Age of Accountability
Occasionally updated and edited.
Copyright © 2009
When a baby dies we are told his soul continues to live in heaven, even though the child possessed a sin nature and was never baptised or otherwise "saved."
The reason, we are told, is the child was too young to be aware of his sin nature or to understand the consequences of failing to be converted. The child was not accountable for his sins.
At what stage in life, then, does a person become accountable?
Some say the age of attaining accountability is twelve years. Others suppose the age of accountability varies among different people and is not connected to one's physical age.
There is, however, a time in one's life when he becomes accountable. It is a moment in his life before which he could die unconverted without the consequences of eternal punishment.
What if a child were to reach the age of accountability today then die tomorrow? That person would have been allotted one 24-hour period to grasp the concept of sin, the need for repentance and take the necessary action to avoid hell.
What if a child were to die one hour after reaching the age of accountability? One minute after? Once second after?
