Do you believe with utmost certainty that unbaptized babies go to Heaven?

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I believe somehow freewill is still involved, so I’d say some yes and some no. Of course not 100% certain, just my thoughts after losing 8 babies before they had a chance to be baptized. I still pray for their souls and have hope they are with God.
 
I’d also say I don’t know how some of the angels chose evil over God’s goodness, but even the angels had a moment when they had to chose God or evil.
 
[BIBLEDRB][/BIBLEDRB]Pianistclare. You stated:
How would infants not choose goodness?
How would they have enough life experience to choose evil?
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Good point. I don’t see how they could not choose good and God as well . .

. . . But then again, I don’t understand WHY the fallen angels didn’t choose the good and God either.

My take? I think they DO go to Heaven, but I cannot be 100% certain. Which is why I pray for unbaptized babies souls.

God bless.

Cathoholic
 
christus_vincit said:
One thing we can be 100% certain of is that every child who is unbaptized remains in the state of Original Sin. Another thing we can be 100% certain of is that if that child does indeed go to heaven, he is somehow cleansed of that stain and attains salvation only through the merits of the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of our Lord. I don’t think it would be our place to say with assurance that unbaptized children definitely go to heaven. But we can be certain that our Lord is infinitely merciful and should hope that the merits of the Paschal Mystery are applied to such souls in a manner that remains mysterious to us.
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Beautifully said!👍
 
Yes, I do. How do they know they have sin at such an age? The Lord is a merciful and a loving God.
 
dmar198 said:
I don’t think I can be certain, because I don’t know of any source that has the command of absolute certainty that clearly says the unbaptized can go to heaven.

Sacred Scripture doesn’t say that the unbaptized can go to heaven in any place that I’m aware of.

Sacred Tradition doesn’t say it in any place that I’m aware of either.

The Magisterium doesn’t say it in any place that I’m aware of either.

My intuition tells me that a nice person would let an unbaptized baby into heaven, and therefore God would.

But I don’t think my intuition is a source of absolute certainty. Therefore, I don’t think I can be certain on this point.

Does that make sense?
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To me, it makes sense.
 
Randy_Carson said:
This thread needed a poll.
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That it did.

To be contrary to what seems to be the majority opinion; I should ask a few questions.

If infants are not considered in some sense guilty due to the fall of man (original sin), then why did God command the destruction of the children of the pagans in the Old Testament? (i.e., the Canaanites).

If infants who die prior to baptism are unaccountable for the Fall, then why baptize them at all? Since we believe that baptism is, in the words of the Creed, “for the remission of sins,” then why say that infants don’t possess sin? Baptism isn’t for future sins; that’s what confession and absolution is for.

Just points to consider.
 
dronald said:
So I was talking about this in another thread, but I think it’s a good topic for all Religions/denominations (I don’t only seek Christian opinions).

My question isn’t “Is it possible?” but rather “Are you certain?”

A stillborn baby, an aborted baby, or parents who just didn’t think a baby should be baptized; can you say with certainty that the baby goes to Heaven?

I’m really interested in all opinions.
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Since you ask the opinion of all religions - Hindus don’t believe that baptism is necessary to go to heaven after death. In fact, Hindus don’t think that even a belief in any God is necessary to go to heaven.

The other thing is, that we believe in reincarnation (being reborn after death into another human body), so heaven, hell, purgatory are just temporary places where humans spend time between lifetimes.

Since babies have not had the chance to do anything bad in their short life, they will definitely not be spending any time in hell. However, I believe that their time in heaven will also be pretty short and their turn to be reborn will come quickly (since they did not get much of a life in the previous incarnation)
 
Catholics, do not be deceived! The Church has taught infallibly by its ordinary Magisterium (i.e., the perennial teachings of Popes and Councils) on the existence of Limbo.

Just because some truths are difficult for us to swallow with our merely human intellects, nevertheless the truth remains. Our Catholic faith teaches us that the human race is under the curse of original sin, from which we are freed only by baptism (with extraordinary exceptions noted).

