Welcome to Apostolic Life in the 21st Century, a podcast dedicated to helping modern day believers live out the teachings of the First Century Church.

This podcast is part of the teaching ministry of Dr. David K. Bernard.

Dr. Bernard has dedicated his life to studying the Bible and helping believers apply its message to their daily lives.

In Apostolic Life in the 21st century, Dr. Bernard answers your question. the Bible and helping believers apply its message to their daily lives.

In apostolic life in the 21st century, Dr. Bernard answers your questions about what the Bible teaches and how those teachings apply to everyday life. Thank you for joining us for this broadcast.

Recently on social media, you made the comment that based on God's justice and love, we believe

there is an individual age of accountability and a gracious plan for aborted babies, infants,

children, the mentally challenged, and others who can't respond to the gospel.

Now, those words undoubtedly bring a lot of comfort to parents, for example, who've

lost their children. But what scriptural evidence would you offer for that statement?

Let me say that I'm not basing this on a definite, clear, unambiguous teaching of a specific

verse, but on the principles of God's word, not understanding of God's

justice and mercy. Now, as sinful human beings, our sense of justice is flawed. We can't always

trust it, but I do believe our sense of justice came from God because we're created in the image

of God. So at some extent, we can rely on that sense of what is right, fair, and just.

And regardless of what we think, I will simply say this, God is both just and merciful.

So I absolutely trust that whatever God does is right, that he will be just.

And whenever it's appropriate to provide mercy, God will provide

mercy. So I have confidence in that. And of course, the Bible doesn't give us everything we want to

know. It tells us what we need to know. And we might ask, well, why doesn't it tell us so clearly

about babies or children? Well, maybe if the Bible gave any

specific thing, we would feel like we didn't have much of responsibility. So if the Bible said,

...