NOW WHO DO YOU THINK THIS LOVELY LITTLE GRANDDAUGHTER IS

Very Proud of our Granddaughter

Eric and Leslie baby was born April 30, 2009 around 5 p.m. and she was 7 lbs 11 oz and 19 in long and of course a very perfect little girl. As only a grandfather would say so proudly.

The star of the day

Aunt Becky and grandmother Mom

Chad and Mom and Kyle

Bob, Charles, Chad and Kyle

Heather, Charity and Brittney

Grandfather and our little granddaughter

Happy Grandparents

Happy Happy

Happy Dad

Happy Grandmother Charity

Happy aunt Becky and Mom

Eric and Leslie's new born and our granddaughter

Dressing our granddaughter for the first time from charles e. whisnan t on Vimeo.

Amazing Amazing creation of God from charles e. whisnan t on Vimeo.

This is the "terminus" of this article:

WHEN A CHILD DIES, IN THE WOMB OR AT BIRTH, OR IN THE FEW YEARS AFTER BIRTH , THEY GO TO HEAVEN?

part ten

This is the finishing point to this article:

THOSE THAT DO NOT HAVE THE CAPACITY TO BELIEVE IN OR REJECT CHRIST AS SAVIOR CANNOT BE CONDEMNED BUT MUST BE SAVED UNTO ETERNAL LIFE

Even if the parents are not Christians, children will go to Heaven.

• If we are only punished for "actual sin" and not imputed sin, it would stand to reason that we are only rewarded for "actual righteousness" and not imputed righteousness.
• 
  That’s one of the problems I have with going beyond the Scripture and proclaiming all dead infants go to Heaven.
  
• "If we are only punished for "actual sin" and not imputed sin, it would stand to reason that we are only rewarded for "actual righteousness" and not imputed righteousness."

• And you are absolutely right. Reason would demand every fallen sinful person be justly condemned for their imputed sin. But this does not take into consideration the grace of God, by which any are saved. Christ’s imputed righteousness is an actual righteousness, that God condescends to apply to His elect. We are not "rewarded" at all. Rather we receive mercy in place of justice.
  
• There is no violence offered to either the grace of God or the justice of God in my position. The fact that God graciously reserves His wrath for positive sinful and willful disobedience manifests both His justice and His mercy.

A few web sites on this subject:

http://www.nogreaterjoy.org/nc/topics/general-view/archive/2007/August/15/the-salvation-of-children/

http://www.galatians5.com/Baby.htm
Did My Baby Go To Heaven?

http://radongas.blogspot.com/2006/06/response-to-john-stebbe-infant.html
A Response to John Stebbe - Infant Salvation

http://www.biblestudymanuals.net/children.htm
CHILDREN - DO THEY GO TO HEAVEN?

http://www.albertmohler.com/commentary_read.php?cdate=2005-01-05
In the Shadow of Death--The Little Ones Are Safe With Jesus

http://www.sfpulpit.com/2007/06/04/the-age-of-accountability/
"The ""Age of Accountability"

http://tonykummer.wordpress.com/2005/11/25/childhood-conversion-and-age-of-accountability-part-1-introduction/
Responses to "Childhood Conversion and Age of Accountability"

http://aolsearch.aol.com/aol/search?query=%22Baby%22
A picture of baby in womb

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This has been a long article, and I am sure raises a lot of good questions about the subject of children.

Thanks for the emails that I have received about this article. If you would like the whole article in one post. I have Corel word perfect and would be glad to e mail the article to you.

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE BABY WHEN THE BABY DIES IN THE WOMB?
Charles E. Whisnant

It’s true that children are born sinners -- their death does prove that. But never being able to understand the truth; and therefore, consciously reject it and choose rebellion, they have no record against them in the books of God. Thus constitutes a marvelous and vast opportunity for sovereign grace to operate, apart from any works at all.

SUMMARY:

• All children who die before they reach the condition of accountability (footnotes)
  
• The Book of Life records everyone from conception on. This book indicates that all men are potentially able to go to heaven from the point of conception unless they reach the capacity of understanding and rejecting the gospel of faith alone in Christ alone.
  
• SINS ARE NOT TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT UNLESS THERE IS A CONSCIOUSNESS OF COMMITTING SINS
  
• SCRIPTURE INDICATES THAT CHILDREN AND OTHERS BEFORE THE AGE OR WITHOUT THE CAPACITY OF ACCOUNTABILITY DO GO TO HEAVEN
  
• THOSE THAT DO NOT HAVE THE CAPACITY TO BELIEVE IN OR REJECT CHRIST AS SAVIOR CANNOT BE CONDEMNED BUT MUST BE SAVED UNTO ETERNAL LIFE

There is "life" in the womb. From day one to birth there is life placed there by God.
When that child dies at any point before birth and anytime before that child comes to the condition whereby they understand their sin and corruption.

