Does the Bible teach an age of accountability?

[Dave Slayer]

Does the Bible teach an age of accountability before people are held responsible for their sins? Please provide scripture to support your view. Thanks and God Bless!

 

[stovebolts]

viewtopic.php?f=54&t=32519&start=30

Ezekiel 18:19-20
19 Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father ? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live.
20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father , neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son : the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.
KJV

And in the New Testament;

Galatians 6:5
For every man shall bear his own burden .

Here is a post from a friend of mine when I was discussing this topic several years ago.. If your familiar with the stories of the OT, it will make better since within the context of this discussion.

I'm reminded of the exodus and wanderings of the children of Israel. After the Israelites listened to the ten spies, they refused to follow God into the promised land. As a result, God caused them to wander in the wilderness for forty years - everyone 20 years old and older perished. But note in particular the description of those younger than 20:

Numbers 14:29 The carcasses of you who have complained against Me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. 30 Except for Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun, you shall by no means enter the land which I swore I would make you dwell in. 31 But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised. NKJV


Deuteronomy 1:39 'Moreover your little ones and your children, who you say will be victims, who today have no knowledge of good and evil, they shall go in there; to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. NKJV

Those younger than 20 were described as "little ones and children" with "no knoledge of good and evil." I'm not suggesting this as a rule of thumb, but it is at least food for thought...

 

[Adullam]

20 :yes

 

[Cornelius]

20 :yes

LOL, I thought I was the only one who believed that. I have never met another person who knew that

 

[Jon-Marc]

No. there is NO scripture to prove that everyone magically becomes aware of their need for a Saviour and becomes accountable. Also, you cannot use scripture to prove something that is not true. Everyone reaches that point at a different time depending on different circumstances. A child raised in a Christian home will reach that point much more quickly that a child raised in an atheist home.

That's why it took me until I was 17 to accept Christ, because I was SENT to church instead of TAKEN. There was no Christian example or teaching at home, and the need for a Saviour was never mentioned. Had I not met a Christian boy when I was 16 who invited me to church, I might have never known the Lord. I certainly would have never thought about visiting a church on my own, and I have not even once in my lifetime had anyone come to my home with the gospel.

 

[savagesoto]

the whole age of accountabillity thing is a joke to me...because like Jon-marc said, people come to that realization at different times, and Ill take it one step further...some people NEVER do.

Many people dont even ever HEAR about Christ, yet somehow theres some age where theyre supposed to become aware enough to magically figure it out...cmonnn...doesnt fly for me.

 

[Cornelius]

the whole age of accountabillity thing is a joke to me...because like Jon-marc said, people come to that realization at different times, and Ill take it one step further...some people NEVER do.

Many people dont even ever HEAR about Christ, yet somehow theres some age where theyre supposed to become aware enough to magically figure it out...cmonnn...doesnt fly for me.

So a child of three is accountable before God and will go to hell if he did not repent?
Come on, we all know that is not true.
At which point will God say: You are old enough to make a decision ? Five years ? Two ? Ten?

In the Old Testament , God did not judge those under twenty, the same as those over twenty.

C

 

[francisdesales]

In the Old Testament , God did not judge those under twenty, the same as those over twenty.

How about a circumcised child vs an uncircumcised child in the OT? What does the Scriptures say on this?

I see you are spreading your "works salvation" teachings elsewhere

Regards

 

[savagesoto]

the whole age of accountabillity thing is a joke to me...because like Jon-marc said, people come to that realization at different times, and Ill take it one step further...some people NEVER do.

Many people dont even ever HEAR about Christ, yet somehow theres some age where theyre supposed to become aware enough to magically figure it out...cmonnn...doesnt fly for me.

So a child of three is accountable before God and will go to hell if he did not repent?
Come on, we all know that is not true.
At which point will God say: You are old enough to make a decision ? Five years ? Two ? Ten?

In the Old Testament , God did not judge those under twenty, the same as those over twenty.

C

No, thats not what im saying. Im saying that "age of accountability" doesnt make sense, nor is it really biblical.


the whole "age of accountability" and "mentally challenged people dont go to hell" arguments are just mental justifications for something we know isnt really "just" to begin with (eternal torture). Consider the following, from my most recent blog:

"A just human judge would consider all the variables involved in what caused the criminal to act as they did(if they indeed did), including their mental health and age. Most Christians do not believe that the mentally handicapped or small children undergo infinite punishment in Hell, because the state of their mind keeps them from being capable of fully comprehending right from wrong and what Jesus did for them...but doesn't every person have something(s) that keep them from understanding those things with absolute clarity? Hasn't God allowed us all to be afflicted with sin, the very thing that pulls us from His truth? Did God merely allow man to fall into sin, with no intention to take such a "disease" and "mental insanity" into account on the day of judgment? The Bible tells us that God has more compassion and mercy than that, for what He allowed knowingly(La 3:31-33). I don't believe God will merely turn a "blind-eye" to that which caused us(the "sane")to make our flaws in belief and action, because we too posses a type of "insanity" of the soul, and a blindness of the heart and mind that only Jesus Christ can clean away from us at His appointed times."

so as we can see...the fact that there is some level of "sanity" or "age" at which a person is REQUIRED by God to have the "right" perception and belief about him, really makes no sense at all...because sin afflicts us all and blinds us all in one sense or another

so my thought is, regardless of age, sanity, location, up bringing, culture...no one can really be "justly" held accountable to eternal torment without seeing God in all his glory face to face...and who COULD reject that?

