Why dont Christians kill their childrens immediately after they baptize them?

[Town Heretic]

But if you are a parent who deeply loves their child and wants to ensure their salvation, why would it not be an act of love to murder the baptized infant?

The problem with this sort of question is that it mostly leads to the underlying assumption that the inquirer is a) a sociopath (see: a girl spys the man of her dreams at a funeral of a family member and though he's gone before she can find out who he is she just knows they'll meet again) or b) someone with a bone to pick with Christianity who is either bias blinkered or c) doesn't know much about actual Christian orthodoxy.

Or an infant who has not reached the age of accountability, who will surely go to heaven?

The problem isn't with the infant, but with the murderer. That one will have to defy God to get to that "get out of sin free" hypothetical. You're essentially underscoring the house divided observation of Jesus.

Now for some Christians this rationale does not work

Yes, the some who understand their religion and have actually read the instruction book.

; I don't know that all Calvinists believe these evil infants will go to heaven unless they are chosen by God for that purpose. But if you are in a denomination that believes murdered infants will go to heaven, well then...you have an incentive to murder your infants.

Not if you understand your faith, no.

Sure, you are not supposed to kill your child.

A good start. But that's where it has to stop, too.

But by killing your child, you ensure their eternal salvation. Is that not an act of love in the Christian framework?

No, murder is never an act of love. It is forbidden by the root of love.

And really, God can forgive all if you are truly repentant after the fact.

You can't be truly repentant of an act you consider good and loving. It's just a part of the problem with the hypothetical, though it's all downhill in a handbasket past "thous shalt not murder".

 

[JoStories]

What Cambridge is doing here is using an extreme example to illustrate one of the most irrational bits of the standard Abrahamic world view. The vast majority believe that your eternal fate is determined by your response to the environment you are born into. They commonly disagree about the details, but what he described was near exactly what I was taught in Catholic school in the 60s.
This type of belief creates all kinds of cognitive dissonance. It may have made sense to ancient people, but not to me.
Tom

I don't agree Tom. When my daughter was raped, I had many friends from the Viet Nam war around and one offered to kill the man for me once he was caught. I admit I thought about it for a couple of seconds but I could not bring myself to do such a thing. Of course, I am not Christian. So the same precepts don't or rather, didn't apply to me. Still, I don't see how one can believe that the Christian version of God would ever condone such a heinous act.

 

[JoStories]

[QUOTE="gsa, post: 4522866, member: 55098"]But if you are a parent who deeply loves their child and wants to ensure their salvation, why would it not be an act of love to murder the baptized infant? Or an infant who has not reached the age of accountability, who will surely go to heaven? Now for some Christians this rationale does not work; I don't know that all Calvinists believe these evil infants will go to heaven unless they are chosen by God for that purpose. But if you are in a denomination that believes murdered infants will go to heaven, well then...you have an incentive to murder your infants.

Sure, you are not supposed to kill your child. But by killing your child, you ensure their eternal salvation. Is that not an act of love in the Christian framework? And really, God can forgive all if you are truly repentant after the fact.[/QUOTE]

IMO, the reason one cannot do such a thing is that we cannot know the mind of God. God may have future plans for that child. Perhaps as a world leader of religion. It could be anything. If the parent circumvents that, is that not acting AS God and thwarting God's plans? Furthermore, the OP is basing this premise on a book written by men. We know it was written by men. Who is to say that that edict is not mistaken and that children are meant to live a full life and come to know God, or even embrace atheism, as what God had planned for them? What if the Bible writers were wrong about children being immediately taken to this heaven? What then? Have we damned that child and of course, the person committing such a heinous act? Can we say for absolute certain that the child would be taken straight to heaven? Clearly we don't know that.

 

[Glaurung]

But if you are a parent who deeply loves their child and wants to ensure their salvation, why would it not be an act of love to murder the baptized infant?

If you consider such warped reasoning as having a basis in love, then yes it's an act of love. But such a deluded love is not a Christian love based on the idea that human life has a fundamental dignity innate to it by being in the image of the creator. It is the same reason why abortion is wrong, because no one has the right to play God in such a fashion. You don't have the right to take the lives of others and no motive (no matter how pure in your mind) can justify you to do so.

 

[JoStories]

If you consider such warped reasoning as having a basis in love, then yes it's an act of love. But such a deluded love is not a Christian love based on the idea that human life has a fundamental dignity innate to it by being in the image of the creator. It the same reason why abortion is wrong, because no one has the right to play God in such a fashion. You don't have the right to take the lives of others and no motive (no matter how pure in your mind) can justify you to do so.

While I don't agree that abortion is murder or taking a life, your argument has merit. You are correct that no one can play God. That, IMO, is tantamount to thinking one IS God. Such a ridiculous notion would have never occurred to me.

 

[Yoshua]

Most people would recoil at the very thought. But then, Christians believe that the dead child will go to heaven, right? So you are basically guaranteeing their salvation by murdering them. Even if you lose your soul in the process, isn't that an act of love? If Christianity is true, of course. If it isn't true, then you would just be a deluded murderer. But still, isn't it better to take Pascal's wager and kill the child?

Hi Gsa,

Not all Christians believed that a dead child will go to heaven. Some believed that there is an age of accountability that they know what is wrong and right.

Firstly, I don't guaranteeing the salvation of child. It is only God who knows about their salvation. We may have an indicator that they will be with God if they believed and received Christ as their personal Saviour and Lord.

Secondly, I don't agree of murdering them. That is forbidden by God. We have no rights to take the life of others.

Thirdly, I don't want to lose a soul and consider it as love.

Christianity is true in the sense of what Jesus taught us is to be followed.

Thanks

 

[Yoshua]

Im no Christian so I don't have to make such a choice.
But let me ask you a question. Suppose you're extremely poor, you re so poor you eat once every two days. You live in a country with no job opportunities, there's war and famine where you live. No healthcare, school is awful and so on. You have a child.
A couple from america comes to you and tell you
We want to adopt your baby.
We can send him to the best schools, he will eat healthy foods everyday, will have the opportunity to travel the world, have first class education, a good job, and of course we will raise him as a Christian. But if we adopt him we will tell him that you re dead and you will never be able to see him again.
Would you consider their offer?

Hi Cambridge,

Wow. What a nice question and scenario of that.

First, I will pray to God for guidance with my decision. Practically, I will allow him to be adopted and raised as a Christian. That is because I love my child and want to give him a good future. I would consider their offer even though it is a very hard thing to do and accept.

Thanks