[Forest Keeper]

FK: You are right that the verses you cite do not apply to the reprobate. They refer to true faith being pure and innocent, like a little child.

How can someone born bound to hell be "pure and innocent?"

It doesn't last. :) satan had a pretty good start too, but we all know what happened. Plus, the stain of original sin is enough by itself to condemn, even before the first actual committed sin beyond the age of reason. So, the focus is really on the nature of the faith in comparison to the appearance of the child. IOW, a child being innocent and pure by itself doesn't mean anything. The faith must be like that.

FK: The elect will receive the kingdom of God like a little child.

But we are supposedly born condemned, remember?

Yes, it is just a matter of time. At any given point in time any living elect may or may not be saved. By the end they are all saved, but this happens at different points in their lives.

[kosta50]

So, the focus is really on the nature of the faith in comparison to the appearance of the child.

A child, by necessity, has blind faith. A child also does not know right from wrong, so how can that be the "model" to strive for?

It is more likely that Jesus was not talking about the nature of their faith but about their de facto innocence.