Back at the questions / theories again!

Disclaimer - I don't own God. My theories are my own and the Bible is in the public domain!

R&R if you feel like it.

Theory on Redemption of Specific Groups

Here is a subject that comes up frequently. Who "ends up" being redeemed and who doesn't? What about infants? What about people who've never heard the gospel? What about people who lack the capacity to understand salvation, or who lack the capacity to understand their sin for what it is (the seriously mentally ill)? What about behavior that is actually a result of a medical condition? (I have a child with epilepsy who gets extremely frustrated with school work because his seizures interfere with his ability to remember things, thus making academic tasks quite difficult. He gets angry and leaves the room.)

All of these are very good questions. They have been raised several times and in a multitude of contexts. Now many a Bible scholar has been frustrated by these questions because it is true that in the Scripture there is no definitive clear cut answer. So what ends up happening is one gathers a verse from here and one from there and tries to figure out from the context of all of Scripture if it actually does give us an answer?

So, this having been kicking around in my head a day or so now - I'm going to take a crack at it "in theory".

Before I "kick off my theory" here. I have to make this one thing clear. Only God really knows the state of a person's heart and understanding. People in general, regardless of their issues can be quite manipulative. So given that understanding; how this theory may apply to any given individual, only God know's that answer, as specific to that person. What I am delineating here is a theory based on a general principle. This principle would be applicable to individuals based on their personal circumstances, the whole of which is only known to God.

Let's start with what we know of the Scripture:

1. God created a world that was corrupted by evil.

2. Adam and Eve were created in the image of God and with the exception of Jesus Christ, they are the parents of all humanity.

3. Their disobedience as "man", caused all of humanity, plus the rest of all of living creation to become aware of, as well as corrupted by the knowledge of good and evil.

4. Christ provided atonement for human beings, but also for the rest of the created order.

Scripture in more detail about sin:

1. All humanity is guilty of sin.

2. Other living entities can be guilty of sin (angels, animals, the land).

3. All of what is corrupted by sin in this universe will be burned up and recreated.

Sin verses corrupted nature:

Here is where things can get a bit confusing. Can an entity who's suffering from a corrupt nature make a choice not to sin. Hopefully we would all answer yes to this question. Yes, sin its-self has it's roots in a fallen nature; but the manifestation of that sin comes through thoughts and actions. Way back in Genesis when Cain's offering was not received by God. God asks Cain, "Why are you angry?"; and than warns him that "sin is crouching at the door". There's another verse in Romans talking about Jacob and Esau that says "… before they be born having done no good or evil…."

Also throughout the Scripture we see multitudes of verses that admonish people to choose to do what is right. Now these passages don't really address the underlying deadness of the corrupt nature, but they do address the ability of humans to make choices of thoughts and / or actions that are considered "good" or "evil".

Also, if we look closely at Scripture (as well as the world around us) we can see that animals of higher cognitive capacity also have this ability to "be obedient" or "be disobedient". Anyone who's tried to train dogs, cats, horses or other domesticated animals can certainly attest to the fact that this is true. Animals do have the capacity to make conscious decisions to "obey" or "disobey" a trainer.

It's also been proven too that animals in the wild are not totally running off of "instinct". They can (and do) make conscious choices as to how they behave. There are examples of predatory animals who are not killing because they are hungry. Something has gone amiss in their thought processes and they are "behaving in an unnatural way" or as the Scripture actually calls it "sin".

Now we also know there is no place in the Scripture that indicates that animals who do transgress the natural order of things, can go to hell to pay for their sins. Not being created in the image of God, they are not held accountable in that respect. The question I now raise though is; are there humans who are also in this category? Due to defect of genetics, cognition, accidents affecting cognition, mental illness, or whatever; are there humans who like beasts are not held accountable for their sin as humans who have all their faculties together are?

The Witness of Creation:

I mentioned before that the Scripture does tell us that a portion of the atonement Christ procured does cover the created order. Not only does the atonement deliver sinners from their sin and the wrath of God, it also delivers the universe from the curse put on it because of human disobedience.

The Scripture is also pretty clear that we are only held accountable for the revelation we've been given. To those who've been given much, much will be required; but to those who've been given little, they are only accountable for that "amount of revelation". The Scripture tells us that creation its-self is a witness to God, and things about God including the trinity and redemption can be seen in the creation. Now making sense out of that witness can be difficult without the Scripture, but that does not negate the fact that this witness is still there.

This is good news for, and can help appease the questions of people who ask "Well what about the Native Americans, or the Africans, or people in China who've lived and died throughout history without ever having any exposure to the Bible?" They are not condemned for their lack of knowledge, but are only held accountable for the witness they've been given. This of course also includes the fact that the law of God is written on the conscience of man (as having been created in God's image). This is what Paul is taking about when he says the gentiles who have not the law, but do by nature the things in the law; they are a law unto themselves. These are the people who follow the law written on their conscience, but also try to properly interpret the witness of the creation around them.

This is how a person who is totally outside of the specific revelation of Scripture can still be saved. The Holy Spirit can still indwell and bring revelation about God through the witness of creation to someone who is never exposed to the specific revelation of Scripture. They can still be covered by the blood of the redeemer that they've never heard of. Now the particular difficulty of a person in this predicament, is that they may never be assured that they have a place in the Kingdom because they've never heard the good news. Regardless though, God is still just and He will not condemn them for their lack of knowledge of revelation that they have not been given.

Babies, Beasts and Divine Providence:

Now that I've covered what Scripture says about us only being held accountable to the revelation that we've been given. I hypothesize that it's reasonable to conclude that this principle also applies to people who lack the cognitive ability to understand, or who's minds might be impaired in other ways. I would include here some people who are suffering from grave (yet non-criminal) psychiatric disorders, who though they may not be lacking in IQ points, they may be so impaired from (non-self induced) hallucinations or such like things, that their ability to think strait is also impaired.

Lack of cognitive ability to understand though is different than the notion of "age of accountability" because "age of accountability" presumes someone is innocent until they understand. I'm not saying that. I believe the Scripture is pretty clear that none are innocent. Anyone who's going to come into the Kingdom is going to come through the blood of Christ. Just as a portion of Christ's atonement covers creatures who themselves are not held accountable for sin, because they are not created in God's image; it would also cover those created in His image who are like the beasts, without the cognitive capacity to understand. Now would that be "general atonement" relative to "specific atonement"? I don't know. I'm not sure that even matters. Atonement has still been rendered.

Now we also know some of God's attributes are His omnipotence and omniscience (all powerful and all knowing) We know these two attributes of His existence heavily impact the life of believers. He brings us to belief and understanding at a certain point, when the time is right, in His own providence. We also know He keeps us alive until that revelation has been enacted and we actually "get the chance" to believe. It has just dawned on me though that He also does this for all of humanity. Regardless of whether a person becomes a believer or is condemned because of their own disobedience; God allows their lives to continue until the fullness of what ever end their purpose is to be completed. So if someone is born without the capacity to develop an understanding of their sin / redemption etc. God knew that was going to be the case and allowed it to happen for the sake of His purposes. The same would be true for infants and young children who die. Is that purpose to "cover them under general redemption" (if that's what we want to call it)? I don't know, but that would seem to be a logical conclusion.

I've been searching the Internet on Scripture verses that could relate to this question and though I haven't found any that are clear; the one glaring thing that does spring forth is that there are no Scripture verses that state someone in this condition is condemned. There are plenty of verses that state they are subject to the corruption inherent in being born into this fallen world and the they are sinners, capable of offending God; but there aren't any that say they are condemned.

So thus my conclusion - In providence they are covered by the blood of Christ.