Do stillborn babies go to heaven?
By Carl Kerby, Reasons for Hope
I was asked if babies who are stillborn go to heaven. Well, let’s expand it just a bit. What about children who are aborted, babies who don’t have an opportunity to repent or those who are mentally handicapped and can’t fully understand the gospel?
When confronted with difficult issues like this I typically have to go back to what I call “non-negotiables” and work my way up. If you are going to build a strong structure, you must have a solid foundation. If your answer is built on the shifting sand of man’s opinion or feeling, your structure/faith won’t last very long. Remember, biblical faith isn’t just wishful thinking, it is based on actual evidence. It is solid!
So, let’s take a look at some passages that I believe will help us to build a foundation from which we can understand how to approach this sensitive issue. A key component to understanding any issue is to understand the character of God. To know the character of God we must look at the history we have been given in the Word of God to see how He has dealt with issues in the past. By doing that, we can have a pretty good understanding of how He will work today as well as in the future. From creation alone we can see the power of God, it’s only in His word that we can see His character.
2 Samuel 12:23 is a key passages used to teach that babies that die will end up in heaven. Here we can see that there is no doubt that David fully expects to see his child who had passed away again.
“But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” 2 Samuel 12:23
It’s pretty safe to conclude that this reunion will take place in heaven since his child wasn’t resurrected.
To support any position it makes me feel a lot more comfortable to have more than just one verse though, so let’s take a look at a few others issues that may help us to answer this question.
1) God’s love of children! The Scripture abundantly clear that God loves children. Here are just two verses to show that:God’s Character! God is LOVE! He is full of comfort, compassion, mercy and truth. He doesn’t want any to perish. For whatever reason it seems we’ve allowed the world to turn God into someone who is a “bean counter”! It’s almost as if there’s only so many allotted slots in heaven so He’s got to scrutinize each of us and find ways to keep us out.
Matthew 18:1-6
Luke 18:15-17
That’s not the God of the Bible. He died for every person on this planet. He desires for every person on this planet, past, present and future, to have a personal relationship with Him and spend eternity in heaven with Him. He’s NOT looking for loopholes to keep us out!
We are talking about God, who became flesh and dwelt among us so that we may KNOW Him and He could take our sins away by dying on a cross for whosoever believes in Him.
He confirmed who He is by His resurrection from the dead showing His power over death giving us hope of eternal life in a place where there is no more death, no more tears, no more sorrows. From God’s character alone we can see that no one is going to end up in hell because of a “clerical error” or they didn’t have the chance to get into heaven.
Psalm 86:15
Matthew 18:14
2 Corinthians 5:21
1 John 4:8
1 Timothy 2:4
One last point to consider. The Bible teaches that those who go to Hell have rejected God’s offer of eternal life. That is very different from not knowing of His offer. (John12:48)
Yes, children are sinners because everyone ever conceived has been conceived in sin. Taking into consideration God’s character it only makes sense that any of us will be judged by what we have done with what we know about God, not what we don’t know!
So, “Do babies who are aborted/stillborn etc. go to heaven?” While I can’t give you a specific verse that uncategorically states that, it seems from the Scripture that as a minimum some will end up there.
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Noblesville, IN (near Indianapolis) and Mason, OH (near Cincinnati)
I was asked if babies who are stillborn go to heaven. Well, let’s expand it just a bit. What about children who are aborted, babies who don’t have an opportunity to repent or those who are mentally handicapped and can’t fully understand the gospel?
When confronted with difficult issues like this I typically have to go back to what I call “non-negotiables” and work my way up. If you are going to build a strong structure, you must have a solid foundation. If your answer is built on the shifting sand of man’s opinion or feeling, your structure/faith won’t last very long. Remember, biblical faith isn’t just wishful thinking, it is based on actual evidence. It is solid!
So, let’s take a look at some passages that I believe will help us to build a foundation from which we can understand how to approach this sensitive issue. A key component to understanding any issue is to understand the character of God. To know the character of God we must look at the history we have been given in the Word of God to see how He has dealt with issues in the past. By doing that, we can have a pretty good understanding of how He will work today as well as in the future. From creation alone we can see the power of God, it’s only in His word that we can see His character.
2 Samuel 12:23 is a key passages used to teach that babies that die will end up in heaven. Here we can see that there is no doubt that David fully expects to see his child who had passed away again.
“But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.” 2 Samuel 12:23
It’s pretty safe to conclude that this reunion will take place in heaven since his child wasn’t resurrected.
To support any position it makes me feel a lot more comfortable to have more than just one verse though, so let’s take a look at a few others issues that may help us to answer this question.
1) God’s love of children! The Scripture abundantly clear that God loves children. Here are just two verses to show that:God’s Character! God is LOVE! He is full of comfort, compassion, mercy and truth. He doesn’t want any to perish. For whatever reason it seems we’ve allowed the world to turn God into someone who is a “bean counter”! It’s almost as if there’s only so many allotted slots in heaven so He’s got to scrutinize each of us and find ways to keep us out.
Matthew 18:1-6
Luke 18:15-17
That’s not the God of the Bible. He died for every person on this planet. He desires for every person on this planet, past, present and future, to have a personal relationship with Him and spend eternity in heaven with Him. He’s NOT looking for loopholes to keep us out!
We are talking about God, who became flesh and dwelt among us so that we may KNOW Him and He could take our sins away by dying on a cross for whosoever believes in Him.
He confirmed who He is by His resurrection from the dead showing His power over death giving us hope of eternal life in a place where there is no more death, no more tears, no more sorrows. From God’s character alone we can see that no one is going to end up in hell because of a “clerical error” or they didn’t have the chance to get into heaven.
Psalm 86:15
Matthew 18:14
2 Corinthians 5:21
1 John 4:8
1 Timothy 2:4
One last point to consider. The Bible teaches that those who go to Hell have rejected God’s offer of eternal life. That is very different from not knowing of His offer. (John12:48)
Yes, children are sinners because everyone ever conceived has been conceived in sin. Taking into consideration God’s character it only makes sense that any of us will be judged by what we have done with what we know about God, not what we don’t know!
So, “Do babies who are aborted/stillborn etc. go to heaven?” While I can’t give you a specific verse that uncategorically states that, it seems from the Scripture that as a minimum some will end up there.
Follow us on Twitter
If you don’t receive our emails, sign up in the box above or send your email address to hope@rforh.com
Join Reasons for Hope at The Hope Conference 2013
Noblesville, IN (near Indianapolis) and Mason, OH (near Cincinnati)
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