Posted on 04/29/2014 2:55:24 PM PDT by NYer
Washington, DC (LiveActionNews) — Heaven is for Real is a new movie based on a book by pastor and father Todd Burpo. Burpo wrote the book after his 4-year-old son Colton had a near-death experience that lead to a heavenly encounter. After Colton recovered, he began telling his parents remarkable stories, like meeting the sister he never knew in heaven. Although Colton had no knowledge of his mom’s miscarriage, he told his parents he met a girl who told him she died in his mother’s tummy. The bestselling book and film have inspired countless people, giving them hope that heaven is a real place.
The subject of heaven has come up a number of times as I’ve worked in the pro-life movement. The two questions that I’ve heard asked by post-abortive moms and moms considering abortion are: 1) Do aborted babies go to heaven? and 2) If aborted babies will go right to heaven, why is it wrong to abort them?
Let’s start with the first question. Do aborted babies go to heaven? Pastor Mark Driscoll from Mars Hill church has a great article titled “What happens to babies when they die.” In the article, Mark addresses the pain his family has faced through his wife’s miscarriage. He says the eternal fate of unborn children and infants is a mystery that has always haunted the church. He shares quotes from respected Bible teachers who believe that unborn children and infants go straight to heaven after death because they’ve not made decisions about following God or performed good or evil acts. Driscoll shares a quote from former Bible teacher Charles Spurgeon: “I cannot conceive it possible of him [Jesus] as the loving and tender one, that when he shall sit to judge all nations, he should put the little ones on the left hand, and should banish them for ever from his presence.”
Pastor John Piper, an outspoken pro-life minister and adoptive father, wrote an article on infants’ eternal future. He believes that babies, like all humans, are brought into the world with a sinful nature because of the original sin of Adam and Eve. However, he believes that God has a way to cover their sin even before they are born. Piper wrote: “The way I see it is that God ordains, for his own wise purposes, that at the judgment day all the children who died in infancy will be covered by the blood of Jesus. And they will come to faith, either in heaven immediately or later in the resurrection. And God will not condemn them because he wants to manifest openly and publicly that he does not condemn those who did not have the mental capacities to put their faith in him.”
Question #2: If aborted babies will go right to heaven, why is it wrong to abort them? I had a woman ask me this in front of an abortion clinic once. Some women fear bringing their unborn babies into a world of chaos and confusion. They have emotional issues or financial problems, and they don’t think they can afford another child. Some people who believe in heaven justify their choice to abort because they think their baby will be in a “better place.”
Randy Alcorn is the founder and director of Eternal Perspectives Ministry. He is also the author of the book Why Pro-Life and Pro-Life Answers to Pro-Choice Questions. In a video interview, Alcorn directly answers the question of whether aborted children are better off because they’ll go straight to heaven. Alcorn has sadly been asked this question by two pastors, who asked him, “Why are you trying to do all this stuff to prevent abortions? ‘Children are better off dying’, they said. ‘They’re going to be in Heaven forever.’” Alcorn was deeply bothered by that question and shares his honest thoughts on the subject here.
Regardless of what you believe, the possibility of an afterlife is a thought worth pondering. As for me, I believe that children go into the arms of a loving and gracious heavenly Father, although I know that aborting them is not an acceptable way to get them there faster. If it isn’t right to take the life of a born child outside the womb, it shouldn’t be right to do the same for one inside the womb.
I am convinced that heaven is a glorious place. It’s comforting to know their is a home for every child who passes from this world to the next.
LifeNews Note: Christinia Martin writes for Live Action News. Martin has been a pro-life voice for eight years. Her work began after her mother confessed she paid a doctor to abort her, but walked out before he could. Knowing she was saved from death, she wanted to fight for others.
Well-said.
Okay, now I get what you mean.
However, I don’t think Abraham’s Bosom exists any longer.
1. During those three days in the tomb, Christ descended and freed the captives. (Eph. 4:8-10, 1 Peter 3:9 and 4:5-6)
2. Now we are “absent from the body, present with the Lord...” (2 Corin. 5:8)
3. Nobody left in Hades (hell) except unbelievers (Rev. 20:13-14)
I know there are major disagreements on the above. But I believe Christ completed the work of salvation for all believers past, present and future.
