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Thank you for your kind words regarding my mom. We have to wait 'til next week to find out the news.
Now down to business. I honestly don't know how one is supposed to be comforted with a perhaps or maybe. I know that when loved ones have passed on I just really have to put my faith in God's hands that they are in heaven. When you don't know, I think it really comes down to your own faith.
Some may say your faith is shaken during a time like this, however I disagree with that statement. During times like this faith is shaped, molded and strengthened. It's in the tough times that who we really are comes through.
Since I've never lost a child it is so difficult for me to know how it would feel. I can imagine but I haven't experienced it.
Thank you for your honest answer, Hoosier_guy. I expected no less from you. As I said before, I don't expect a satisfactory answer, (and, frankly, I don't think we will ever get one), but I appreciate you taking the time to tell me what you think. I admire your strong faith. As I mentioned in your "spiritually challenged" thread, you remind me of my aunt, (that's a good thing).
A few days ago, April 20, the Pope reviewed the traditional understanding of limbo we Catholics had – so, yes, we believe babies who die go to Heaven, even unbaptized ones.
Having been raised as a Catholic, I must say that the concept of limbo has always been taken with certain reservations.
So why do you baptize infants then? I'm not trying to be smart here I sincerely want to know why the church believes infants need baptizing.
So before limbo was negated did Catholics believe children who died without baptism were going to hell? Why would the Catholic church believe in a doctrine that was concocted by a group of men who didn't even claim revelation from God? Isn''t that kinda what the Catholic church is based on....a group of men got together at the council of Nicea and made up a set of doctrines for the church to be run by?? Again I'm not trying to attack you, I just really am trying to understand better. Thanks.
In my opinion, children do not have to be baptized, I may be wrong,but can't remember any thing in the Bible about baptizing children . To me it doesn't make any difference whether different churches have different doctrines on baptism. I don't attend Church to split hairs or nit pick doctrine. I attend to worship and fellowship with my christian sisters and with brothers.
Last edited by Miss Blue; 04-28-2007 at 10:34 PM..
Reason: add content
It appears to me that many people on here share that opinion blue. Does noone think you should attend a church where your beliefs coincide completely with all that churches doctrine? Why attend a church that holds doctrines that you might not believe in??
I really don't understand very well what being "saved" actually means but I think I understand the jist of it. So what about children who are too young to understand what it means to be saved? What is going to happen to them? I've heard some people say that only those who are saved are going to Heaven. So then would you condemn your 3 or 5 or 6 year old to hell because they are too young?
Also if there are any Catholics out there; I'm curious as to know why the Catholic church believes that little children need baptism to be saved? I've heard that if kids are not baptized they go to Limbo or Purgatory?? Can someone who is familiar with this explain it to me. Thankyou.
You've got it wrong. If children aren't saved, they go to the toothfairy's basement for a period of several years, whilst spending fifteen hours a day painting eggs for the Easter Bunny. Fairly reasonable -- I don't know why some people find Christianity silly...
I really don't understand very well what being "saved" actually means but I think I understand the jist of it. So what about children who are too young to understand what it means to be saved? What is going to happen to them? I've heard some people say that only those who are saved are going to Heaven. So then would you condemn your 3 or 5 or 6 year old to hell because they are too young?
Also if there are any Catholics out there; I'm curious as to know why the Catholic church believes that little children need baptism to be saved? I've heard that if kids are not baptized they go to Limbo or Purgatory?? Can someone who is familiar with this explain it to me. Thankyou.
Being saved means, Have you asked Jesus to come into your heart? Have you repented of your sins? Do you believe God sent Jesus to die on the cross and shed His blood in order to completely wash away YOUR sins? (Some people believe that Jesus IS God in the flesh, some people believe that Jesus is God's Son ONLY...I'm not here to sway you one way or the other one this )
Children WILL go to Heaven. Jesus said "Let the children come to me..." Jesus also said that we should have faith like that of a child.
As for Catholics...I am not Catholic and really cannot speak for them, however, as someone else has mentioned: Neither word, OR inference, are mentioned in the Bible ANYWHERE. Purgatory/Limbo, neither one hold validity to a Bible believing fundamentalist. if you believe in the Bible, I would think you would have to conclude there is NO purgatory and that your destiny is determined while you're living on earth. Simply, did you give your life to Christ in your "living" years? If so, you'll be in Heaven...
I cannot speak at all as far as their rituals of Baptizing or sprinkling the children. I know in my denomination (Baptist) we believe in "dedicating" our children. This would merely be annointing/christening/sprinkling the child along with a prayer showing that we are dedicated to raising our children in reverence and admonition of the Lord.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dreameyes
Thankyou to all who have responded. So does anyone believe there is a "set" age of accountability or does God determine that?
No set age...this is God's choosing. As for the scenario regarding the twins, I think it would really depend on how old the "teens" are. There is a big difference, IMHO, between 13 and 18 or 19. At 13, I think it would be pretty safe to assume they would be in Heaven (both). At 18, well then there is a lot more accountability! I guess you would just have to live with the "perhaps" and "hope".
Quote:
Originally Posted by dreameyes
It appears to me that many people on here share that opinion blue. Does noone think you should attend a church where your beliefs coincide completely with all that churches doctrine? Why attend a church that holds doctrines that you might not believe in??
Dreameyes, it is VERY important that you are in a church where you believe in their doctrine...HOWEVER, please understand that any church's doctrine MUST fall into the doctrine that the Bible teaches. If your church cannot show you in the Bible (and convince you of it) then I would question it. However, do not be too quick to dismiss or judge. You really should get better counsel (like you're doing here OR going to someone else like another pastor or??? that is knowledgeable in the Bible). f you have questions that are not being answered, do not simply let them sit there and eat at you. ASK ASK ASK as many Christians as you can and pray about it and ask God to show you the truth.
