From: Dave <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> DAVEH: To make sure I understand your belief, let me pointedly ask you Judy........what happens to an infant child who dies without accepting Jesus? Heaven......or......hell? (I assume you do not believe in an in-between states as do the RCC folks....?)
Judy: You are right that I don't believe 'purgatory' to be a valid option. I would like to believe that they ALL go to heaven but TTYTT I am not sure what I believe about the infant child of the non-believer. DAVEH: ??? That's a new one on me......What is TTYTT? Judy: It's "To tell you the truth" in cyberspeak DAVEH: This would seemingly apply to many millions or even billions of children who have died without having any knowledge of Jesus, would it not? Judy: Maybe, although I doubt there are many who have not heard of Jesus and we know that every person born is aware that there is a God by the creation around them so if they do not choose to seek Him then they will be responsible for that. Just eight persons came through the big flood. DAVEH: To my LDS biased beliefs, this comes as a real shock when you suggest. Scripture tells us that those who do not believe are condemned already and this speaks of everyone no matter what their age. Other TTers have said essentially the same thing. Judy: Why? Everyone has the same opportunity to know Him and God is not a respecter of any man's person. He is patient and longsuffering and not willing that any should perish. Those of us who do will do so by our own choice, not His. DAVEH: When it comes to infants, this doctrine apparently allows for no mercy from God. Judy: His very nature is love and mercy but men choose darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. DAVEH: I have had some tell me that it may be tough on the little critters, but that is the way God is. Wow.....That's pretty harsh, IMHO. Judy: I guess if we crafted a God to our own specifications we wouldn't have one like that would we? We would follow the lust of the flesh and follow sensuality and believe He should serve us anyway but the reality isn't like that. DAVEH: You suggested you weren't sure about non-believers' children who die......but, what about the infants of believers? Wouldn't they suffer the same fate? What is the difference? Judy: King David was a covenant person and when the baby he had with Bathsheba died his comment was that he could go to be with the child but the child would not return to them. From this I assume the child went to Abraham's bosom. I do know that the curse comes down through generations You can see it in the life of Ham who incurred God's anger for disrespecting his father. Ham's grandson was Canaan, head of the Canaanite nations who went from bad to worse, were judged and lost their land to the seed of Abraham. By the time their iniquity was full God wanted every man, woman, and child destroyed along with their stuff. DAVEH: The key is the stuff........I believe it was to be a lesson for the Hebrews rather than a punishment on the children who were destroyed. Judy: I don't think God has whole people groups killed just for a lesson for the Hebrews. In fact he made the Hebrews wait for 400yrs until the iniquity of the Amorites was fulfilled before he let Israel go in and destroy them. On another occasion King Saul was judged and lost the kingdom for sparing the best of the spoil when he was told to kill and destroy it all. No, it is judgment. God puts up with all He can stand and then He puts an end to it. DAVEH: In LDS theology, those kids would still have the opportunity to accept Jesus in the post mortal life. But from what TTers (including you, apparently) have told me......those kids will be tossed into the flames of hell.... Judy: I haven't told you any such thing. I have said 'I am not sure' but there are some examples in scripture where God told Israel to kill every man, woman, child, and beast to get rid of the taint of sin and at one point he destroyed the known world because of it. You may think God harsh but if you spent time in His Word and sought to learn His ways your views would change. In the parable Jesus told where the servant hid his talent because he judged God to be a harsh taskmaster he was called "a wicked servant" so I take it that misrepresenting Him is akin to blaspheming. Judy ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