Acts 2:38
Peter said to them: Do penance and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins: and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Everyone was born with original sin and baptism is required to be admitted into the presence of the Trinity and enjoy the beatific vision. Revelation tells us that nothing imperfect gets into heaven. Revelation 21:27
Therefore, unbaptized, aborted children are not in the presence of God. However, they are certainly not in hell - they are in a state of pure happiness that does not include the presence of the Trinity. Otherwise, baptism is not needed and this contradicts the bible. So the unbaptized who are not in heaven or hell HAVE to be somewhere else.
There is no need for outrage. God takes care of them and loves them and has them in a place of happiness and peace.
No. “Christian mythology” refers to abiblical stories that surround Christianity and have become traditional.
Oh no worries. It was an interesting. Thread
Unfortunately I agree with you.
I don’t think there’s anyone who believes God is sending unborn souls into Hell for eternity, but believing dying unborn is a means of salvation seems to fly against the entire Gospel message.
I believe their mothers have brought a great darkness onto their future existence.
I guess I still have hope for them after Christ returns and makes all things right.
Just got back in and, thank you, I’ll take the entire stack in the back. MMMMMMMMM.
Was this movie produced by T.D. Jakes, the Winnie Mandela/Trayvon Martin cheerleader?
Absolutely..."...He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it." Wonderful words.
Sorry, I misunderstood. Totally agree with your assessment. You have identified one of the many errors of Islam.
We are not "all God's children", rather, we are all sons of the devil. We only become God's children when we believe on the one he sent.
John 8: 41 You are doing the works of your own father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”
42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me.
43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say.
44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
====
John 1: 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
I repeat, St. Paul did not quote them to refute them, but to agree with them, because he immediately follows up, "SINCE we are God's offspring..." He uses them as evidence that even the pagans "search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him -—-though indeed he is not far from each one of us" (v.27)
This rings true throughout Scripture:
Malachi 2:10
Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us?
Romans 11:36
For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.
1 Corinthians 8:6
yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.
Ephesians 3:14-15
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
Liars, murderers, and overt rejecters of Christ Our Lord are sons of the devil, but only in the sense that they have cooperated with evil. But it is tragically wrong to say that we are all born sons of the devil. The ancestral, inherited flaw we do bear --- that weakness, that concupiscence which is the result of our ancestors' sin --- but God is still, as Malachi said, Our Father and Creator.
You said:
“We really don’t know the exact answer to this. But what we do know is God is far more merciful and gracious than we can comprehend.”
I agree. I cannot see a merciful God and Jesus NOT sending angels to bring the souls of babies that die back to heaven.
LOL
There are many point on which we agree, but there are perhaps some we may see differently, and I am convinced that my understanding is correct. However, I am not closed to the Spirit's correction. Here are some statements, with my understanding:
Did God make me? No. He "made" Adam and Eve, I was born as a result of their actions in response to His command and arrangement.
Did God knit me together in my mothers womb?He certainly set up the chemical actions that would cause it, and the "natural" process. Whether he actively involved himself in that action, I am unsure. If he "made" me directly, he made me sinful. Hard to reconcile with his perfect nature.
Did God bring all humans out of Adam?Undoubtedly! Thus, we are his offspring.
Are we all "children of God"? Only insofar as he caused us to be born through the actions of Adam.
Who are the true children of God, co-heirs with Christ?
Only those who confess Jesus is the Christ, and are born again.
Where did you get the last idea?
John 1:12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—
13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
John 3:3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.
Galatians 3:26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,
1 John 1:31 See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
Malachi 2:10 Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?
This passage does not refer to all mankind per se, but rather Israel, whom God called out of Egypt, and made his own people.
Reference 1 Chron 17:21 And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth whose God went out to redeem a people for himself, and to make a name for yourself, and to perform great and awesome wonders by driving out nations from before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt?
22 You made your people Israel your very own forever, and you, Lord, have become their God.
As you are expounding upon the scriptures, may I ask what your take on the passages following John 3:3 would be? I’m referring specifically to John 3:4 and 5, where Nicodemus refers to the birth from the womb and Jesus extends, saying, ‘Except born of water and the Spirit’. Was Jesus referring to born of the amniotic ‘water’ or to baptism in water?
John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit.
6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.
In any case, I will not engage in any further discussion with you, as you would likely resort to the same puerile name calling when you run out of cogent arguments, as found here post 69.
Proverbs 26:4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, or you yourself will be just like him.
Perhaps you could expound on that
BTW, the question is relevant to the thread topic.
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