 If a baby dies, does that baby go to heaven? Obviously touchy, emotional question and many people out there have had to deal with the loss of an infant of a baby that also includes someone who may have lost a child while they were in the stages of pregnancy. This is something that I myself as well as my wife can relate to because we also have had to deal with a loss of a child in miscarriage and I'm not talking about one that happened early in the stage we've also had one of those but we've even had one where it was later in the pregnancy and after you've gone through all the preparing not just physically but even emotionally for the arrival of this child and to have that child taken away it's it's just devastating and so the question that inevitably is asked is my child in heaven. I've had to deal with this in a pastoral role where I was asked is my child in heaven but also I want to look at it from a biblical standpoint of in other words is there biblical documentation where I can know for sure that my child is in heaven so here's the answer first from the biblical standpoint there's a couple of passages that seem to say depending on how you take it that surely God takes a child and puts them in heaven. One such example is going to be found in Luke chapter 18 let's go there. In verse 15 then they also brought the infants to him that he might touch them but when the disciples saw it they rebuked them but Jesus called to him and said let the little children come to me and do not forbid them for such is the kingdom of God. So the issue there or what might say is God's will Jesus will is that all the children come to him. Now you compare that with what's happened in the past where when the children of Israel may have been fighting one of their enemies maybe the Malachi's the Hittites the Jebusites one of these people that were standing against the children of Israel and you will see times where God would tell the children to go and slaughter all the people including the infants the babies and so do those babies do those children when they died do they go to heaven. It would be hard to say that Luke is teaching that definitively babies go to heaven when they die. Obviously Jesus loves the little children and Jesus wants them to come to him but then again he also wants the adults as well. One of the questions that has to be answered is the value of an infant or a baby or child's soul how much more valuable to God is it then let's say the soul of an adult. There's really no way to answer that there's no way that we can put now obviously we see children in a different life than we see adults and here we have children who don't know very much children who haven't even been afforded the opportunity to make a decision for themselves. Then there's another passage that we look at and for some this seems to say that children do go to heaven babies do go to heaven once they die. This is the story in 2 Samuel chapter 12 where David's child the child that is born out of adultery out of fornication David with Bathsheba this child gets sick and dies and let's let's see the passage and see why some would say this shows that God will take the child to heaven. In verse 22 he says while the child was alive I fasted and wept for I said who can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me that the child may live but now that he is dead why should I fast can I bring him back again I shall go to him but he shall not return to me. So was this saying that yes David is going to heaven and that he's also going to see his child there? Well it'd be kind of hard to say so because remember this is a time of particular dispensation if you will where when you died you didn't go to heaven. It'd be kind of hard to extract from this definitively that babies go to heaven because David makes his statement and trying to read into this statement because the question is going to be is this David emotionally saying so his heartfelt desire or is there some sort of scriptural basis for that well we can't find any or maybe God told him we just don't know. Inevitably trying to figure this out theologically, biblically might be difficult. Now there are some that say that there is this age of accountability where Jewish tradition would have that when boys reach a certain age that they become men and so that might lead someone to think that there's this age of accountability however the Bible really just doesn't say so there is this age where children are held responsible for their decisions. We know this that everyone is born in sin. Everyone is born needing a savior and to accept Christ. Now there are some that say well these children never had the opportunity to reject Christ the problem with that is that though they never had the opportunity to reject Christ they're still born we're all born immediately on our way to hell because of the sin nature that is in us because of our father our sin father our natural father Adam well does that mean that when a baby dies because of his sin nature because of original sin because he didn't get the chance to confess Christ that that child doesn't get a chance to go to heaven again you can't say definitively that the child is not going to heaven some would even say that God would sovereignly choose a child any child every child to go to heaven to be with him so what is my take what would be the words from a pastor to say to someone to comfort them what would be the words that would that were said to me or the words that I've even said to someone to try to comfort them once they lost a child it's my belief my hope that God would graciously take the children to be with him I know this one thing that God is a good and just and loving God and so while we don't quite have the answers we don't always know what's in God's mind what he's up to I do believe that he values and love these children and so I would think it would just be my opinion and granted I know I don't have a lot of biblical support to say that the child is definitely going to be with him but then I also don't have a lot of biblical support to say that the child is definitely not going to be with him and so I'm going to lean on God's love how he's loved us so much that he would take the children to be with him