Q: I have always been told if a person dies before the age of accountability, they automatically go to heaven– including aborted babies and the mentally handicapped. Is there any exact scriptural evidence?

A: Your question has been debated for centuries, and is charged with emotion beyond measure, because there is no explicit scripture that directly addresses this issue. The Majority of Christians make assumptions based on grace, compassion, love, and their personal perception of a sovereign God. I’ll present you with the following considerations and in the end tell you why we have hope of meeting a daughter who passed away one hour after birth. I also proceed with great caution, knowing that my emotions provide no free pass for me to override a God who is the supreme authority of all.

I begin by noting that there are some adults who have no more idea than a goat as to what accountability mean. Thus, the age of accountability differs from person to person.

There are also correlating verses which I can point to that others see differently. When David’s son died, he declared that he would go to his son, but his son would not return to him. (See 2 Sam 12:23.) Since David was a man after God’s own heart, many feel both father and son received eternal life with God. Someone else says that thought is only valid because the boy’s parents were believers, making the boy sanctified according to 1 Corinthians 7:14, inferring that without believing parents, the child is lost.

Someone notes Matthew 19:13‑15 where Jesus declared, “Do not hinder children from coming to Me, for the kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.” Another points out that these children were brought by believing parents, invoking 1 Corinthians 7:14 again. (See Mat 19:13.)

What makes this all so sticky is that the Bible clearly teaches that infants are born in a state of sin and are in need of regeneration. David said, “I was brought forth in iniquity” (Psa 51:5). Sin is the deadliest disease inherently passed from generation to generation since Adam. (See Rom 5:14.) Babies may appear innocent, but Jacob and Esau were already warring with each other inside Rebekah.

The power of sin is a problem that seems to go unnoticed by our generation. People don’t want to deal with it, but its poison is there regardless. Since there is not a simple yes or no answer to your question, we’ll move on from the problem to address the personality of God, followed by the possibilities.

Until next week, I leave you with this to mull over: Jonah desired the entire city of Nineveh destroyed. God rebuked Jonah, saying he didn’t even care that there were 120,000 who didn’t know their left hand from their right. And little children don’t know their left from their right.

Jonah 4:11