“Are Babies ‘Safe’?”

2. “Are Babies ‘Safe’?”

3. Why This Question Came About: • Doctrine total hereditary depravity: Calvinism (Remember the acronym “T.U.L.I.P.”) • T – Total Hereditary Depravity • Total = complete • Hereditary = transmitted from parent to offspring • Depravity = the state of being evil, perverted, corrupted “Every person born into the world is enslaved to the service of sin. People are not by nature inclined to love God with their whole heart, mind, or strength, but rather all are inclined to serve their own interests over those of their neighbor and to reject the rule of God.” - All quotes found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinism#Five_points_of_Calvinism

4. Why This Question Came About: • Doctrine total hereditary depravity: Calvinism (Remember the acronym “T.U.L.I.P.”) • U – Unconditional Election • “God has chosen from eternity those whom he will bring to himself not based on foreseen virtue, merit, or faith in those people; rather, it is unconditionally grounded in God's mercy alone. Those chosen receive salvation through Christ alone. Those not chosen receive the just wrath that is warranted for their sins against God.” - All quotes found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinism#Five_points_of_Calvinism

5. Why This Question Came About: • Doctrine total hereditary depravity: Calvinism (Remember the acronym “T.U.L.I.P.”) • L – Limited Atonement • “Jesus did not die for everyone, but only for those whom the Father purposed to save.” - All quotes found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinism#Five_points_of_Calvinism

6. Why This Question Came About: • Doctrine total hereditary depravity: Calvinism (Remember the acronym “T.U.L.I.P.”) • I – Irresistible Grace • “The saving grace of God is applied to those whom he has determined to save (that is, the elect). In God's timing, He overcomes their resistance to obeying the call of the gospel, bringing them to a saving faith. This means that when God sovereinlypurposes to save someone, that individual certainly will be saved and that the influence of God's Holy Spirit cannot be resisted causing the elect sinner to cooperate, to believe, to repent, to come freely and willingly to Christ." - All quotes found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinism#Five_points_of_Calvinism

7. Why This Question Came About: • Doctrine total hereditary depravity: Calvinism (Remember the acronym “T.U.L.I.P.”) • P – Perseverance of the Saints • “Since God is sovereign and his will cannot be frustrated by humans or anything else, those whom God has called into communion with himself will continue in faith until the end. Those who apparently fall away either never had true faith to begin with or will return.” - All quotes found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calvinism#Five_points_of_Calvinism

8. So What About Babies? If total hereditary depravity is true… • God will not have fellowship w/sin (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Eph. 5:5) • Therefore non-elect babies who have inherited sin go to Hell! • If unconditional election is true… • If a baby is not of the “elect” group then babies go to Hell! • If limited atonement is true… • If all have inherited sins through hereditary means… • And if Jesus did not die for all, then Jesus did not die for some babies • Therefore some babies go to Hell! • If irresistible grace is true… • If God’s grace only comes upon those he chooses, then there is no evidence that all babies receive it. • If not, some babies go to Hell! • If perseverance of the saints is true… • Only the elect receive salvation and persevere… • Therefore, non-elect babies do not persevere because they were never saved. • Conclusion: Some babies are sent to a fiery torment in Hell without any fault of their own!

9. Abortion Quote The Nature of God “ ‘Non elect infants who die in their infancy will spend eternity in hell’ – I would answer true to that question, you have to be elect in order to be saved. If this question is false, then we should perform abortion, because abortion is the greatest evangelistic act that has ever taken place since the time that Jesus walked the face of the earth, because everyone of those children are going straight to heaven according to Mr. Brown’s theology” (David P. Brown & Gene Cook, Jr. Debate, Feb 16, 2000)

10. Error Breeds Error Doctrine of Total Hereditary Depravity + Some Understood Command to be baptized… = Doctrine of Infant Baptism • No Mention if Infant Bapt. In Bible • Infant Cannot • Believe (Jn. 8:24) • Infant Cannot Repent (Lk. 13:3) • Infant Cannot • Confess Jesus (Mat. 10:32) • Subject of Baptism must be willing (Jn. 5:40)

11. Inconsistency In Some Calvinists Who Baptize Infants: “If infants are guilty of original sin, then they are proper subjects of baptism seeing, in the ordinary way, they cannot be saved, unless this be washed away by baptism…this original stain cleaves to every child of man; and that thereby they are children of wrath, and liable to eternal damnation…Infants need to be washed from original sin; therefore they are proper subjects of baptism.” - John Wesley, Anglican, Methodist, (Calvinist), Wesley’s Works, Miscellaneous, Vol. 2, p. 16

12. Examining a Few “Proof” Texts (Psalms 14:2-3) The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one. • They have all turned aside…none who does good - why? Free will? Inherited sinful nature? The passage does not say.

13. Examining a Few “Proof” Texts (Psalms 51:5) Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. • Did David inherit sin? • Could this be understood to mean David’s mother did something sinful? • The passage does not even allow it! • The sin occurred before David was even in existence – during intercourse! • Seems to be a poetic, a figure of speech – David looking at his own sin and seeing himself as sinful from the get-go!

