Little Children

     As I’ve considered what to write this week, my thoughts have continually returned to my family.  I am an incredibly blessed man when it comes to family.  My parents are wonderful parents, who truly care about me and my life.  They do everything they can to help me with my needs and concerns.

     I’ve also had the good fortune of finding excellent in-laws.  They, too, truly care about my little family.  Like my parents, they carry our needs in their hearts and minds, and do everything they can to help my wife and me when we need it.  I’m certain nobody has better parents or in-laws than I do.

    Then there’s my wife.  I love my wife very deeply.  She works so hard to make sure our marriage is the best it could be.  She constantly searches for ways to be a better mother, and she is already a great mother.  Most importantly, she loves the One True God and seeks to serve Him in all she does.

     But my little girl is the one that my thoughts dwell on most.  I have the cutest little girl in the world!  (I confess I might be heavily biased with my opinion on that.)  This little one is so much fun to watch as she chases the cats around, waves bye-bye to the cars driving past our front window, and romps around the house making messes with anything she can find.  She has such a deep love for life and fun, and it’s endearing.

     Watching this little girl makes it incredibly easy to understand why the Savior carries such a deep love for little children.  It’s easy to understand why He would rebuke His disciples, insisting they allow the little children to come to Him and be blessed.  (The New Testament, Matthew 19:13-15)  It’s also easy to understand why He would come to the people of America and spend considerable time blessing all the little children in the congregation.  (The Book of Mormon:  Another Testament of Jesus Christ, 3 Nephi 17)

     As I’ve been thinking about my young one this week, I happened to read a talk given in the last General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Elder Shayne Bowen, one of the general authorities of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spoke to the congregation and addressed those who had lost a little child.  He spoke about the loss of a little child in his family and how it tore at their hearts. 

    He continued to speak of the pain he felt and the anger that followed.  But he turned to the Lord in prayer and faith, asking for an ability to cope with the loss.  Through personal spiritual experiences, God helped him overcome the feelings of loss and helped him find hope in the promise of seeing the child again when he himself would leave this world.

     In the beginning of this talk, Elder Bowen spoke of a woman he met while serving as a full time missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He and his companion spoke with the woman about the age of accountability. 

     Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints turn to revelation in The Book of Mormon:  Another Testament of Jesus Christ (Moroni 8), The Doctrine and Covenants of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (D&C 137 and 138), and other supporting scriptures to learn that little children are not held accountable before God until they reach the age of eight.  God has declared children who reach the age of eight have enough understanding to know the difference between good and evil.  They then become accountable before Him for that which they know.

     This woman had lost a child several years earlier.  The leader of a local church had informed her this child was condemned to an eternal state of limbo because he hadn’t been baptized.  For many years she lived with grief because she believed this was true.  Many children die during birth or before they can be baptized.  And unfortunately many parents live with guilt because they have been taught these children cannot enter the rest of the Lord because they weren’t baptized.

     Yet this teaching contradicts the love Jesus has demonstrated for little children.  Jesus the Atoning One sacrificed everything for the inhabitants of the world, making it possible for them to come again into the presence of the Eternal God.  How could the Loving Christ make this sacrifice and fail to make it possible for children, whom He loves so much, to return to God simply because they weren’t baptized, especially when so many don’t even have a moments opportunity to be baptized?

     It defies all logic and reasoning to believe this could be the case.  I know it isn’t the case.  The sacrifice Jesus made accounted for little children.  He made it possible for little children under the age of eight to enter into the rest of God without baptism.  He loves these children more perfectly than we do and He wouldn’t fail to make sure they had hope in Him just as the rest of the world can have.  His atonement saves them.

To read the talk given by Elder Bowen, visit http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/because-i-live-ye-shall-live-also?lang=eng.