Whereby these children are in my thinking (through a careful study of Scripture and studying those who are 100% more knowledgeable of the Word than I am, such as John MacArthur, BB Warfield, Al Mohler, etc. and the Internet for sites on the scientific data) graciously saved eternally by God through the work of Jesus Christ, being elect by sovereign choice, innocent of willful sin, rebellion, and unbelief, by which works they would be justly condemned to eternal punishment. Thus I believe Scripture teaches when an infant dies, is elected to eternal salvation and eternal heaven.

Footnotes:
R.A. Webb
June 2007

• "His (Servetus’) third point is, That all who believe not in the Son remain in death, the wrath of God abideth on them (John 3:36); and, therefore, infants who are unable to believe lie under condemnation. I (Calvin) answer, that Christ does not there speak of the general guilt in which all the posterity of Adam are involved, but only threatens the despisers of the gospel, who proudly and contumaciously spurn the grace which is offered to them. But this has nothing to do with infants. At the same time, I meet him with the opposite argument. Every one whom Christ blesses is exempted from the curse of Adam, and the wrath of God. Therefore, seeing it is certain that infants are blessed by him, it follows that they are freed from death." ~ Calvin, Institutes, Bk 4

NOTE: The original quote appearing at the top of this article has been replaced because I could not independently verify it’’s authenticity. My copy of Calvin’’s Institutes does not contain it. In place of it is a quote I have verified is in Calvin’s work. I must add though, Calvin does not appear consistent in his view concerning the state of all infants, and should be used carefully when being used as a reference. Thank you.

Calvin seems to assert something of the same Scriptural logic I’ve been trying to convey in my original post on infant election. Namely, that the Lord condemns and punishes actual sin, not our original sin state. I heartily affirm the doctrine of Original Sin. We are radically corrupt, totally depraved and completely helpless towards our salvation without the monergistic work of God regenerating our souls. And nothing I believe about the salvation of infants contradicts this blessed truth. Infants are saved by the grace of God. The saving work of Christ is applied to them and they are "counted" as righteous based solely upon the finished work of Jesus Christ, just like anyone else who is ever redeemed.

Over and over again the precepts of the Word tell us God graciously reserves His wrath for those who commit actual, willful sin. Calvin, in the quote above, contrasts those able to commit "actual sin" with infants who, though fallen by nature, aren’t willingly and knowingly committing sinful acts. This is the testimony of Scripture as well.

Rev. 20:12-13, And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works."

God opened up the books of judgment, and condemned the reprobate according to the deeds they have done in the flesh. His wrath was against their willful "sinful acts" to use Calvin’s words. Infants have not the moral capacity to judge good and evil (Deut 1:39). Likewise, Romans 4:15 says "Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression." There is no conscious transgression of the law in infants, therefore no wrath. John reaffirms this stating,
"Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." I Jn 3:4

No transgression - no guilt of sin. So infants dying in infancy, have yet to act upon their sinful wills in a sinful manner, transgressing the law and thus bringing upon themselves condemnation. R. A. Webb said this concerning the damnation of infants;

• "If a dead infant were sent to hell on no other account than that of original sin, there would be a good reason to the divine mind for the judgment because sin is a reality, but the child’s mind would be a perfect blank as to the reason of its suffering. Under such circumstances, it would know suffering, but it would have no understanding of the reason for its suffering. It could not tell itself why it was so awfully smitten and, consequently, the whole meaning and significance of its sufferings, being to it a conscious enigma, the very essence of the penalty would be absent, and justice would be disappointed, cheated of its validation."
  

Scripture always connects eternal condemnation to the sinner’s deeds, their works. In John 8:21 and 24 Jesus says of the most important damning work, "Because you believe not in me, you will die in your sins and where I go, you’ll never come." The greatest of all the sinners’ evil works is unbelief. And active unbelief is always singled out as the primary damning sin. John 3:36 says, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; he who doesn’t obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Earlier in the chapter, he says, "You don’t believe, you don’t believe, and because you don’t believe, you’re condemned. You’re condemned if you don’t believe and when you don’t believe, you don’t obey."

Salvation then is by grace completely apart from works. Damnation is by works completely apart from grace. Though we would be justly condemned for our original state of unrighteousness, God sovereignly and graciously condescends to reserve His wrathful judgment and eternal perdition for those whose own works of unrighteousness condemns them.

Comments from this article next time

DO CHILDREN, FROM CONCEPTION TO BIRTH TO WHEN:

GO TO HEAVEN WHEN THEY DIE?

^

(or those mental handicapped)

^

LITTLE CHILDREN DON’T HAVE A RECORD

Part Eight

^

In the book of Jonah, God had compassion on Nineveh, a city of more than 120,000 persons who did not know the difference between right and wrong. They were mentally incapable of understanding truth. And God has compassion on that condition.

