election to salvation being not of works but of Him who calls
( Ro. 9:11 ) is illustrated by the few examples of those saved by God
before they were ever born.
such is the case of Jacob, David, Jeremiah and John the Baptist for
example.
Jacob... Ro. 9:13
David... Ps.139:13
Jeremiah... Jer. 1:5
John the Baptist... Lu. 1:15
since most people believe that God automatically saves unto eternal
life children dying at birth it raises the question : at what age is
a child held accountable to God ? if the belief is that the Bible
teaches they are saved from birth then rightly so they are accountable
from birth.
being that all people are born in Adam and " in Adam all die "
( 1 Cor. 15:22 ) and since " The wicked are estranged from the womb;
They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies." Ps. 58:3
it appears from these and other text that we can be responsible from
birth.
this must be the case since it was commanded of the Israel to utterly
destroy the inhabitants of the land they were given by God to possess.
they were commanded to kill man, woman and children and even nursing
children...
" And the LORD said to me, 'See, I have begun to give Sihon and his
land over to you. Begin to possess it, that you may inherit his land.
Then Sihon and all his people came out against us to fight at Jahaz.
And the LORD our God delivered him over to us; so we defeated him,
his sons, and all his people.
We took all his cities at that time, and we utterly destroyed the
men, women, and little ones of every city; we left none remaining. "
Duet. 2:31-34
there were commanded to destroy infants and nursing babes...
" Thus says the LORD of hosts: 'I will punish Amalek for what he did
to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt.
Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have,
and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing
child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey." 1 Sam. 15: 2,3
these infants and nursing children were counted with the rest whom the
Lord slew with the edge of the sword and are spoken of in subsequent
verses as being ' despised and worthless ' ( v 9 ) and ' sinners '
( v 18 )
it can not be imagined that God slays the righteous and sinner alike
as in Abraham's bargaining with God over the inhabitants of Sodom and
Gomorrah, but rather...
" But of the cities of these peoples which the LORD your God gives
you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes remain
alive, but you shall utterly destroy them " Duet. 20:16,17
we are all in our nursing infancy found to be with original sin... our
inheritance from Adam.
unless God, in His mercy and kindness is willing to save a child from
eternal death then any child or nursing babe stands guilty before God
since being found in Adam all die. these above quoted examples speak
to the fact that God is of purer eyes than to behold evil and that He
can not look on wickedness. ( Habakkuk 1:13 ) and we all know the
LORD is the same yesterday, today and forever. Heb. 13:8
He punishs sin regardless of the age of the person sin is found in
since our age is nothing before God...
" my age is as nothing before You " Ps. 39: 5
it can not be said that God automatically grants eternal life to
someone based on age but rather on God who has mercy on whom He wills.
we can only hope in the goodness of our God that a new born who dies
has been shown mercy...
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