I heard something today that made great sense. Bible Studies are great, however they can be VERY dangerous if there isn't someone there that has GREAT knowledge of the Bible. If there is no such person there, then it is too easy for a bunch of people to simply draw their own interpretations and possibly be mislead. There may be others that will argue and pick at that statement, however it is very true. You can ask 5 people (new or novice Christians) to give you an "interpretation" of a passage and each one will give you a different answer. You really need to seek biblical counsel from someone that is savvy with the Bible.
I hope this helps some. If you have other questions, please feel free to PM me ANYTIME or post them and I will do my best to answer. I'm sure there are a few others on here that will be more than willing to offer the same...please utilize the network of other believers that are on here!
I heard something today that made great sense. Bible Studies are great, however they can be VERY dangerous if there isn't someone there that has GREAT knowledge of the Bible. If there is no such person there, then it is too easy for a bunch of people to simply draw their own interpretations and possibly be mislead. There may be others that will argue and pick at that statement, however it is very true. You can ask 5 people (new or novice Christians) to give you an "interpretation" of a passage and each one will give you a different answer. You really need to seek biblical counsel from someone that is savvy with the Bible.
I don't mean to sound ugly, or anything, but this doesn't exactly make sense to me. Let me explain. There are many Biblical scholars out there, who have great Bible knowledge. They have years of education, from seminaries and universities all across the country, and beyond, yet some will be ardent Christians, and some will not. Each has come up with his/her own interpretation of the Bible. They are, after all, just as human as the rest of us. If you were at a Bible study, and two well-educated Bible scholars were there as well, but one is an evangelical fundamentalist Christian, and one was not, does this not present a problem? I suppose for some it would not, because they would dismiss the other scholar out of hand, because he didn't measure up to their pre-conceived notions, (personal interpretations, if you will), of what the Bible says. My gut honesty would tell me, (as it already has), that maybe the Christian scholar doesn't have any better of an interpretation than anyone else. So, what you are actually saying, is that it is very dangerous to have a Bible study, without a Bible-believingChristian scholar, being a part of it. (Not necessarily from a seminary or university, of course, but someone who is savvy, as you put it, and who believes). Which is fine, but I think one has to make the distinction between believing and non-believing Biblical scholars
Differences abound between believing Biblical scholars--the bookshelves abound with them, and the scholars differ by denomination. They also vastly differ in their interpretation in differing historical periods. Some were labeled heretic during their lives and later extolled. Some were labeled true believers, later identified as heretics or ignorant.
Interpretation itself is a fact of differentiation.
I really don't understand very well what being "saved" actually means but I think I understand the jist of it. So what about children who are too young to understand what it means to be saved? What is going to happen to them? I've heard some people say that only those who are saved are going to Heaven. So then would you condemn your 3 or 5 or 6 year old to hell because they are too young?
Also if there are any Catholics out there; I'm curious as to know why the Catholic church believes that little children need baptism to be saved? I've heard that if kids are not baptized they go to Limbo or Purgatory?? Can someone who is familiar with this explain it to me. Thankyou.
Hello, I am the mother of six boys and I have been "SAVED"
I hope I can help you to understand and soften some of your concerns. I will try keep it simple.
First being saved means:
To hear about GOD and his son JESUS CHRIST
To except the information of "the only way to get into heaven is to know and accept this that Christ died for all of our sins" God hated sin so much that he made a way to clean away all sins... (SIN is the things we do that make us feel bad sooner or later hopfully sooner then later so we can stop doing it)That is why Christ had to die. Why else would a father allow his only child to be beaten and mocked to death. But the hope is that Christ after performing many miricles here on the earth came back to life and went back to heaven, this is really deep but it is found in te Bible, Christ went down to Hell and set all the people free to be able to get into Heaven (people that were in Hell/DIED because they had no way of accepting Christ before he came down to earth)
Hear the information THEN know it to be true.
Children are already Gods because they do not know what sin is yet! The age of accountability is when a child knows he or she has done something wrong and feels bad about it and wants to change the bad habits. Again the child as well needs to know the information about GOD just like the adults.
I beg you to read the BIBLE it will answer most if not all of your questions. Christ came and Baptised men and women NOT little children. You are baptised to show the world that you know your are a sinner and you publicly stating this and want to change/fix things. Kids that are to little do not know what this means, correct? If they do understand this information then they are ready to be saved and baptised.
IF YOU GET ONLY ONE THING OUT OF THIS PLEASE TAKE THIS ONE BIT OF INFORMATION TO HEART...
GOD is our Father whom lives up in Heaven... Let that sink in for a minute...Would a kind loving daddy want to be mean to his child? NO never he would want only the best for that child. BUT know this he must find ways to correct you same as if you get grounded when you were caught doing something wrong as a teenager. DAD PUNISHED YOU, with the hopes that you would never again do that bad thing again. It will hurt you or someone else sooner or later.
Our father GOD loves all of us sooooo much that he wants all of us to get back to him in heaven.
When we send our kids into the world we want so badly for them to return to us one day to say you were right and if I would have listened to you sooner I would not have had to go through the hard times.
Anything you are wondering about can be viewed in this way would a kind loving daddy want to correct his child if he knew that they would learn to be good by themselves? SOMEONE has to teach them wheather it be good or bad information how to get from 10 years old to a kind loving daddy one day themselves so they can teach their child to do the same for the next and so on and on and on...
Please excuse any mis-spellings or errors I am only human.
Thankyou so much solutions and kawgpz for you sincere answers. I greatly appreciate it.
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I honestly don't know how one is supposed to be comforted with a perhaps or maybe. I know that when loved ones have passed on I just really have to put my faith in God's hands that they are in heaven. When you don't know, I think it really comes down to your own faith. 
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