Sinning? In your dreams...

Although SemanticWatch@EvC will howl to the high heavens I reserve the right to suggest that 'steeped' is in the eye of the beholder. To me 'steeping' suggests that something is being soaked up. Absorbing something to the very core. A few years back my auto-pilot motorcyclist antenna transmitted the following message to my throttle hand.Church up ahead....Its Sunday morning....That means old people about....Slow down and keep an eye out for doddery old drivers....Ireland: steeped in Christianity indeed

No. If they rest in him as their means to salvation then most definitely yes. If they have rested at any point in their lives in him as their means of salvation but by reason of conditioning still resort to the illusion that they must earn their own salvation then yes too. They are also saved. Its a once off deal. In, never out.

I'm i real danger of going way off topic.. but something came to mind.. Can a child be 'saved'? So if this child grows up and then ceases to believe... are they still saved?

God isn't Santa Crevo. Believing in him is enabled by him. Santa cannot do this. What do you mean by belief/disbelief.If you had a go on a Fazer 1000 would or could you ever disbelieve that you never had a go on one?

well that's exactly what I'm getting at..
could you honestly say that a child rested in god for salvation? or believed that jesus died for our sins?Are you saying that no children can be saved?
Do all children that Die Go to hell?or is this another case of god picking an choosing who he 'enables' to believe?

It is, as you suggest, a topic in itselfEdited by iano, : No reason given.

how about if I say i dreamt about this?

Dreaming about children? Its forgiveable.

hmmm.... not sure i meant that at all....

Spare a poor Christian a low punch?

There are a few ways this is viewed in different church traditions. One group argues that the children of believers are saved by covenant, from the time of birth on, the same way the children of Israel were all God's people including the infants, for whom (males at least) circumcision on the 8th day was the sign of their belonging to God. In the Christian context the sign is baptism of infants.If the person falls away completely from belief, sometimes the idea is that they will be brought back eventually in God's good time, sometimes the idea is that it's possible to lose your salvation.Another group argues that children should not be treated as believers because they can't be assumed to understand, and the ability to understand is the important thing. So they are not baptized until there is credible proof of their belief. This is of course primarily a Baptist belief.Yet another group argues that, God being sovereign in His election of those to be saved, it is possible that He may save many children, whether of believing parents or not, under some age of understanding or potential belief, and there is no way on this side of Heaven anyone can know which were chosen. This is argued by some Calvinist groups I believe.Yet another group argues that ALL children, whether of believing parents or not, who die before some supposed age of understanding or consent, are saved. This includes all aborted babies.This last one doesn't seem likely to me, based on the Bible, though all the other three are possibilities it seems to me. This isn't the sort of question the Bible answers to perfect clarity, to say the least. Some groups believe this too. That is certainly the case as I've described above.Come to think of it, what this has to do with dreams I don't know. Edited by Faith, : No reason given.

so it appears that there's no clear way to ensure that a child of mine gets into heaven.

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or is this another case of god picking an choosing who he 'enables' to believe?

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That is certainly the case as I've described above.

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Hmmm... not a very nice fella your God is he? Yeah I know, went a bit off topic...