14. Examining a Few “Proof” Texts (Ephesians 2:3) among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. • “By nature” – “as God designed” • Do animals have free will? • Question: If man had free will to fall, supposedly causing his own nature to change, why does he no longer have free will to restore his nature? “The words in the text have often been quoted to prove the doctrine of original sin, but, though that doctrine be an awful truth, it is not, in my opinion, intended here… The apostle appears to speak of sinful habits…” – Adam Clarke, Methodist (Calvinist)

15. Examining a Few “Proof” Texts (Psalms 58:3) The wicked are estranged from the womb; They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies. • They went astray AFTER they were born. Things that are hereditary begin at conception – when a child begins to form in the womb. • Poetic Hebrew: If this passage is to be taken literally, do infants also literally “go astray” and “speak lies” “as soon as they are born?”

16. Passages Refuting the Idea That Children Are Lost Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-- (Romans 5:12) • What did the first man pass on to his descendents – sin or death?

17. Passages Refuting the Idea That Children Are Lost Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-- (Romans 5:12) • What did the first man pass on to his descendents – sin or death? • Death! • Why are all men punished for sins? • “because all sinned”

18. Passages Refuting the Idea That Children Are Lost (Genesis 8:21) … the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. • When do evil imaginations begin?

19. Passages Refuting the Idea That Children Are Lost (Genesis 8:21) … the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. • When do evil imaginations begin? • From his youth, NOT his conception! • If it became evil in his youth, it must have been pure before his youth!

20. Passages Refuting the Idea That Children Are Lost (Ecclesiastes 12:7) Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it. • Who gave man his spirit?

21. Passages Refuting the Idea That Children Are Lost (Ecclesiastes 12:7) Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it. • Who gave man his spirit? • God! • How could a just God give man a corrupt spirit and then punish man for what He (God) had done?

22. Passages Refuting the Idea That Children Are Lost (2 Samuel 12:23) "But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." • Where did David believe his baby went when He died?

23. Passages Refuting the Idea That Children Are Lost (2 Samuel 12:23) "But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." • Where did David believe his baby went when He died? • Wherever the child went, David expected to go there too! • Do you think David hoped to go to Heaven or Hell?

24. Passages Refuting the Idea That Children Are Lost It is impossible for sins to be inherited! (Ezekiel 18:19-20) "Yet you say, 'Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?' Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. "The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. • Who does God hold accountable for sin, the sinner or the sinner AND their descendants?

25. Passages Refuting the Idea That Children Are Lost It is impossible for sins to be inherited! (Ezekiel 18:19-20) "Yet you say, 'Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?' Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. "The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. • Who does God hold accountable for sin, the sinner or the sinner AND their descendants? • The soul guilty of the sin shall die! Justice demands it! • Neither righteousness nor wickedness is transferrable. • Righteousness is accredited to the righteous; wicked for their wickedness. • Jews were corrected for believing in a type of hereditary depravity!

26. Passages Refuting the Idea That Children Are Lost It is impossible for sins to be inherited! Notice God’s Laws Concerning Commission and Omission: Laws Of Commission (1 John 3:4) Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. • Who is guilty of lawlessness?

27. Passages Refuting the Idea That Children Are Lost It is impossible for sins to be inherited! Notice God’s Laws Concerning Commission and Omission: Laws Of Commission (1 John 3:4) Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. • Who is guilty of lawlessness? • The one who commits sin!

28. Passages Refuting the Idea That Children Are Lost It is impossible for sins to be inherited! Notice God’s Laws Concerning Commission and Omission: Laws Of Omission (James 4:17) Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. • If someone knows they should do something and does not do it, who is guilty of sin?

29. Passages Refuting the Idea That Children Are Lost It is impossible for sins to be inherited! Notice God’s Laws Concerning Commission and Omission: Laws Of Omission (James 4:17) Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. • If someone knows they should do something and does not do it, who is guilty of sin? • The one who knew, but did not do!

30. Conclusion • Babies are not “saved” but neither are they lost! • They have not sinned. • They have not learned the difference between good and evil. • Sin cannot be inherited – God holds all people accountable for their own actions. • David indicated His child had died and gone to Heaven. • Babies cannot be baptized to be saved because…

31. Conclusion • Babies are not “saved” but neither are they lost! • No record of infant baptism, Godparents, etc. in the Bible – God demands we have authority for all we do!

32. Infant Baptism Is Sinful We Must Have Authority For ALL We Do (Colossians 3:17) And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Romans 14:23) But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because he does not eat from faith; for whatever is not from faith is sin. The idea of baptizing someone against their will is foreign to the Bible. There are no examples or instructions of infants being baptized in the Bible – EVER!!! Infants are often sprinkled or have water poured upon them rather than being baptized.

33. Conclusion • Babies are not “saved” but neither are they lost! • They cannot meet the prerequisites of baptism: • Must Be Taught: “…everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.” (John 6:45)

34. Conclusion • Babies are not “saved” but neither are they lost! • They cannot meet the prerequisites of baptism: • Must Have Faith & Seek God: “…without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6)

35. Conclusion • Babies are not “saved” but neither are they lost! • They cannot meet the prerequisites of baptism: • Repentance Precedes Baptism of One Guilty of Sin: “Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins…” (Acts 2:38)

36. Conclusion • Babies are not “saved” but neither are they lost! • They cannot meet the prerequisites of baptism: • Belief in Christ Precedes Baptism: “‘…What hinders me from being baptized?’ Then Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’” (Acts 8:36-37) • Babies are “safe” although they are not saved.

37. “When Does a Child Need Salvation?” There is an Age When Children Are Old Enough to Choose Good From Evil (Isaiah 7:16) "For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings.