Can someone explain the logic in this?

Question

I got a reponse to a previous answer and I know many people who agree.

Aborted children are being 'condemned' too. What right does anyone have to say that a slaughtered infant is sinful enough to go to a flaming pit for eternity? I don't beleive in heaven or hell, but this is so offensive that people condemn innocent children who never even got the chance to live (or sin) in this world.

Could a Christian explain this to me? Why do most people say aborted/miscarried babies go to "hell"?

Answer 1

Because of original sin. Humans, according to Christian doctrine (starting with St. Augustine), are all tarnished due to the original sin, the temptation of Eve in the garden of Eden (incidently, this is not seen as the root of original sin in the Jewish tradition). The only way into heaven to to be purified of your sins by accepting Jesus into your heart, or to be baptised, or to be confirmed, or whatever your Christian denomination says it should be. Until that point, if you die, you're going to hell.

An aborted fetus doesn't have a chance to repent, or give its life to Jesus. As it is born with the same sin we all are, when it dies, it goes to hell. It's the only natural outcome of the Christian tradition. Nowhere in the bible does it say that infants receive special dispensation. This troubles most people because most have a sense of fairness, even when it comes to god. How could it be fair for him to damn someone to eternal punishment without even giving that person a chance? Of course, the one thing that the bible absolutely teaches about god is that he isn't fair, in any sense of the word.

Answer 2

Speaking as a Christian, I would say that the ones that made a statement like this, are not Christians. Not only a Child, but anyone that has not reach the Age of Accountability will go to Heaven when they die. The Age of Accountability, is different for different people. Someone who has been to Church all their life and heard the Word of God Preached may reach the Age of Accountability as young as 4 or 5, where as someone who has never heard the Word or been taught may reach the Age of Accountability at a much older age. That is way Jesus says, How can they learn if they do not have a teacher.

Answer 3

That was one interpretation, but the Catholic church has never come up with a definitive idea about what happens to unbaptised infants. The Bible is mute on the subject.

The Bible isn't mute about the affect sin plays in human nature, and it's because of this nature it can be said that humans have a natural inclination to evil. Even though the infant never did anything, they were predeposed to commit sin later in life.

There is also the matter of original sin , which the infant would die with. Christians believe that through the sin of Adam and Eve all humans now bear the mark of our disobedience to God. This original sin, is washed away at Baptism. Baptism is also a demonstration of a desire to follow Christ in life.

Not all miscarried infants die in a state of original sin, because of baptism of the will; a belief found in the church by the 1st century AD. This says that if someone is truely unable to be baptised, that they can become baptised through their desire to become a Christian. Since it is/was also common practice to baptise infants, the same can be said for a mother who miscarries, and had planned to baptise the child.

In short, there is no doctrine about this matter, and many ideas have sprung up. One is limbo, the idea that infants won't be damned, because they have never commited a personal sin, but can't be saved either because of original sin. Antother approach was to say that dead infants go to hell, which has been almost completely abandoned, because it seems a little cruel for a merciful God.

Answer 4

abulafia24 's explanation was great. He covered the main reasons for the belief.

I would like to add that, the Catholics/Christians "painted themselves into a corner". They are amazingly good at doing that, but also amazingly good at finding a way out or around their own argumentation.
1) The idea of original sin is a clever one: Everyone is born with sin; you start in debt and have to work your whole sinful life to get out of it. Great spin for maintaining control. If you die with sin you go to hell.
2) According to them aborted fetuses, birth control, masturbation, sex for pleasure, same sex sex, and even wet dreams are murder and send the innocent to hell. This makes everyone sinful; more control and power.
3) Unfortunately people started thinking that God is supposed to be fair (they are wrong; the Bible does NOT claim that their God is fair, quite the opposite). The explanation was limbo: children go to limbo, but sinners who "ended their lives" still pay in hell AS IF the children were in hell.

Even early Protestant religions believed this logic though they were some of the first to change dogma towards the new "fair" idea of god. Most current Christians have the idea of a fair god so ingrained that they are afraid to actually question many of the tenants of their own belief (not to mention history).

