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Posted on 03/10/2004 9:37:27 PM PST by malakhi
| Statesmen may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue. - John Adams |
What happens to the child under the age of accountability...
That's a real conundrum for those who believe we must "accept" God's offer of salvation.
But it's the same supposed problem shared by the bushman in Africa, the imbecile, the infant, the young child who dies too early, IF salvation is predicated on one's conscious "acceptance" of God's grace.
It's clear if a man has no legs, he cannot respond by walking to the altar call. If he has no arms, he cannot crawl to answer the altar call. If he's blind, he cannot see it. If deaf, he cannot hear it. If sick, he cannot rise to greet it. If lost, he cannot find his way to it. If too young, he cannot leap from the cradle and run to it.
If fallen and dead in sin, no man can come to faith in Jesus Christ unless he is lifted and brought to the altar by God's grace alone.
So none of us knows to whom God will give eyes to see, and ears to hear, and legs to run and hearts to love the Word.
The Arminian believes that God's call must be "accepted" in order to activate God's grace. If this were true, all of the above would be damned, and their names would never have been in the Book of Life in the first place.
But a Calvinist believes that within this perplexity, within this vast area between our awareness and God's eternal purpose, there's room for those whom God chooses to bring to Him in ways we don't understand -- because salvation is of the Lord. It is dependent on NOTHING but His good pleasure and purpose, known to Him from before the foundation of the world.
Thus: 1) we have a reasonable hunch that others who display a righteous faith in Jesus Christ are most likely among the elect, because "faith in Christ is the evidence of God's choosing, not the cause of it;" 2) we have a secure knowledge of our own salvation because God has graciously provided us with the comfort of the Holy Spirit who encourages and confirms our faith in Jesus Christ; and 3) we have a hopeful, loving, righteous belief that because salvation is of the Lord, those whom God wants, are already His.
John Calvin lost a child in infancy. He knew the pain and fear that comes with contemplating eternity without your child. Calvin concluded, through Scripture and devotion, that this was one of those questions whose perfect answer on earth eludes us.
But he drew comfort by knowing that in heaven, there is only joy. And this joy must surely include reunion with ALL our loved ones.
It's a very good question.
Amen. They miss so much who really don't believe in the granite absoluteness of God.
Worth repeating ...
You wouldn't want to disappoint, ... would you ?
No scalping tickets, either. They're not for sale, at any price. ONLY the original ticket holders will get in. As it has been said another way: God doesn't have grandchildren.
Faith in Christ is the evidence of God's choosing, not the cause of it.
Ahem. A certian unnamed group would disagree with you.
LOL. How'd I miss that one?
I would disagree. God gave Noah specific dimensions and instructions on building the ark. Presumably enough to hold all the animals, Noah's family and probably some food. If it was up to men to choose how would God know how big to build the ark? God gave a way for Noah and his family to be saved only.
That certain unnamed group would be WRONG, too!
Reminds me of a Cleveland local TV show that's been on for years, which started with the original Ghoulardi, and then kept the format after Ernie Anderson left to go to Hollywood. They always poked fun at Polish people (Cleveland is full of people of Polish descent), until they were told that they couldn't mention the nationality (undoubtedly because of all the very unPC Pollack jokes that used to go around). The TV show got around it by referring to them as "a certain ethnic" person, or "certain ethnic" people. It just made their skits and jokes even funnier. Characters like the Keilbasa Kid, Mary Hartski, Ben Crazy, and stuff like that. Anyone on this thread from the Cleveland area will know exactly what I'm talking about.
Perhaps we have moved from "political correctness" to "religious correctness"? Oh, the horrors! The humanity! Except we can't abbreviate it to RC, we aren't referring to Catholics. DC, perhaps? "Doctrinal Correctness"? Have to think on that awhile....
Perhaps we have moved from "political correctness" to "religious correctness"?
No, just doing what authors have been doing for years in the presence of censorship. Makes it all the more fun when the "unnamed group" gets the point but can't respond without looking paranoid.
They couldn’t rejoice if they could be blotted out the next day. Revelation 17:8, "And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast…"
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Rev.17 8 The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were NOT written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
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So as I read this it is the Sons of predition that is NOT written in the book of life!
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Foreordained = Premoral
"Just as He chose US in Him before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4)
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Eph.1 According as he hath CHOOSEN US in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated (consider)us unto the ADOPTION of children by Jesus Christ to himself, ACCORDING to the good pleasure OF HIS WILL,
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
You are incorrect in your statement. The reason God allowed the children to survive is because their fathers said that they would die in the wilderness. God proved them wrong. Please consider:
Deu 1:39 "Moreover, your little ones who you said would become a prey, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall possess it."
Less you think the verse "have no knowledge of good or evil" shows an "age of accountability" please consider that God was going to wipe every one of them out and make a great nation of Moses. Please consider:
Exo 32:10 "Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation."
and again...
Num 16:21 "Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them instantly."
And if you think God does not bring forth His wrath on children than consider this passage one of many...
Num 16:25-32 "Then Moses arose and went to Dathan and Abiram, with the elders of Israel following him, and he spoke to the congregation, saying, "Depart now from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing that belongs to them, or you will be swept away in all their sin." So they got back from around the dwellings of Korah, Dathan and Abiram; and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the doorway of their tents, along with their wives and their sons and their little ones. Moses said, "By this you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these deeds; for this is not my doing. "If these men die the death of all men or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me. "But if the LORD brings about an entirely new thing and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that is theirs, and they descend alive into Sheol, then you will understand that these men have spurned the LORD." As he finished speaking all these words, the ground that was under them split open; and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who belonged to Korah with their possessions.
There is no such thing as an "age of accountability".
What about the rest of the verse (Deuteronomy 1:39)....your children,which in that day had no knowledge between good and evil,.....
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