From: "Nancy Newcomb" <nan_new39@...>
Subject: RE: [soundofgrace] RE: pagan children called 'innocents'???


> Having read the book, I understood John MacArthur mostly to be saying that
> babies, regardless of who they are born to, are referred to by God as
> "innocents."

JGR:  No child of Adam was every "innocent." A child does not become a
guilty sinner worthy of death when he supposedly commits his first sin at
the mythical "age of accountability." The infant is already, at the moment
of his birth, a guilty sinner worthy of death OR ELSE HE COULD NOT POSSIBLY
DIE! This is Paul's argument in Romans 5:12-19.
        Not one single child of Adam was ever "inncoent" for a single
second.  We simply must understand Romans 5:12-19 and start the discussion
at that point. Paul is specifically dealing with the subject of "Why do all
men, including infants die?" And he does not give one answer for an adult's
death and another answer for the infant's death. An infant and and an adult
both die for the same reason. They are both guilty sinners who DESERVE to
die or else they would not die!  Job 4:7   "Remember now, who ever perished
being innocent? Or where were the upright ever cut off?"  (NKJ)  Nobody,
inclding infants, dies who is not a guilty sinner that deserves to die! That
is a Biblcal fact.
        To attempt to get infants into heaven on the ground that they are
inncoent is a clear denial of Romans 5:12-19 and the doctrine of the
imputation of both Adam's sin and guilt as well as denial of Adam's
universal, representative headship.
        This does not mean that an infant cannot be saved but it does mean
he a guilty sinner the day he is born and therefore must have the benifits
of the atonement applied to him in order to be saved. If infants are in
heaven, and I believe they are even though I cannot positively without
question prove it, they are "saved and blood washed" infants and not
"innocent" infants who somehow escaped unscathed from their heritage in
Adam.

JGR.