Question:

Do you believe babies go to Hell if they die?

Answer:

I personally believe that babies, and those under the age of accountability, and those unable to think (severely retarded), go to heaven upon death. Now, can I prove it from the Bible?  Not as much as I would like. I find some evidence that David and Bathsheba's baby (2 Samuel 12:23) went to heaven, but there is not enough other Scriptures to be dogmatic and say that all babies go to heaven.

In order for David's infant to go to heaven, he must have been elect, because all babies are conceived with the original sin of Adam, and thus are condemned to Hell.  And thus, all infants are incapable of saving themselves.  God must intervene with His supernatural and irresistible grace.  However, is a baby any more unable to save himself than is a 50 year old CEO of a large company?  Being able to talk and think doesn't make one any more able to see and respond to spiritual things, since everyone is spiritual death and blind at conception.

Christ would have had to pay for the sins of the infant, or even of the aborted baby (the single sin of Adam). So that infant or fetus' original sin would had to have been suffered by Christ on Calvary.

I think that David's son case, and his assurance that he was going to be with the baby in Heaven is indication that a baby can be elect, but are all babies elect?  I would like to think so, but simply cannot prove it.

We cannot argue that "It wouldn't be fair!" since "fairness" would put every human eternally in Hell.  They all sinned in Adam, and thus are all condemned (1Corinthians 15:22).  We cannot argue that "They didn't have a chance to exercise their free will!" Since they are blind and deaf to spiritual things.

We may think that little babies are so cute and adorable, that God just couldn't throw them into Hell, but remember, that "man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart," and when God sees the heart of a fetus or a baby, He sees sin.

So the question about babies, is did God elect all of them to salvation, or just some?  I personally believe they are all elect.  

Now, let me add, that there are numerous passages in the New Testament that speak of sinners being condemned to eternal judgment because they "refuse" to believe, which may imply that one must actually "refuse" the gospel to be eternally condemned, which would then seem to require that a person be born and come to an age of understanding.  This "refusal" does not have to be verbal, but can be simply an ignoring of the truth, as not being worthwhile.  From all this, then we could add support for the salvation of babies because of their inability of personally "refusing" Christ and His gospel.

Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "Tony Capoccia's Questions and Answers" by:

Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
Box 314
Columbus, New Jersey, USA, 08022
Websites: www.biblebb.com and www.gospelgems.com
Email: tony@biblebb.com
Online since 1986