• Cf. Deuteronomy 1:39 These little children do not have knowledge of good and evil. Cf. Isaiah 7:16 They haven’t reached that condition of accountqbility.

Here is the idea: A child that dies, do not have a record because they have not committed any evil works. There has not been a conscious act of rebellion and iniquity. Only God knows at what time in life a person comes accountable.

And those who have died before this point, have been guarded by God’s providence from committing those deeds, those responsible acts of sin by which they would be condemned.

Scripture teaches judgment is based on the grounds of deeds of sin. While it’s true they are sinful, by nature. But the account against them that condemns is their deeds. God doesn’t charge people with real sins until they have really committed them. Interesting isn’t it.

Babies have no record of sin being committed. Thus, babies that die, are ELECTED and enter into the glory of Heaven.

In 1907 R.A. Webb wrote (note footnotes:)

• "If a dead infant were sent to hell on no other account than that of original sin, there would be a good reason to the divine mind for the judgment because sin is a reality, but the child’s mind would be a perfect blank as to the reason of its suffering. Under such circumstances, it would know suffering, but it would have no understanding of the reason for its suffering. It could not tell itself why it was so awfully smitten and, consequently, the whole meaning and significance of its sufferings, being to it a conscious enigma, the very essence of the penalty would be absent, and justice would be disappointed, cheated of its validation."

It’s true that children are born sinners -- their death does prove that. But never being able to understand the truth; and therefore, consciously reject it and choose rebellion, they have no record against them in the books of God. Thus constitutes a marvelous and vast opportunity for sovereign grace to operate, apart from any works at all.

NOTE: This article has been to this point 16 pages on my notes, I have just about five more pages on this lengthy article. We have had some good e mails regarding this article, and some personal comments given to us about the helpfulness of this article. My e mail is CWhisna@aol.com

DID MY CHILD GO TO HEAVEN?
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE BABY WHEN THE BABY DIES IN THE WOMB?
Charles E. Whisnant

part seven

Personal Note:

• Good morning, Charity worked until 10 p.m. last night, the girls had two wedding cakes and two full sheet cakes for today. Plus they have an order for 100 dozen cookies for Tuesday. Charity was back at work this morning by 5 a.m. They had 35 cakes for today. I am sitting here at my desk getting read to post part seven. Later this morning I have some lawncare mowing at the bakery and Mexi. Plus I am working four hours today at Mexi.

THERE ARE SEVERAL POSITIONS ON THIS ISSUE TAKEN TO GET INFANTS IN HEAVEN

Some will contend that God by his nature will not be willing to let millions or billions of helpless infants go to hell.

Another view we need to thank Martin Luther: "Well, the baby can’t believe, so surrogate faith on the part of the parents is rendered in their behalf." So, baptized babies will be saved. The Lutheran Augsburg Confession on baptism.

• This view is also held by Anglicans and Episcopalians and several reformed groups, as well as the Roman Catholic Church.
• "By Christian baptism, one enters into the Kingdom of God into the sphere of the saving work of Christ."

Let’s make this clear (well as clear as I can) No view of infant salvation which denies original sin and total depravity is true. Babies are not really free from sin. They are sinners.

Sending babies to hell does not protect the doctrine of salvation either.

OKAY, if infants are saved when they die, what identification is required for their salvation?

• Those that die in the womb, those who are born dead, the retarded, those who have little understanding in the matters of salvation - if they are saved when they die, by what means are they saved?
  
• BY THE SACRIFICIAL WORK OF JESUS CHRIST, BECAUSE THAT IS THE ONLY MEANS THAT ANYBODY CAN BE SAVED.

Here is what John MacArthur says:

• God has predestined all He wills into salvation, including those in infancy. That salvation is by His sovereign choice through grace alone. Though all infants deserve eternal judgment because of their guilt and corruption, their sins were paid for by the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ on the cross in which He bore the wrath of God, not only for all who could believe, but for all who could not believe. I really believe that only those who understand true reformed theology can grasp the redemption of little ones, which fits so beautifully because it’s all of sovereignty and it’s all of grace."

• Here is what B.B. Warfied says:
• The destiny of infants who die is determined irrespective of their choice by an unconditional decree of God suspended for its execution on no act of their own and their salivation is wrought by an unconditional application of the grace of Christ to their souls through the immediate and irresistible operation of the Holy Spirit prior to and apart from any actions of their own proper wills.
• If death in infancy does depend on God’s providence, it is assuredly God in His providence who selects this vast multitude to be made participants of His unconditional salvation. This is but to say that they are unconditionally predestined to salvation from the foundation of the world.
• "If this be true, that an infant child, a child in the womb is saved by this grace of Christ, then the Arminian way is not effective. That is to say, salvation is ALL of God of grace, and that would account for the salvation of these children in the womb as well."

