What about his modest proposal?A response to Mr. Pfost's recent writing

Dear Mr, Pfost,

First, I would like to congratulate you on your progressive thinking. For too long we as Christians have simply uttered such inane and outdated phrases as ‘Abortion is murder” or “God is pro-life” or whatever other cheeky response we can come up with when faced with the hard decisions of our reproductive responsibilities without truly examining both sides of the issue. We all know that it is just not that easy.

You have said that abortion is a sure way to fill heaven and advance the kingdom of God. However, I must kindly and humbly disagree. Anyone who uses their mind at all can easily see that the Bible teaches that all infants are damned to Hell. After all, Paul clearly states in Romans 5 that “death spread to all men” because of Adam’s sin (v. 12) and all men are condemned because of that same sin (v. 18).

Now, some may try to say, as you have done, that God actually sends these babies to Heaven. I ask, where is the biblical evidence for this assertion? It is at this point that your people may point to passages such as Revelation 20:12 and 2 Corinthians 5:10. They will try to argue that, while Adam’s sin has created in us a sin-nature that precludes our coming to God on our own, we are not judged based on that sin. Instead, they would say, we are judged and condemned based on our own sins, which we commit in the body.

How can one argue with these people? They are obviously giving in to mere human sentimentality and ignoring the clear teachings of Scripture. When you tear down these proof-texts of theirs, they will flee to yet more context-less verses.

They will say that David proclaimed that he would go to be with his dead infant son after his own death (2 Samuel 12:23). “How can this be if babies go to Hell? Surely David, a man after God’s own heart, did not go to Hell too,” they will assert. Shall we then give in to this argument? No! We must continue to strive for the truth.

They will answer, “What about the nation of Israel wandering in the wilderness? Did not God say that the children of Israel would be allowed to enter the promised land because they ‘have no knowledge of good or evil’ (Deuteronomy 1:39)? Why would God punish infants today, who have no more knowledge of good or evil than did those children, for their sins when he allowed these to go unpunished?”

They may even appeal to our precious Westminster Confession. “Elect infants, dying in infancy, are regenerated and saved by Christ through the Spirit, who worketh when, and where, and how he pleaseth” (12.3). How can some infants be saved if the only way to salvation is by believing in Christ’s death and resurrection, as is clearly seen in the Scriptures? The answer, I belive, is quite evident.

I am sorry if my words are too harsh toward your position. I believe that those, like you, who believe that God can save infants who are obviously damned for Adam’s sin and do not have the ability to make a conscious decision to come to Christ give Him far too much freedom in salvation. As God’s holy Word clearly teaches that all men are born sinners, and the only way to salvation is through Christ, it is impossible for these infants to be saved. They lack the necessary knowledge of their sins and the knowledge of what Christ has done for sinners at the cross.

Again, I pray that you will accept my apologies for my harshness and the possibility that I have misrepresented your position. I look forward to the day when we will have no need to debate these issues that divide us, when we enter the kingdom of God as the children to whom it belongs (Mark 10:14).

Your humble brother in Christ,

Matthew Newman