“Repentance and Baptism Unto Those Who Are Accountable and Capable of Committing Sin”

George Reynolds, Janne M. Sjodahl

Many who profess religion, especially the teachers in the church of the devil, tell their followers what not to do, but, however, what to do, is not in their curriculum. Mormon tells Moroni what to do. "I say unto you that this thing shall ye teach-repentance and baptism unto those who are accountable and capable of committing sin; yea, teach parents that they must repent and be baptized, and humble themselves as their little children, and they shall be saved with their little children." (v. 10)

Little children who die before they reach the age of accountability, are holy unto the Lord. They are pure, even as He is pure. They are not rebellious when the decrees of Heaven are made known to them. They are obedient to God's commands, and trust in His wisdom and His guidance as they do their earthly parents. From the very first, God has ordained their Salvation, and in His grace, has provided for their well-being. The command is given, "Be thou as a little child." Mormon draws the inevitable conclusion, that to remit a man's sins-wash his garments clean in the Blood of the Lamb-while a child whose garments never were soiled, but are white, goes to an everlasting punishment, is irreconcilable to the idea of a just and merciful God which those have who are righteous.

Little children are alive in Christ. Little children are spotless. They came from God's presence, pure, and so do they return if they die before their actions make them liable. God, in forgiving the sins of one who offends against knowledge, and, at the same time, retains in a child, who in itself is without sin, the sins of their First Parents-original sin as some call it-because of having not been baptized, is a "partial God," treating His children differently, and a "changeable God," deviating from His announced word. (v. 12) Little children are alive in Christ; they are not spiritually dead, but live in His protecting care. If a child dies, we are comforted by the promise of Eternal Life.

To suppose that little children must needs be baptized, lacks understanding of God's love, upon which all Creation was rounded. It marks as unseeing, the eyes that should behold the beauties of the Heavens and the Earth. All things were made and fashioned by the love of God, and He will not depart therefrom. He is the loving Father of all men, and one of His children is as precious in His sight as another. He will not save one, and forsake the other. He has provided Salvation for all, and he who says that His ways are not straight is "in the gall of bitterness, and in the bonds of iniquity." Such a man has not the love of Christ in his heart, neither has he faith in divine promises, nor anything in which to look forward with joy. (v. 14) As Mormon wrote to Moroni, "He hath neither faith, hope, nor charity," which last is the "pure love of Christ." (Moroni 7:47)

Commentary on the Book of Mormon, Vol. 7

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