Some say, "These children didn’t believe." They couldn’t believe. And therefore in God’s mercy and grace and sovereign election, through the sacrifice of Christ and His resurrection which is freely implemented to them, they are guided into God’s kingdom.

The reason that people are damned is by their works. The Bible teaches that all condemned sinners merited their eternal punishment by their sins.

• Cf. Revelation 20:11-12
  Cf. John 5:12
  
• The Judgment seat is about the judgment of peoples "deeds". "Works".
  God has a complete record (pre-computer days) of every sin of every sinner who has ever lived (that is a lot of people) and it’s on those records that they will be condemned. The record establishes the sins of the sinners and that record will condemn them.

LITTLE CHILDREN DON’T HAVE A RECORD

next time

DO CHILDREN GO TO HEAVEN AND WHAT DOES THE WORD SAY?

Part Six

^

Pre- comment first:

• Charity and I went to Lexington KY Sunday morning to go to church with Eric and Leslie. Leslie cooked a very good Sunday dinner. And Kyle and Brittany and Chad and Heather came over for dinner. Eric wanted us to come up for my birthday. Then on Monday, Eric and I went to play 18 holes of golf. The kids gave me a new digital camera.

I want to pick up on our article about "DO CHILDREN GO TO HEAVEN?"

SO HOW DOES GOD DEAL WITH THEM?

DO THEY GO INSTANTLY TO HEAVEN?

^

And as I have said, I think the Word of God will affirm the salvation of little ones who die. Of course, parents always think their children go to heaven. Everyone thinks they will go to heaven.

Let first review Psalms 139

• Psalms 139:1 For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. O Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and known me. 2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; Thou understandest my thought afar off. 3 Thou searchest out my path and my lying down, And art acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word in my tongue, But, lo, O Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether. 5 Thou hast beset me behind and before, And laid thy hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain unto it. 7 ¶ Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? Or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, And thy right hand shall hold me.

God knows every thing about me from the time I was given life to the time I die.

God is actively involved in my life. From the very start the Lord has been actively involved in controlling my life. And there is no way He is ever going to lose sight of me. "Where can I go from your Spirit" (vs 7) In other words, I can’t go anywhere outside of His knowledge, I can’t go anywhere outside of His vision. So I can talk to God anytime and anywhere, and He knows I am where I am at the time.

Before I ever said a word in 1947 God knows every single detail about my life. How does God know me like that? Because He is my personal Creator (vs 13) God made me personally.

And He has determined my destiny (vs 16) The days that were ordained for me when as yet there wasn’t Charles Whisnant.

Babies are in the presence of God.

• Cf Ecclesiastes 6 3-5 Solomon mourns. He mourns that a stillborn child is better off than a person who lives a 1000 years twice and doesn’t enjoy the right things, he said, "What’s the point of living two thousand years if you don’t ever enjoy true goodness. You’d be better off a stillborn child."
• Cf Job 3:16-17 "I would be better off if I were stillborn, so I wouldn’t have to face a troubling life - that I would enter immediately into what? "Rest." Job then understood by the Holy Spirit that dying as an infant would bring one to rest and one would escape the pain of suffering. Which would say, Job didn’t believe that infants would die and go to hell.
  

WE SAY THAT A CHILD BEFORE BIRTH OR AFTER BIRTH THAT DIES GOES TO HEAVEN.

Some will say "What about sin? Others will talk about "age of accountability?"

Who qualifies then, in our discussion, as an infant or as a child, who dying is SAVED - who dying, instantly goes to heaven?

• "Those who have not reached sufficient, mature understanding in order to comprehend convincingly the issues of law and grace, sin and salvation."
  
• This would be the infant in the womb, the infant at birth, a small child, the mentally impaired adult at any age, anyone in the circumstance who cannot sufficiently understand and grasp so as to be fully convinced of the issues of law and grace and sin and salvation.
  
• It’s not about age; it is a condition. So we can say, any persons in the state of mind where they cannot, in a mature way, know and grasp these issues would be safe in the arms of God.
  

Now you have those who ask "Are all children born as sinners? "

• Some would say you are not a sinner until you commit sin by your own will. Notwithstanding, the Bible is definitely crystal clear that all children are sinners from conception – all children. This is the principle of iniquity which is embedded in the human race. Thus, all children are born morally corrupt. All children are born with an irresistible defect toward evil.
  
• Everybody is born in sin. An infant born without sin would not die. If they were born innocent or spotless or morally neutral, then there would be no basis for their death!
• The very fact that they die marks that the disease of sin is there in them.
• Cf 1 Kings 8:46 "If they sin against you——for there is no one who does not sin.." ESV
• Psa 51:5 "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity; in sin, my mother conceived me." From the point of conception sin was there, in the very nature.
• Psa. 143:2 Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you."

