JustinHesychast
8th July 2006, 01:09 PM
What Bible references are there for common Baptist views of salvation, such as the age of accountability?
arunma
8th July 2006, 02:37 PM
I don't believe in the "age of accountability." As far as I can tell, there is absolutely no Biblical support for it. Proponents usually cite a certain verse from the Law of Moses in which God says that though the first generation of Israelites were to die wandering in the desert, their children would inherit the land. I'm all for allegorical interpretations of the Old Testament (since the Apostle Paul did precisely this in the epistle to the Galatians). But I think that they fail to consider the Canaanite children whom God commanded to be put to the sword.
Anyway, I think that the doctrine of the age of accountability was invented by well-meaning evangelicals who wanted to believe that their children will be saved. Unfortunately, it just isn't there. We need to face the reality that God does not tell us very much about the fate of children who die in infancy. I think we should simply admit ignorance, and take comfort in these words of King David, which I think say the most about such children:
Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man. (2 Samuel 24:14)