Thus, if an unbaptized adult is destined for the pains of hell, then there is no logical reason why a much younger person (e.g., a 2 year old and even infants in the womb) will not meet with the same fate. The teaching on “Limbo of the Infants” is the Catholic version of what secular people cannot see about the great evil of Abortion, namely, that at the moment of conception a human being, with soul and all, comes into existence; a human being stained by Original Sin.

If the doctrine of Limbo is not true, then the gravity of abortion is lessened, for in a certain sense the crime itself becomes the means of instant salvation for the victim.

We pray to thee, oh Blessed Lord, for your infinite Mercy, and thank thee for thy infinite Goodness, that you have prepared for thy innocent children an eternal resting place where they will enjoy natural happiness forever and ever. May these truths be a cause of our own contrition.

I submit for your faithful discernment the following:
  1. traditioninaction.org/religious/e012rp_Limbo24Reasons.html
  2. audiosancto.org/sermon/20131110-Limbo-of-the-Infants.html
 
No, I am not absolutely certain, because I see no way to know that Heaven exists.

However, if God exists, and if God is good, then God will have some good process in place for innocents such as babies who die. Since I choose to believe that God exists and that God is good, I necessarily also believe that God will look after us all.
 
CommonWeal said:
Thus, if an unbaptized adult is destined for the pains of hell, then there is no logical reason why a much younger person (e.g., a 2 year old and even infants in the womb) will not meet with the same fate.
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I was not aware that Catholics believed in predestination to damnation. I thought that it was only a hardcore Calvinist thing.
 
openmind77 said:
Since babies have not had the chance to do anything bad in their short life, they will definitely not be spending any time in hell. However, I believe that their time in heaven will also be pretty short and their turn to be reborn will come quickly (since they did not get much of a life in the previous incarnation)
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Would it not be possible for a baby to be at the right point in its spiritual cycle to reach the highest heaven, the abode of Brahman?

Also, I quite like your sig line, not least because it is rather reminiscent of “The best lack all conviction, while the worst /Are full of passionate intensity.” (Yeats, ‘The Second Coming’)
 
dronald said:
So I was talking about this in another thread, but I think it’s a good topic for all Religions/denominations (I don’t only seek Christian opinions).

My question isn’t “Is it possible?” but rather “Are you certain?”

A stillborn baby, an aborted baby, or parents who just didn’t think a baby should be baptized; can you say with certainty that the baby goes to Heaven?

I’m really interested in all opinions.
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No. The Church tells us that the only people we know for sure are in Heaven are Baptized. For all others, we have only a well-founded hope. But even if they are not in Heaven, we know that they are not beyond God’s infinite mercy.
 
Mystophilus said:
Would it not be possible for a baby to be at the right point in its spiritual cycle to reach the highest heaven, the abode of Brahman?

Also, I quite like your sig line, not least because it is rather reminiscent of “The best lack all conviction, while the worst /Are full of passionate intensity.” (Yeats, ‘The Second Coming’)
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Very unlikely. If you have already reached liberation (moksha) you would not be born in the first place. So that means you need to make some spiritual progress in this life to attain liberation.

A baby has not had the time or opportunity to make that progress (mere suffering does not add to your spirituality, although it will reduce the burden of karma).
 
CommonWeal said:
If the doctrine of Limbo is not true, then the gravity of abortion is lessened, for in a certain sense the crime itself becomes the means of instant salvation for the victim.
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The ends don’t justify the means. It wouldn’t be right to execute people immediately after they are baptized to ensure they get to heaven; it is still murder, no matter the reason.
 
Corki said:
No. The Church tells us that the only people we know for sure are in Heaven are Baptized. For all others, we have only a well-founded hope. But even if they are not in Heaven, we know that they are not beyond God’s infinite mercy.
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Is your last statement referring to the possibility that unbaptized infants are in purgatory or that they are in limbo?
 
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