Can children go to hell?
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Asked February 02 2018
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Ara Nelson
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Aurel Gheorghe
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Can children go to hell? Under certain situations they probably could. In 2 Kings 2:23, 24 we read how some boys were cursed and killed for mocking God’s prophet. We are not told the age of these boys, but apparently they were old enough to know better. The Bible appear to indicate that a child who dies before he/she is old enough to know right from wrong is saved (Isaiah 49:25; 1 Cor 7:14). What is that age? It depends of individual - some mature earlier than others. Moreover, James 4:17 says “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” That would suggest that immature persons unable to discern between right and wrong, God doesn’t hold them responsible – also in Acts 17:30 we read that God excuses ignorance. And then there is the popular doctrine of the original sin. It started with the valid biblical position of man's inherent carnal nature – predisposed to sin - and evolved into the doctrine that Adam's guilt was also imputed to his descendants. That's why some churches baptize the infants. Augustine is mostly responsible for this view of transmitted guilt – view contradicted by the Bible (Ezekiel 18:20). Furthermore, the Bible teaches that Jesus was born in Adam’s fallen human nature and in the same time He was sinless (Heb 2:16; 4:15; 2 Cor 5:21; 1 John 3:5) - “was made of the seed of David according to the flesh" (Rom 1:3). All David’s descendants, except for Christ, bore their hereditary inclinations and committed personal sins. Jesus, also inherited David’s nature after the flesh, but He did not yield to the inherent weaknesses of that nature: “but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4:15). In Matthew 18:3, Christ said: “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven” and in Matthew 19:14, “the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children." We can safely derive from these two statements that babies and little children are going to inherit the Kingdom of God, not hell. Hell and death are frightening and often misunderstood subjects. Fortunately, the Bible talks a lot about these two issues and no one should be confused by mystical teachings. The Bible often refers to death as ‘sleep’ - the dead will be awakened (resurrected) at the end of time – some to everlasting life, others to everlasting contempt (John 11:11-14; John 6:39; Daniel 12:2; 1 Cor 15:51; Acts 7:60). So, the good news is that right now no one is burning in hell and the God of love and mercy is not going to torment for eternity children in hellfire.