There are a number of questions around the concept of those that are unable to comprehend and thus accept Christ.
For example a number of churches teach that below a certain age, children are not accountable. Infants and youngsters below that level of maturity are said to be taken to heavan as a matter of course. I have not seen this in Scripture however attractive it seems.
I do not feel compelled to have an opinion, but would like to be made aware of scripture that sheds light here.
I agree with you Siloam. There are NO Scriptures that validate an "age of accountability" that I know about.
The Bible tells us that, even if an infant or child has not committed personal sin, all people, including infants and children, are guilty before God because of inherited and imputed. Inherited sin is that which is passed on from our parents.
Now here is where the problem comes. Thirteen is the most common age suggested for the age of accountability, based on the Jewish custom that a child
becomes an adult at the age of 13. However, the Bible gives no direct support to the age of 13 always being the age of accountability.
Now here is another option to consider. Since the only people who can go to heaven are those who knowingly accept Christ, what about the mentally ill or those living in some very remote place who have never heard the gospel.
Ready.........they will go to hell but hell for them will not be the same as it will be for those who knowingly rejected Christ. I AM NOT saying that I am propagating this theaching, only that it is being taught and in fact does make logical sense.
Although the Bible does not
specifically say there are different levels of punishment in hell, it does seem to indicate that the judgment will indeed be experienced differently for different people.
Luke 12: 47-48.....
“The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with
many blows.
But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked”.
A clearer passage is Luke 10:12 where Jesus speaks of comparative punishment. First, Jesus says this about a village that rejects the gospel: “I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town”.
Then He speaks to Bethsaida and Chorazin in verse 14.........
“It will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you”.
Whatever punishment the former residents of Sodom, Tyre, and Sidon were experiencing in hell, the Galilean towns that refused to hear Christ would experience more. The level of punishment in hell seems to be tied to the amount of light a person rejects.
The common thought today is that everyone goes to heaven.
Unfortunately, the Bible states that most people will wind up in hell. Matthew 7:13-14........
“Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life,
and only a few find it”.
John Walvoord in
Four View on Hell regarded the evidence as conclusive: "Jesus also indicated that punishment in hell would be by degrees, depending on their understanding of the will of their master." [Walvoord, "The Literal View" in William Crocket (ed.),
Four Views on Hell (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 21.]
Larry Dixon briefly makes the same claim about
Luke 12:17-48, saying that it teaches "degrees of punishment at the judgment" [Dixon,
The Other Side of the Good News (Fearn: Christian Focus Publications, 2003), 115].
Source.....
https://www.truthaccordingtoscripture.com/documents/death/degrees-of-hell.php#.X4iJ9uaSncs