When it comes to the question of ANY young children dieing, the Bible actually says that they just die and are NOT brought back on judgement day (nothing to judge). Pets do not come back either. Sentimental Christians are afraid to face this and have made up tons of loopholes to explain why "of course they will be in heaven, because it would not be paradice without them".

Unfortunately they are wrong. Their god does not claim to be fair and if they are not going to the new earth without Spot, then they do not get to go at all.

Answer 5

People struggle to make their beliefs comprehensive, consistent and logical. But faith is about accepting the unprovable. So, without evidence to verify a belief, it can get logically dicey connecting all the loose ends.

This is especially the case when contemplating the absolute and infinite qualities of God. We don't have any material "infinities" to make comparisons with, so we have trouble contemplating the contradictions that arise between, say, "perfect" justice and "perfect" mercy, "omniscience" and "free will". "Omnipotence" and the existence of a universe separate from God.

We understand that true justice cannot allow innocence to be punished. But some of us have also determined that humanity is too imperfect to be allowed in heaven without the pardon of God, which cannot be given without an individual's permission if they have free will. This "positive option" salvation schema is problematic for those who are too young to be able to assent to the gift of salvation. So theologians have formulated, at various times, logical escape hatches such as a post-life evangelization and test, or a "limbo" (paradise minus God). But each option was complicated, inconsistent, and not very popular.

Another solution is "negative option" salvation. (Everyone is heaven-bound until proven sinful.) But this idea denied the well-established doctrines of Original Sin and the "Lord I am not worthy" business. So its adherents were excommunicated and exiled into their own denomination.

The simple fact is, we have to trust that our perfectly good God knows how to care for his creation and that our ridiculous attempts to put the divine mind into a legal or mathematical formula are ridiculous. God does what is right, not what some theologian decides is proper. God does not require us to understand everything, just our role in the universe, which is to comfort the afflicted, challenge the comfortable, and love all creation. Those who presume to speak for God are merely saying what would happen if THEY were God.

Answer 6

I don't know who told you this but they are very much mistaken. Baby's are born into a world of sin but are not yet accountable for sin. Baby's have no concept of right or wrong. So G-d does not send aborted and miscarried babies to hell. Yeshua says the kingdom belongs to such as these, He was speaking of children. I think maybe that person was messing with you because that is a pretty twisted thing to say.Not to mention unbiblical.

Answer 7

Most Christians are probably not dogmatic at all on this issue. If they are, they are quite foolish for the Bible provides very little data about this. This is an area where I simply have to leave it in his hands knowing that God's fairness and justice will work it out. I could see God allowing all those who die before they are at a stage where they can choose for themselves, to go to heaven. However, I will say it is largely conjecture on this issue. The only support people will use is the story of when David was mourning for his son. When he heard that his son died, he simply stopped mourning and said, He cannot come to me, but I can go to him. This could just be a reference to the afterlife, but could also be a reference to paradise.

Answer 8

This premise you are claiming is "Christian" is simply not "Christian" as you claim it to be.

"Sinful enough" to go to hell? This is a misconception.

We are all sinners. Whether or not we go to hell does not depend on how much we sin vs. how much we are good;
it is not our actions, but -God's- actions, that ultimately save us.

And God has saved us by sending his only son to die for our sins. God wants us to be saved; he is not out to condemn us.
There is even scriptural support for this. See John 3:17

When you say "most people" as in "most Christians" -- this must be based on your own experiences. I'm not sure which strange offshoot sects of Christianity you are associating with, but mainstream Christians are never going to assert this.

Answer 9

Aborted children dont go to Hell. We are all born sinners: but you can not go to hell until you reach the "age of accountability" which is where you have the choice of learning about God, or have been under conviction

Answer 10

I have been a full gospel Christian for many years and do not believe that. God is not unjust and his character as revealed in both old and new testaments,testify that he is fair. No one is predestined to hell. There are few serious Christians or students of the Word of God,that would subscribe to this thinking.