If Babies Go to Heaven When They Die, Why Is Abortion So Wrong?

I honestly could not believe my ears a few years ago when someone asked that question. His denomination teaches that a baby must be baptized in order to go to Heaven. Thus the main reason his church places so much energy into stopping abortions is to save the souls of the unborn.

Now that is a noble goal--until you consider that if Jesus death and resurrection was not enough, how can a ritual performed by a sinful man be?

I believe that all who die as babies, whether their parents believe or not, will go to Heaven. I believe I have Scripture to support this belief. The most often used passage is the one in II Samuel 12, where, as a result of David's adultery and murder, the child produced by the adultery was sentenced to death. David had been praying and fasting for seven days since the proclamation, begging for God's mercy; but when God rejected his request, David got up, washed himself, and ate. His servants were astonished: "Don't you care that your son just died and that your prayer was not answered?" (paraphrasing, of course) His answer: "while the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, 'Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me that the child may live?' But now that he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me" (direct quotation of II Sam. 12:22-23).

Notice, God would have been gracious to David, not to his son, to spare the child's life. Notice also, that David was confident that when he died he would see his son again. We know that as a man after God's own Heart, David went to Heaven; thus his child must have been there, too.

I would also point out that God never judges a person without giving them a chance to repent. He does not give everyone the same kind of chance (Matt. 11:21-24), but He does give everybody a good chance (Rom. 1:18-32). A baby has not had a chance to even manifest a sinful nature from which he could repent, let alone understood how to actually repent. To repent is to turn your heart away from your sins (Job 33:27-28); just what has a baby done yet?

Of course, everybody who still clings to that teaching points to the Original Sin, which condemns us all (Rom. 5:13-14); but they neglect the rest of the passage: "But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many" (v.15; emphasis added)!! God is dishing out His grace to as many as will receive it. I have never seen a baby able to resist anything. The grace of God is not excepted.

But why then do we make such a big deal about abortion? "Lo, children are an heritage from the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is His reward" (Psalm 127:3). If people are willing to reject this one of God's blessing for them, what other blessings won't they reject? When you start rebelling against God in one area of your life, you find it easier to do in other areas. Then you lose all the blessings that you would have had--but then you want to blame God because your life was miserable?! We as a society could benefit greatly from the children that we have murder--if we would have but let them live. The economic benefits to this country if it had a greater consumer population and workforce paying into taxes and Social Security and untold numbers of geniuses whom God could have used to help us cure some of the diseases we face--don't begin to tell the story of what we have done to ourselves as a result of this national sin.

The babies are fine. We have only hurt ourselves.