Ask Pastor Mike Live

Michael: Yes, pastor. My question is this. Is any child or any person that does not reach the age of accountability? Do they automatically go to heaven? And what I'm including here is any child, including of course an aborted child, stillborn, or any child that is born and doesn't reach an age of accountability. Do they automatically go to heaven, and what are your thoughts on that, please?

Focal Point Ministries: Yeah, and here's why that's a tough question. It's a tough question that I'm probably going to give the answer that a lot of people would expect me to give, but I have to start with the difficulty of it. All of us born since Adam are born in Adam's race and we are, by definition, categorically separated from God, at least relationally. Therefore, we need that relationship rectified by something the Bible calls reconciliation. God's work of reconciliation is done through Christ, and it's effectuated by someone putting their trust in Christ.

So, really, what we're asking is: how does that bridge get built? How does that person get reconciled to God if they're incapable of faith? Faith is supposed to be the thing that God works in someone to effectuate this reconciliation of Christ's redemptive work. That's a great question, and it's a hard question because we have to come to the question of what if He didn't do that to an embryonic human being that has all of the features of humanity? It's just that that child doesn't even have the ability to do math, say his or her name, or have faith.

He's incapable, or she's incapable, of faith. Well, then we have to say what would happen. Judgment is really what comes after we face the truth of being separated from God after this life is over. In other words, every person has to stand before God and be judged for the deeds done in the body. That's what the Bible says. But what is there to punish if there's no knowledge and no moral capacity to know right from wrong, as the Bible clearly says little children don't have?

Then I'm going to say there's nothing to judge other than the fact you're separated. Is God going to close that gap of relational separation and bring children of Adam and daughters of Eve into a relationship with Him, even though they were incapable of faith? Based on my speculation about the nature of God and the fact that there would be nothing specific to judge, I'm going to say, yes, He does. I think that is an assembled argument. I can't go to a specific chapter and verse.

I know some people like to go and quote various verses of the Bible, but I don't think those verses are trying to teach what they're trying to say. But I do think the truth of the Bible is that God is not going to put someone in a separated state from Him in eternity after this life is over simply because they are a child of Adam and never were capable of effectuating redemption and reconciliation because they didn't have the capacity for faith.

That's where I think we're making a good, solid assumption about God's work of redemption without faith. I do think that's happening with little children. It's a hard question, but I'm fairly confident that my answer is right. Plenty of people have written big tomes on this, not modern preachers. Modern preachers usually write a little six-page pamphlet. But back in the day, I have a hundred-year-old book in my library of probably 600 pages by a pastor who lost a child, maybe in birth.

He wrote a book thinking through every possible angle of how this redemptive work is effectuated without faith and whether God actually does it. His conclusion, as most people have concluded and I would be in that camp, is that I do think God is going to bring those relationally separated individuals to maturity in the resurrection and reconcile them to Himself. There's nothing to judge, so they would be in a state of not having anything to be judged for other than the imputed sin of Adam.

I'm going to say I don't think God's going to do that because that's not how it seems to work in life. Just like I don't have to pay for the sins of my biological dad, and God makes that clear throughout the Old Testament. You can't say that the father eats sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. Just because my dad cheated on his taxes, I'm not going to be punished for that before God. So, God has made it clear everyone's going to have to deal with God themselves.

Here's someone who has not had any conscious reality of rejecting Christ; I think they're going to be reconciled to God. But it's an assembled argument, by that I mean that's principalized throughout the scripture but not specifically addressed. That's my view on it. Michael, does that make sense?

Michael: Yes, that makes sense to me, very much. In fact, another thing popped in my head as you were speaking. I believe God is love and He's a just God, so therefore, how could He if that person didn't have a chance to do that? But deeper still, I'm thinking of the travesty, the tragedy of abortion. I'm very much pro-life and very against abortion.

I'm thinking—and this is going to sound kind of terrible, but I'm going to say it with love—I guess the bright side is, if that's true, then every aborted fetus should be in heaven?

Focal Point Ministries: Yes.

Michael: Would that be the bright side? I hate to say it that way because that makes it sound like there is a bright side to abortion. No, I believe it's terrible no matter what.

Focal Point Ministries: Yeah, it's terrible.

Michael: But the good thing is, maybe to give people comfort for any child that dies before they have the age of accountability, that the parent or the surviving members of the family will have some kind of peace and hope that they will see that person again.

Focal Point Ministries: Yeah, and that's fair, and I think it's right. Pastorally, that is something to inject in the comfort of those, whether it's a grandparent or a spouse who wasn't in favor of this. That is a bright side. But remember, there's much more to the Christian life than being in the kingdom. What we want to do is to store up treasure in heaven. Here's why it's still a tragedy.

I want you and I to live a full life of serving the Lord because the Bible says God is going to take great joy in rewarding us for that. The wood, hay, and straw is all going to be burned up. But it would be like us saying, well, isn't it a good thing that I have this nursing home ministry? I just like to get people saved five minutes before they die. Well, number one, that rarely works. But even if it were to, we'd say their whole life they haven't done anything to bring glory to Christ; no reward is going to come with that.

In that sense, God is going to be gracious and the real reward is Him. I think every aborted child is going to be fully mature, fully aware, and will enjoy the Lord, but they didn't have the chance to serve the Lord in this life. They didn't have a chance to suffer and have the glory of being ostracized for Jesus, and all those things are going to be rewarded. I get rewarded if I give someone a cup of cold water in Christ's name, and that's a sad thing that we're not giving those lives an opportunity to become Christians and serve the Lord.

By the way, Michael, this is a whole new topic, but that's why youth ministry should be so important in our churches. We want to see people saved when they get to an age where they can be conscious of faith. It's a great question, Michael, and a hard one because it really centers around the problem of abortion, or at least it's one implication of this. Here's a book I would suggest for you. I just looked it up to see if it's still in print. You can still get it on Amazon Marketplace.

I like this because it's written by a theologian and not a pastor, although I love the pastoral books on the topic when they drive to theology. Millard Erickson is a theologian, and he wrote a book called *How Shall They Be Saved? The Destiny of Those Who Do Not Hear Jesus*. The last chapter of that book, as I recall—even though I don't have the table of contents up here, but I remember reading this a couple of times—is on those incapable of faith.

I've really picked up the phrase that Millard used in that chapter title because that's really the question. It would include the severely handicapped and mentally handicapped. There's a lot of people that just aren't capable of faith. Millard tackles that in the last chapter as a theologian. Theologians should worry about what the truth is, and as I often say, the truth has hard edges.

I'm not saying pastors can't do this work because pastors should be theologians, but oftentimes, pastors are more concerned with a grieving parent's feelings than they are with the theology. This is why I really recommend reading this good book by Millard Erickson, at least that last chapter on those incapable of faith. I see you can get it just for a few bucks on Amazon Marketplace.