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God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)

All those dying in infancy, as well as those so mentally incapacitated that they are incapable of making an informed choice, are among the elect of God chosen by Him for salvation before the world began. The evidence for this view is scant, but significant. 1. In Romans 1:20 Paul describes people who are recipients of general revelation as being, “without excuse.” Does this imply that those who are not recipients of general revelation (i.e., infants) are therefore not accountable to God or subject to wrath? In other words, those who die in infancy have an “;excuse” in that they neither receive general revelation nor have the capacity to respond to it. 2. There are texts which appear to assert or imply that infants do not know good or evil and hence lack the capacity to make morally informed and thus responsible choices. According to Deuteronomy 1:39 they are said to “have no knowledge of good or evil.” 3. The story of David's son in 2 Samuel 12:15-23 (esp. v. 23)… What does it mean when David says “I shall go to him?” If this is merely a reference to the grave or death, in the sense that David, too, shall one day die and be buried, one wonders why he would say something so patently obvious! Also, it appears that David draws some measure of comfort from knowing that he will 'go to him.' It is the reason why David resumes the normal routine of life. It appears to be the reason David ceases from the outward display of grief. It appears to be a truth from which David derives comfort and encouragement. How could any of this be true if David will simply die like his son? It would, therefore, appear that David believed he would be reunited with his deceased infant. 4. There is consistent testimony of Scripture that people are judged on the basis of sins voluntary and consciously committed in the body. See 2 Corinthians 5:10; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Revelation 20:11-12. In other words, eternal judgment is always based on conscious rejection of divine revelation (whether in creation, conscience, or Christ) and willful disobedience. Are infants capable of either? There is no explicit account in Scripture of any other judgment based on any other grounds. Thus, those dying in infancy are saved because they do not (cannot) satisfy the conditions for divine judgment. 5. We have what would appear to be clear biblical evidence that at least some infants are regenerate in the womb, such that if they had died in their infancy they would be saved. This at least provides a theoretical basis for considering whether the same may be true of all who die in infancy. These texts include Jeremiah 1:5; Luke 1:15. 6. Some have appealed to Matthew 19:13-15 (Mark 10:13-16; Luke 18:15-17) where Jesus declares, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Is Jesus simply saying that if one wishes to be saved he/she must be as trusting as children, i.e., devoid of skepticism and arrogance? In other words, is Jesus merely describing the kind of people who enter the kingdom? Or is he saying that these very children were recipients of saving grace? 7. Given our understanding of the character of God as presented in Scripture, does He appear as the kind of God who would eternally condemn infants on no other ground than that of Adam's transgression? Admittedly, this is a subjective (and perhaps sentimental) question. But it deserves an answer, nonetheless.
Sam Storms

God gives us His grace in the hour we need it. If we worry about the future now, we double our pain without having the grace to deal with it.
John MacArthur

    • Apple Cranberry Pie

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    CATEGORY CUISINE TAG YIELD
    Cooking, Live 1 Servings

    INGREDIENTS

    One batch flaky pie dough for a 2-crust pie
    2 1/2 lb Firm; tart apples, such as northern spy, granny smith or golden delicious
    2/3 c Sugar; light brown sugar or a combination of both
    1 1/2 c Cranberries; rinsed and drained
    2 tb Flour
    1 ts Cinnamon
    1 ts Finely grated lemon zest
    3 tb Cold unsalted butter

    INSTRUCTIONS

    FILLING
To form the pie crust, remove dough from refrigerator and place on flat
work surface. Roll dough, still between sheets of plastic, to a 12-inch
disk. Peel off top piece of plastic and invert dough into 9-inch pie pan.
Gently press dough into pan and peel off top piece of plastic. Trim off
excess dough even with edge of pie pan. Chill crust while preparing
filling.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and set a rack in the lowest level. For
filling, peel, halve and core apples. Cut apples into 1/2-inch dice. Place
diced apples in a bowl and add filling ingredients, except butter, tossing
well to combine. Place filling in dough-lined pan, mounding it slightly in
center. Dot filling with butter.
For the top crust, lightly flour work surface and dough and roll to a 9 by
12-inch rectangle; cut each piece of dough into 12 strips, each 9 inches
long and an inch wide. Egg wash the strips and arrange five of them,
equidistant from each other, on the top of the pie, allowing the excess
dough to hang over the edge of the pie. Place five more strips
perpendicular to the first ones on the pie. Trim away excess dough at the
edge of the pie and apply the last two strips to the edge of the pie, egg
wash side down. Flute the edge of the pie and carefully brush with egg
wash. If you wish, sprinkle the top of pie with sugar.
Bake the pie for 15 minutes on the bottom rack of the oven. Lower the
temperature to 350 degrees and move the pie to the middle rack. Bake the
pie about 20 to 30 minutes longer, until the crust is a deep golden and the
juices are just beginning to bubble up.
Notes: Recipe courtesy of Nick Malgieri
Recipe by: Cooking live Show #9013
Posted to MC-Recipe Digest V1 #969 by "Angele and Jon Freeman"
<jfreeman@comteck.com> on Dec 19, 1997

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