Can a Child Be Born Again
id: 119; n2: 8
Question
Yous have to be built-in once again if y'all are to become a Christian and be saved (John iii:iii), correct? Therefore, practice you lot take to be of a sure age or spiritual maturity before yous can be born over again? Many people say they take become Christians at a very young age, say eight-15, and then they will say that they have become built-in once more in the total spirit of God afterward in life. Does the bible teach that you tin become a Christian at any age? Secondly, If you are thinking of having a family, then co-ordinate to the Calvinistic theory, there is no guarantee that your children will exist office of the elect and be saved. This is an absolutely terrible thought! Although I practise believe that it is but God'southward electing Grace that saves, the last thing on world that any parent would want is the realization that his or her children could exist doomed for hell. Is in that location whatsoever comforting mode of looking at this?
Reply
Regarding your first question, equally John 3:3,8 indicates, yous have to be born again in order to be saved. Being "born once more" means having your spirit regenerated or given new life. Because we are fallen people, we are born spiritually dead. Only when the Holy Spirit gives life to our spirits practise we become spiritually alive. This process is called "regeneration" or existence "built-in again." The Bible does not teach that there is any age limit on regeneration. In fact, it strongly suggests that people can be born again fifty-fifty before they are born. Specifically, it states that John the Baptist lept in his mother'south womb for joy at the news of Mary's pregnancy (Luke 1:44). Information technology is oftentimes argued that the baby's joy over the skillful news of Jesus' formulation implies the baby'southward prior regeneration. In any example, the Bible nowhere indicates that God cannot or will not regenerate and save infants. Moreover, his love for assertive parents inclines him to evidence favor on their children (due east.g. Deut. 4:37; Rom. 11:28).
The Bible does not speak of "becoming a Christian," so information technology is hard for me to guess what people might mean when they distinguish between becoming a Christian and being born again. Peradventure past "becoming a Christian" they mean "joining or going to a church." In this example, it is certainly possible that one may participate in church even so not exist saved. If instead they intend "condign a Christian" to refer to salvation, and propose that being born again may happen at a subsequent fourth dimension, and so they are in stark disagreement with the Bible. The Bible teaches that no one can be saved without being born over again, even for a moment. Rather, being built-in once more is role of a set of simultaneous events that only occur during the moment one is saved. Moreover, regeneration logically precedes such things as faith, forgiveness and the gift of eternal life (which begins the moment 1 is saved).
Regarding your second question, it is true that Calvinism denies that believers' children are guaranteed to be saved -- but Calvinism is non solitary in this. No Evangelical Christian school of thought asserts that the children of believers necessarily will be saved. Given that many children of faithful believers grow upwards to deny Christ, information technology would exist very difficult to argue otherwise. Withal, I do believe that Calvinism offers more hope to parents than do other Evangelical schools of thought. This is because Calvinism emphasizes God's covenant with the church. It teaches that even those church members who are non saved receive a measure of God's special favor beyond what we call "common grace." Common grace is that care and kindness that God shows to mankind at large, such as sending rain on the crops of evil people and withholding immediate judgment from gross sinners. Merely God is particularly patient with the children of believers and church members. As stated to a higher place, he cares for them with greater mercy because of his love for their believing parents and because of his covenant (due east.g. Hos. 11:7-viii). This means that Calvinists can offer slap-up hope that the children of believers will be saved, fifty-fifty if they cannot guarantee it. Other Evangelical schools of thought must simply leave the problem up to the free will of the children, placing the children in the same boat as the children of those unbelievers outside the church.
Ra McLaughlin is Vice President of Finance and Administration at Third Millennium Ministries.
Source: https://thirdmill.org/answers/answer.asp/file/40351
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