I would say no one, though feel free to disagree

 

[Veritas]

I think Psalms sums up an answer fairly well:

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Psalm 51:5 (NIV)

 

[Imagican]

No. there is NO scripture to prove that everyone magically becomes aware of their need for a Saviour and becomes accountable. Also, you cannot use scripture to prove something that is not true. Everyone reaches that point at a different time depending on different circumstances. A child raised in a Christian home will reach that point much more quickly that a child raised in an atheist home.

That's why it took me until I was 17 to accept Christ, because I was SENT to church instead of TAKEN. There was no Christian example or teaching at home, and the need for a Saviour was never mentioned. Had I not met a Christian boy when I was 16 who invited me to church, I might have never known the Lord. I certainly would have never thought about visiting a church on my own, and I have not even once in my lifetime had anyone come to my home with the gospel.

The question is NOT when one becomes AWARE of God. The question is concerning WHEN one become ACCOUNTABLE for what's in their HEART.

While you are correct in there is no MAGICAL means by which we become accountable, it is NOT MAGIC that we DEAL with here. We deal with a LOVING and Gracious God who has HIS means to discern WHEN a 'person is held accountable'.

I take it that you are NOT disagreeing that there IS 'an age of accountability', you just believe that it varies with the individual? With this I find no fault. For it is most likely the METHOD that is used in such judgement. For God is able to READ the hearts of individuals and EACH heart obviously matures at a DIFFERENT rate of TIME.

Blessings,

MEC

 

[Imagican]

I think Psalms sums up an answer fairly well:

Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Psalm 51:5 (NIV)

Ok Veritas,

Let us assume that YOUR offering is correct.

Question: How does God JUDGE the HEART of, lets' say, a TWO YEAR OLD? Or a THREE YEAR OLD? And if what YOU have offered is TRUTH, then what happens to the THREE DAY OLD that dies WITHOUT BEING SPRINKLED?

Blessings,

MEC

 

[Cornelius]

Fact is God is not going to judge a two year old.Nor a three year old. But at some time in our lives we must step over a line, where God says: OK, you are old enough.

I am not going to fight about it, I just say something in the Bible that happened over and over again and we all know that the Old Testament is there for us to learn from.

So here are the Scriptures where God made a division between those under twenty and those above.
Why not 15, or 13 year? No, God said :Over twenty.

Exo 30:14 Every one that passeth over unto them that are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering of Jehovah.

Exo 38:26 a beka a head, that is, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for every one that passed over to them that were numbered, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty men.

Num 1:3 from twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel, thou and Aaron shall number them by their hosts.

Num 1:18 And they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they declared their pedigrees after their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, by their polls.

Num 26:2 Take the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel, from twenty years old and upward, by their fathers' houses, all that are able to go forth to war in Israel.

Num 26:4 Take the sum of the people, from twenty years old and upward; as Jehovah commanded Moses and the children of Israel, that came forth out of the land of Egypt.

Num 32:11 Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me:

In the last verse we see that God did not bring those under twenty under judgment for unbelief as He did with the rest of the people. Those under twenty were exempt.

I will not make this into a doctrine, but there is enough scripture to show that God definitely has something to say about those under twenty !

C

 

[Cornelius]

I would say that takes care of all those who are mentally incapable to come an understanding of the gospel, for in their minds, they are certainly under twenty in God's eyes. He is not looking at their physical bodies. He is not cruel.

C

 

[savagesoto]

I would say that takes care of all those who are mentally incapable to come an understanding of the gospel, for in their minds, they are certainly under twenty in God's eyes. He is not looking at their physical bodies. He is not cruel.

C

well according to mainstream theology, He's cruel enough to sentence to eternal torment anyone who doesnt stumble upon the right set of beliefs by the time they die, regardless of the situations, enviroment, family and culture AND SINFUL NATURE that God placed them in....whats a few mentally handicapped to Him? He obviously doesnt love many people anyway according to the general Christian paradigm.

and Im not sure those verses really provide any evidence for anything more than an "age of responsibility" or "adulthood". There is nothing there that says at some point people become smart enough to "save themselves from 'eternal woe'"(also note the old testament doesnt really talk about such 'woe' at all, but I digress)