Back Again . . . But Briefly

Well, it has become increasingly clear to me (and probably to all of you as well) that my current schedule just will not allow me to contribute to the blog daily as I once did. It's looking more like monthly at this point. However, I have found a respite this weekend and plan to take full advantage of it.

There are two or three issue that have surfaced and that I want to address. The first one, briefly, deals with a recent article on Steve Hay's Triablogue; namely, his piece on infant salvation. While he does not come out and say it, the conclusion of his article is clearly that the current Evangelical assumption that those who die in infancy find automatic passage into heaven is without sufficient rational support. This is certainly not a popular stance to take, but it's one for which I have been arguing, albeit flinchingly, for nearly twenty years. In my view, that position amounts to positing two means of justification and two paths to God: one by faith in Christ, and one by death before the "age of accountability" (as though we're not already accountable before God by virtue of our sinful condition). And I find the standard proof texts cited in support of that view to be wholly unconvincing (here I am taking exception to Jason's earlier post on this).

I may have more to say on that a bit later. But not until I address some of the points raised recently by Paul Owen, particularly concerning his view of Mary's supposed perpetual virginity. That will come later this weekend.