorized by some that these children are not held accountable for the things which they do which are against God's law). For example, a six year old child that might hit his sister over the head with a toy block in anger. 'Theoretically,' this child is not held accountable by God because he had not yet reached an age where he is able to fully understand what he was doing. The problem with this theory is that it is based upon the logical processes of fallen human thought, and is a perverse twisting of God's law for the sake of what seems right in our own eyes. There is nothing in God's law that says man must fully understand sin, before it is actually sin. On the contrary, this doctrine is both un-biblical and self serving, for it presupposes unrighteously that sin must first be recognized as sin before it is actually accountable. Nothing in scripture supports such a thesis.

Another theory is that all children are automatically guaranteed Salvation because God loves children. The texts most often quoted are verses such as Matthew 19:19, Mark 10:14 or Luke 18:16, where Jesus says things like "Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven." But this is a misunderstanding of application, for here Jesus is using Children as an illustration of the Christian as he is a child of God. He is making the analogy of how the believers are to be humble 'as children.' The teaching is that they are to walk meekly, accepting and receiving the Word of their father as Children do with their earthly fathers. This has nothing to do with Children being righteous or without sin, which is actually a heretical teaching. For all professing Christians should know inherently that 'there are none who are without sin, except God,' and only the elect, those washed in the blood of the Lamb, are automatically guaranteed Salvation.

Answer 2

I think you will find that it is not just a case of being "damned to hell." Nobody is suddenly damned to hell upon reaching the age of accountability. Mormons believe that little children are innocent until they reach the age of accountability, which was set at the age of 8 by latter-day revelation (Doctrine & Covenants 68:25)
It is not a case of holding a ticket to hell until you trade it in for a ticket to heaven when you accept Christ. Where you end up in the next life if you die after reaching the age of accountability will depend upon judgement as everybody must be judged and rewarded according to how we have lived our lives, whether they be good or bad.
A provision is also made for those who die without getting the opportunity to hear the gospel in this life.

Answer 3

The “age of accountability” is a concept that teaches those who die before reaching the “age of accountability” are automatically saved, by God’s grace and mercy. The “age of accountability” is a belief that God saves all those who die before reaching the ability to make a decision for or against Christ. Thirteen is the most common number given for the age of accountability based on the Jewish custom that a child becomes an adult at the age of 13. However, the Bible gives no direct support to the age of 13 always being the age of accountability. It likely varies from child to child. A child has passed the age of accountability once he or she is capable of making a faith decision for or against Christ.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

When that child understands that they are sinners, and that they are responsible for their sins.

God told Joseph Smith that the age of accountability was around age 8. Someone read once that at about that age, the two sides of the brain finally come togetherr, and the child starts to understand abstract concepts.

I don't believe that God is going to damn anyone to hell, except the Sons of Perdition, and I don't know who that would be.

Answer 6

Theres a scripture that stated from Jesus "let the children come to me " when they were told to get away from him.Jesus is Gods only son and he never turned children away from him.God only hurt the Pharaohs first born after he had been warned this was not a random act to be a killer.

I do believe that God loves us even though we fail him he sometimes finds a way at looking in our hearts to see whats there.If he feels it's not reaching you then yes he will turn his back on you.Everybody wants the lord to be lovey dovy all the time.Do you feel like being lovey dovy when your paint is scrapped off your car?

Answer 7

G-d does not damn any to hell who don't know the difference between right and wrong.

And as a man of faith I don't believe anyway in eternal hell or a vengeful G-d. I think life is more complex than that, destiny or the future is not so easy for us to decipher.

I wonder how one is so bent on proving against some idea, that one does not open one's mind to seek the possibilities. Have you never read the Seven Story Mountain?

Answer 8

There's not a specific defined year age
It's called the Age of Accountability...when the children are able to make a conscious decision oin their life about they're faith

Answer 9

>>I'm curious about your thoughts, or what you've been taught in your particular church.<<

According to child psychiatrists, around age seven a child (of normal intelligence) can know right from wrong. Thus, this is the age the Catholic Church expects the faithful to begin going to confession.

Answer 10

The age of accountability varies for everyone. You know you've reached that age when you realize that you're a sinner and that Jesus Christ is the only way to get your sins cleansed. It's not your good works, it's Him!