That means from conception on, in the womb, at birth, childhood, adulthood, no one is righteous!
Psa 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies."

• The Scripture clearly points out that sinfulness is not a condition that comes upon people when they are old enough to choose to do wrong. It’s the condition of the entire human race.
  Cf. Isa 48:8 "and that from before birth you were called a rebel." So it’s true that every child is conceived with this deadly virus called SIN. Thus, we cannot say that children die and go to heaven because they are sinless.
  

If it’s true then, that all are sinners, born into sin, then aren’t they all damned to hell and all the little children who die by the millions and even billions because they are sinful deserve death and hell and that is indeed where they go? If one has to believe on Jesus to be saved, and babies can’t, will they go to Hell?

Doesn’t total depravity teach all sinners go to Hell? Do Calvinists teach that infants can go to hell if they are not in the elect? Some do. I have heard and read that some preachers and theologians say if God does not elect a soul to heaven and that soul dies as a baby they will go to hell.

WILL MY GRANDDAUGHER GO TO HEAVEN AND WHY?

Part Five
REDEEMING GRACE COMES FROM GOD

^

It is my belief that God redeems those little ones that have been murdered in infancy, and those who have died naturally in the womb before birth. I believe that His grace reaches out and takes those little ones to be with Himself, because the Bible is clear.

The Bible teaches that people go to Hell because they do not believe, and Hell is for those who reject God and who reject Christ. This is something an unborn infant could never do. So God, not having a just basis, either internally, or externally, by virtue of the attitude or the action of an unborn child, would have no basis on which to sentence them to hell (except for the depravity they inherited in Adam, which is never a cause for damnation apart from its evidence in behavior or attitude). God must then embrace them into His own kingdom.

As I have said, millions, most likely billions, of little souls have died in our human history. And as we have said, any death from the point of conception on is the death of a person; and persons have eternal souls.

The book "Empty Arms" states that 25% of all human conceptions do not complete the twentieth week of pregnancy.

• One out of four conceived dies
• 75% of fatal deaths occur in the first twelve weeks.
• Neonatal death (that means, death in the womb) Paranatal death (means at the time of birth) occurred in massive numbers.
  

Of course the highest infant mortality occur in the poorest and most primitive nations. All these are eternal souls.

WHERE ARE THEY?

A Parent has the right to know. What do you tell a parent who has lost a child during pregnancy or as a child.

• They are either in Hell or in Heaven, because they are eternal souls.
  

REACTION TO THE DEATH OF A CHILD

There was an article called "Mental Reactions to Parantal Death" and it chronicles the parental reaction to the loss of a baby around the time of birth.

• 60% of the parents surveyed were angry
• 50 % of the men felt guilt-90% of the women felt guilt abut the death of their child
• 75 % were irritable
• 65-70% of the parents lost their appetite
• 80 to 90% lost their sleep
• 95 to 100 % of them felt a profound and deep sadness

I can tell you in Charity and my case and in that of our family, that there are some amazing impacts of this on the life of parents.

So whether you are looking on the broad scale, of millions of these little souls dying, or you look at the individual level and you see the anguish or sorrow and sadness that it brings into the life of a family, either perspective cries out for an answer.

DOES THE BIBLE HAVE AN ANSWER TO THE QUESTION "WHERE ARE THESE LITTLE ONES?" SIMPLE ANSWER: YES
^

Birth is an act of God. Every birth is from God, by His will and for His purpose.
Cf Psalms 22:9 "Yet thou art He who did bring me forth from the womb; you did make me trust when upon my mother’s breast; upon thee I was cast from birth. You have been my God from my mother’s womb!"

As we have stated before here, David acknowledged that life came from God and when that life survived the womb and the birth and actually began to live, it was a life that God had allowed to live. No death occurs apart from the purpose of God. No life occurs apart from the purpose of God.
Originally, in the beginning, with God in creation there was no death. Adam and Eve were given the power to procreate, to produce life in a deathless world. They were to be fruitful and multiple and fill the earth, and they would literally produce life in a deathless world so that no life conceived would ever die.

Let’s see, 10,000 years of procreation and no deaths. How many would that be?
As we know when Adam and Eve did sin, death came on all people. Therefore, death to infancy and in childhood.

There is the educated guess that says that as many as half of the people ever conceived die before they reach any level of maturity.

SO HOW DOES GOD DEAL WITH THEM?
DO THEY GO INSTANTLY TO HEAVEN?^

next time

Charles E. Whisnant, Charity Whisnant proofread

DID MY GRANDCHILD GO TO HEAVEN BEFORE BIRTH?

part four

From the creation of that child God puts himself into that little body. That unborn child is the special work of God created in His image. (vs. 13)

• "FOR THOU DID FORM MY INWARD PARTS; THOU DID WEAVE ME IN MY MOTHER’S WOMB. I WILL GIVE THANKS TO THEE, FOR I AM FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE; WONDERFUL ARE THY WORKS, AND MY SOUL KNOWS IT VERY WELL, MY FRAME WAS NOT HIDDEN FROM THEE, AND WHEN I WAS MADE IN SECRET, AND SKILLFULLY WROUGHT IN THE DEPTHS OF THE EARTH, THY EYES HAVE SEEN MY UNFORMED SUBSTANCE; AND IN THY BOOK THEY WERE ALL WRITTEN, THE DAYS THAT WERE ORDAINED FOR ME, WHEN AS YET THERE WAS NOT ONE OF THEM." READ IT AGAIN.

God was forming all my inward parts. God was threading together all that is part of humanity. That is my DNA. Putting together all the components and elements in the body, woven together with the soul and spirit.

The terms "my frame was not hidden from God," "my substance" I was not hidden when I was made "in secret" (the secret place in the womb." I was by God "skillfully made." I was put together "when God beautified me, when He made the very fabric; He pulled together every tiny little piece and God wove it all to make me."

Cf Isaiah 45:16-19 gives us the same picture. "Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance" i.e. my unshaped embryonic substance, literally, again in the Hebrew, "something rolled together,’ when I was just a little ball of life, when I was just a little ball of 23 chromosomes x’s and y’s. And in that state I was already written in a book of life. As short as one day or two months or four months, that life was written in a book.

THE CHILD BORN IN SIN:

Note Psalms 51:5 "Behold, I was brought forth in INIQUITY, and in sin my mother conceived me." This means that from my conception there was something else going on in me too and it is sin.

We believe that God only creates the eternality; the eternal soul and spirit, Only a person, by the way, can be a sinner. We believe that we pass on sin.

So this little pint-sized life, this little rolled up ball of genetics, this little fetus

(In humans, the unborn young from the end of the eighth week after conception to the moment of birth, as distinguished from the earlier embryo. a human from eight weeks after fertilization to its birth. In a fetus, all major body organs are present.)is already appropriated as a sinner in the womb from conception; and only a person is a sinner. So we are created in the image of God, which is stained by the sin of Adam, passed on from generation to generation. So we can say then, that the eternal soul is the creation of God, but its sinful predisposition is the heritage of man. No human being, therefore, is ever conceived outside God’s will or ever conceived apart from God’s image. LIFE is a gift from God created in His own image.

THE EXCEPTIONAL CARE

Now this defenseless creation which God Himself has conceived in the womb of a woman becomes the exceptional object of His loving care. Cf. Psalms 82:3

WHERE ARE THEY?

DID MY GRANDCHILD, MY CHILD GO TO H EAVEN

^

LIFE BEGAN IN THE WOMB AT THE TIME THAT GOD BREATHED LIFE INTO ME.

Part Three

^

Job 33:4 "The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gave me life."
Cf Psalms 22:9 Psalm 100:3

You might say "We made a baby." No, really you didn’t really make a baby, you were the human instrumentation through which God made a baby. You can issue forth the physical features, but you can’t make a soul. You cannot through sexual relationship create an immortal , eternal soul. Cf Psalms 104:30 Cf Isaiah 44:1, 45:9,11 and we know Jeremiah 1:5

Then we come to the New Testament, and the birth of Jesus Christ.

Can I say this, the life in the womb of Mary was no impersonal blob, it was no fetal material. It was the Son of God. That life began at conception. Christ came into the world when? At conception.

• Cf John the Baptist is another example: Luke 1:41,

CONCEPTION: Is the act of God whereby a person is created by God’s sovereign will. A soul is breathed into the living tissue by the Holy Spirit. That soul’s destiny is already known to God and determined by Him from before the foundation of the world. John MacArthur, Jr

Now you might say, and I have, "What about the deformed people that are born?" OR those who developed "cystic hygroma?" Exodus 4:11 will answer this:

"Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" I make them that way. It is for His purposes sometimes to make men dumb, and deaf, and seeing and blind.

• CONCEPTION: An act in which 23 chromosomes from the father and 23 from a mother comes together in a strip of DNA that makes a life. And at the moment of that physical coming together God then, by the agency of His Holy Spirit, breathes a soul, an immortal, eternal soul, that transcends the body (for it will live forever even when the body dies) AND AT CONCEPTION THEN YOU HAVE LIFE.

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The person then created at the moment of conception God puts the reality of life. God infuses personhood and that eternal soul that will never die is created by God: that real being that is not just the collection of genetics, but is something eternal. Exactly at the split-second in the process that happens we do not know, but nevertheless whenever God does it– that creation is made in the likeness of God, or in the image of God.

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Thus, that child in the womb at conception and until the child in born into this world ( or even if that child dies in the womb) is not just a biological sequence. It is not just a collection of cells. It is not fetal matter. (I hate when they say it’s a fetes while in the womb) It is not just human tissue.

It is created by God in His image, and everything that is there for acting, and thinking, and feeling, and knowing, and trusting, and hoping everything that is rational, and emotional is there in that baby. Goodness, there is life.

• Cf. Genesis "And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him male and female, He created them." Genesis one.

Here is what is good. We are not mere mortals: we are not merely flesh - we are immortal, eternal. The framework of skin and bones and muscle is only a vessel; it’s only a storehouse in which something of the very image of God lives. Cf. Genesis 9:6.

part four: next

Our thoughts are with those who have lost a child, or a grandchild today. Its been eighteen years since we lost our child, and two weeks since we lost our granddaughter and our son and daughter in law lost their little girl.

DID MY CHILD GO TO HEAVEN

Part Two

Fetal Development
From conception to birth

Day 1: fertilization: all human chromosomes are present; unique human life begins.
Day 6: embryo begins implantation in the uterus.
Day 22: heart begins to beat with the child's own blood, often a different type than the mothers'.

Week 3: By the end of third week the child's backbone spinal column and nervous system are forming. The liver, kidneys and intestines begin to take shape.
Week 4: By the end of week four the child is ten thousand times larger than the fertilized egg.
Week 5: Eyes, legs, and hands begin to develop.
Week 6: Brain waves are detectable; mouth and lips are present; fingernails are forming.

Week 7: Eyelids, and toes form, nose distinct. The baby is kicking and swimming.
Week 8: Every organ is in place, bones begin to replace cartilage, and fingerprints begin to form. By the 8th week the baby can begin to hear.
Weeks 9 and 10: Teeth begin to form, fingernails develop. The baby can turn his head, and frown. The baby can hiccup.
Weeks 10 and 11: The baby can "breathe" amniotic fluid and urinate. Week 11 the baby can grasp objects placed in its hand; all organ systems are functioning. The baby has a skeletal structure, nerves, and circulation

Week 12: The baby has all of the parts necessary to experience pain, including nerves, spinal cord, and thalamus. Vocal cords are complete. The baby can suck its thumb.
Week 14: At this age, the heart pumps several quarts of blood through the body every day

Week 15: The baby has an adult's taste buds.

Month 4: Bone Marrow is now beginning to form. The heart is pumping 25 quarts of blood a day. By the end of month 4 the baby will be 8-10 inches in length and will weigh up to half a pound.
Week 17: The baby can have dream (REM) sleep.
Week 19: Babies can routinely be saved at 21 to 22 weeks after fertilization, and sometimes they can be saved even younger.

Months 5 and 6: The baby practices breathing by inhaling amniotic fluid into its developing lungs. The baby will grasp at the umbilical cord when it feels it. Most mothers feel an increase in movement, kicking, and hiccups from the baby. Oil and sweat glands are now functioning. The baby is now twelve inches long or more, and weighs up to one and a half pounds.

Months 7 through 9: Eyeteeth are present. The baby opens and closes his eyes. The baby is using four of the five senses (vision, hearing, taste, and touch.) He knows the difference between waking and sleeping, and can relate to the moods of the mother. The baby's skin begins to thicken, and a layer of fat is produced and stored beneath the skin. Antibodies are built up, and the baby's heart begins to pump 300 gallons of blood per day. Approximately one week before the birth the baby stops growing, and "drops" usually head down into the pelvic cavity.


1A CONCEPTION IS A FUNCTION OF GOD.

From a medically scientific viewpoint, conception yields a new person, and so life begins at conception. Psalms 127:3 says "Behold, children are a gift from the Lord." God created personally every life - Therefore Scripture makes that fact clear.

Note Genesis 20:13 "For the Lord had completely closed all the wombs of the House of Abimilech." Here is what happened: they couldn’t have babies because God didn’t allow it. God closed the womb.

Genesis 16:2 "And Sarah said to Abraham, "The Lord has restrained me from bearing."
I Samuel 1:5-6, "The Lord had shut up her (Hannah) womb." It says that twice. So here from a negative perspective you see that God shut up the womb. God says no child will be born in the womb. He has control over that.

Then look: Genesis 17:16 God said to Abraham, "I will bless her (Sarah) and give you a son from her, and she shall be the mother of nations. I will open her womb."

In I Samuel 1:19-20 Talking about Hannah "The Lord remembered her." "The Lord
opened her womb and gave her a son."

Boaz, in Ruth 4:13, took Ruth, "And when he went in unto here, the Lord gave her conception, and gave her a son." The Lord gave her conception.

No conception occurs ever, anywhere on the face of the earth, in human history, that is NOT a result of God’s creative purpose.

• (Cf. Judges 13:3, God gave Manoah’s wife a son, named Samuel.)

The point, God has made it happen for you to be barren or the reason for your conception.

Then there is Job. Chapter 10 verse eight "Thy hands fashioned and made me altogether." The word "altogether" in the Hebrew means "together all around," that is comprehensively, in every sense. Then as you read the verses following you see that Job believed God made him completely, from his skin and flesh, from bones to muscles.

I also like Job 31:15

• "Did not He that made me in the womb make him, and the same one fashion us in the womb?"

That creative process began in the womb at conception.

LIFE BEGAN IN THE WOMB AT THE TIME THAT GOD BREATHED LIFE INTO ME.

continue next part three

Proof Read by Charity F. Whisnant

DID MY CHILD GO TO HEAVEN?
WHAT HAPPENS TO THE BABY WHEN THE BABY DIES IN THE WOMB?
Charles E. Whisnant

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We believe that life begins in the womb of the mother. I want to explore the subject "WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE BABY DIES BEFORE BIRTH?

We believe that the baby is alive and is living in the womb from the moment God breaths life into the baby. Thus, one of the reasons why we don’t believe in taking life in the womb.

What I want to address in this article: Is life in the womb and what happens after the baby dies even after one month, or at birth?

I have always said the child would be in the presence of God at the moment of death. What makes me believe this?

WHERE DOES LIFE STARTDo babies go to Heaven?

75 million babies will be murdered or die around the world this year it is said.

Life was created by God.

Medical science has clearly established that conception brings about a unique individual life. Life begins at conception; that is absolutely a medical fact.

Dr. Jerome LaJunge professor of Fundamental Genetics at the U of Rene’De Cart in Paris this is a quote:

Life has a very long history but each individual has a very neat beginning - - the moment of its conception. The material link is the molecular thread of DNA. In each reproductive cell this ribbon is cut into 23 pieces or chromosomes. As soon as the 23 paternally derived chromosomes are united through fertilization to the 23 maternal ones the full genetic meeting necessary to express all the inborn qualities of the new individual is gathered

• AT two months of age, the human being is less than one thumb lenth from the head to the rump. He would fit at ease in a nutshell, but everything is there; hands, feet, head, organs and brains; in the fourth week, his consciousness. All are in place. His heart has been beating for a month already and fingerprints can be detected. His heart is beating at two months at 150 to 170 beats a minute. To accept the fact that after fertilization has taken place a new human being has come into being is no longer a matter of taste or opinion.

Continue next time.

This article because of its length will be posted in several post this week.

THE EXPERIENCE OF OUR FIRST GRANDDAUGHTER

The events of the last week have left Charity and I drained emotionally. We were expecting our first granddaughter this February. But unexpectedly, the Lord had other plans for her. Eric and Leslie were expecting their first child and so was all our family! After four months of pregnancy, tests showed the baby had developed Cystic Hygroma. They gave them no hope. You can only imagine the depths of agony and grief they suffered -- while hoping against hope. This week the doctors could find no heartbeat.

This puts a perspective on the subject of life in the mother's womb. While we have always believed that life is formed in the mother's womb. We believe God is the giver of life. The moment God breathes life into a body is the moment there is life for eternity.



We believe God controls life and death of every single person that is ever born. God doesn't give us His reasons for His decisions to give life. We just have to accept what God's decisions are.



Those of us who have an inquiring mind would like to delve into the mind of God in these matters. Every life from time has been planned by God. I know there are many who have plummeted into this matter of life and death.



What I want to say, our first granddaughter today is in the care of God. All I know, now today, she is no longer a child and she is perfect. Since I haven't been to Heaven, we are only left to explore the idea of what heaven is going to be like in eternity.



Eric and Leslie had to make some decisions about this matter, and they did just fine. Choices are not easy in these situations of course, and many of us have our idea about what we would do, but no one knows until you are in the crisis of faith yourself. I have learned Eric and Leslie did just wonderful. Eric said, "why do the things that grow your faith have to hurt so bad?"



I want to thank many friends and our family who have entered into this experience with us. Thank you for crying with us and praying for Katie, Eric and Leslie, and the rest of the families who love them. Thank you for your continued prayers for Leslie's recovery.



First, Eric tells me his church family have been just wonderful in their support and care and prayer. They have been there for them in prayer and physically. What a blessing of Christian fellowship.



Secondly, I want to thank our church family who were in our church in Altoona for their support and prayers. It's been eleven years since we were the pastor, but they are still considered our church family. Hardly a day goes by that we don't give thanks for all those wonderful folks. Personal friends I might say. They are not only our friends but our children's as well.

Thank you all for your love to Eric and Leslie.

Drafted by Charles Whisnant, proof read by Charity Whisnant