Do Children Really Go To Heaven?

[Starwynd]

Okay, I’ve heard all my life that when children die, they go to heaven. But I’ve often wondered about that, if they really truly go to heaven.

Why?

It is said we are all born in sin and therefore we will all go to hell if we are not saved by accepted god as our savior?

Children then, therefore, are not saved because they have not been able to accept God as their savior.

So how is it they are able to go to heaven even though they are sinful because we are all born in sin and ahve a sinful nature without having to accept God as their savior?

 

[CatsAndDogs]

Okay, I’ve heard all my life that when children die, they go to heaven. But I’ve often wondered about that, if they really truly go to heaven.

Why?

It is said we are all born in sin and therefore we will all go to hell if we are not saved by accepted god as our savior?

Children then, therefore, are not saved because they have not been able to accept God as their savior.

So how is it they are able to go to heaven even though they are sinful because we are all born in sin and ahve a sinful nature without having to accept God as their savior?

If they are baptised, and they commit no mortal sins, which may well not be possible for them to do, then God’s mercy is probably very great for them in their destination.

If they are not baptised, and they commit no mortal sins, then we can hope that God’s mercy is great for them such that they are justly and mercifully given eternity.

What do you mean by a child “accepting God as their savior”? Is it even possible, as you mean it?

 

[Starwynd]

What do you mean by a child “accepting God as their savior”? Is it even possible, as you mean it?

I’m sorry, but I don’t know how to properly explain that.

 

[CatsAndDogs]

Quote:
What do you mean by a child “accepting God as their savior”? Is it even possible, as you mean it?

I’m sorry, but I don’t know how to properly explain that.

If you expect an answer to your question from other people understanding your question, you might find it useful to understand your own question first.

What does it mean for anyone, such as yourself for example, to “accept God as your savior”?

When you can answer that, then you can replace the “YOU” with “a child” in the meaning of “accept God as that child’s savior”, and see if it makes sense.

So, to repeat your question:

“So how is it they are able to go to heaven even though they are sinful because we are all born in sin and ahve a sinful nature without having to accept God as their savior?”

(How are children “sinful”?)
(How could a child accept God as their savior?)

 

[thistle]

Okay, I’ve heard all my life that when children die, they go to heaven. But I’ve often wondered about that, if they really truly go to heaven.

Why?

It is said we are all born in sin and therefore we will all go to hell if we are not saved by accepted god as our savior?

Children then, therefore, are not saved because they have not been able to accept God as their savior.

So how is it they are able to go to heaven even though they are sinful because we are all born in sin and ahve a sinful nature without having to accept God as their savior?

We entrust the aborted, stillborn, and other young unbaptised who die to the mercy of God.

 

[teachccd]

YES.

 

[drafdog]

Because children are not sufficiently mature to understand great evil (what the church euphemistically calls serious matter), they cannot give full consent of the will to the commission of a mortal sin. Thus it is reasonable to conclude that baptized children do finally arrive in heaven.

More people arrive in heaven than we would suspect because God’s great mercy is so much greater than we can envision.

Matthew

 

[Ron_Conte]

If a child or anyone else has been baptised, and has avoided actual mortal sin until death,
then that person certainly goes to Heaven (perhaps by way of Purgatory).

It is a certainty and it is a required belief that the baptised go to Heaven,
if either they die without committing actual mortal sin,
or
if at least, after committing actual mortal sin, they repent and are forgiven in confession, prior to death.

As for prenatals, infants, and young children who die without baptism,
it is a tenable theological opinion that they receive some form of non-formal baptism prior to death,
and, having not committed any mortal sins, that they can arrive in Heaven and be happy forever.

 

[peary]

Okay, I’ve heard all my life that when children die, they go to heaven. But I’ve often wondered about that, if they really truly go to heaven.

One can only assume that all children go to heaven, but this isn’t a Church teaching. Baptized children may or may not be worthy of Heaven. As for the unbaptized, that they have the stain of original sin on their souls does not necessarily mean that they find themselves in Hell, but it could mean that they experience purgatory after death. The stain of original sin is not the same as original sin itself and infants and children have done nothing to warrant Hell. My personal opinion is that unbaptized children experience purgatory after death; baptized children and infants stand a better chance of going to Heaven immediately.

It is said we are all born in sin and therefore we will all go to hell if we are not saved by accepted god as our savior?

Again, having the ‘stain’ of original sin on one’s immortal being is not the same as committing original sin. I tend to believe that children and infants unbaptized experience purgatory.

Children then, therefore, are not saved because they have not been able to accept God as their savior.

That is not something the Church teaches and will never teach. St. Peter says that “Baptism saves you” (1 Peter 3:21)

So how is it they are able to go to heaven even though they are sinful because we are all born in sin and ahve a sinful nature without having to accept God as their savior?

Answered above.

 

[dranzal]

I know my LO is in heaven. :heaven: