I Don’t Know

9 min read

1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body.

—Mark 16:1

Children are pretty smart. They ask questions that adults don’t dare ask. They ask questions that adults have a hard time answering—even those adults who have had a seminary education.

During lunch, our staff was talking about the question of what happens to infants when they die. Do they go to hell? And we were talking about this because some kids had asked our children’s pastor about it.

Some people, especially in the reformed camp, would say, Yes. They go to hell. Their reasoning comes from passages like Romans 10:9-10 -

9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.

An infant would never have the opportunity to believe and declare Jesus as Lord, therefore they are going to hell.

Of course, many people would object to this conclusion. How is this fair? Is God not loving and just? But proponents of this view would answer that it was predestined that these souls should not inherit eternal life, and we are in no position to judge God.

And then, there are the Catholics who believe in praying for the souls of the dead. They also believe in a place called purgatory where souls have an opportunity to redeem themselves so that they can go to heaven. There is really no good evidence in the Bible for a place like purgatory or that prayers for the dead are effective.

Now, the next idea that I am about to explain is very appealing to me. I want to believe it, but I cannot. There is just not enough biblical evidence to support the idea. Also, many people would strongly object to this idea, and some might even call me a heretic if I proclaimed it.

The idea goes: Is it possible that after Jesus was resurrected, He went into the realm of the lost (effectively, hell) to proclaim the gospel to all lost souls one last time to give them an opportunity to be saved?

Is there some biblical evidence to support this idea? Well, 1 Peter 4:6 says -

6 For this is the reason the gospel was preached even to those who are now dead, so that they might be judged according to human standards in regard to the body, but live according to God in regard to the spirit.

Some people may think that if Jesus went and preached the gospel to those in hell, that they would all repent and be saved. Who would want to stay in hell after knowing that hell exists?

So basically, the opponents to this view would consider it to be another form of universalism, where Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection pretty much saves everyone. I definitely do not believe that. Yes, it is by grace we are saved, but it is also through our exercising of faith.

But I saw this movie a long time ago about this woman who led a very promiscuous lifestyle but ended up becoming saved because of a dream that all the “elect” were having. So she repented, got married and had children, attended a church and lived a holy life.

But then, a random shooter killed her husband and her children, and her heart broke so deeply that she renounced God.

And then the rapture came. And in an abyss (darkness), the voice of God asked if she would return to Him, but she refused because her heart had been so broken.

That movie left a huge impression on me, even though I was a nonbeliever at the time. I thought that if God were real, that’s how it would be. He would give us every opportunity all the way to the very end to be reconciled with Him. But the human heart is so proud and broken that many will not accept His grace.

Of course, I’m saved now. And I have studied the Bible a little bit now. And so I’ve come to realize that the answer to the kid’s question above is, “I don’t know.” What we do know is that God is good and God is just and God is perfect. Whatever it is that He decides to do in this situation is what is best for us and best for the world, but questions like this are beyond our understanding in this lifetime.

Father, I wish You would give us clear answers to these perplexing questions, but You have not given them to us. Yet, I will trust in You. I trust in Your word to the degree that You have allowed us to understand it. You have given us the gospel of grace, a way out of the sin and brokenness of this world. Help me to answer those who are unsure with gentleness and kindness and explain the reason for the hope that I carry in Christ. In Jesus’s name. Amen.