The Bible does NOT say that there is a way around, "You must be born again".
Neither does it suggest that babies and mentally ill have to make a choice for Christ!
What it does say is in Psalms 119:68............."Thou art good and doest good."
Now then, If we are all born under sin, and salvation is by faith in Christ, which infants do not have the mental capacity to exercise, then it might at first seem that no infants can be saved, OR that there must be some kind of "re-set" (which you said) to account for their inability to make the choice.
As far as the Scriptures go, surely If God saved John the Baptist and David in infancy, surely we are warranted in concluding that he has saved others in infancy that were not given the opportunity to grow up.
Personally, I think that the important thing here to consider s that God is not saving infants because they are innocent. They are not innocent, but guilty. He is saving them because, although they are sinful, in his mercy he desires that compassion be exercised upon those who are sinful and yet lack the capacity to grasp the truth revealed about Him in nature and to the human heart.
Now THAT is what I'm after...more references that might indicate that babies and infants get around having to be born again for salvation. Let's look at that.
John 3:1-12, Ephesians 2:1-5, Romans 5:12-21, Ephesians 2:3 and Psalm 51:5 all point to the fact that infants are born in sin. I have also stated a belief that the sin is even in all infants before birth, from the time of conception once the father's DNA is introduced into the egg.
So, it's premature for anyone to assume the lack of salvation for infants and young children, AND to assume salvation on the basis of any other scriptures that fail to speak to this topic directly.
Why were John the Baptist and David singled out for mention of the Spirit being with them in the womb and beyond? Well, perhaps that can be chalked up as being a matter of God's plan for them in adulthood. We don't know either way, so that too tends to fail at being a solid foundation for believing that the same is true of all infants and children...meaning that both systems of thought are equally rooted in the silence of scripture on this topic.
So, given all this, we see that at least some babies, even in the womb, were enveloped by the Spirit upon whom the Lord had definite and specific plans for in life. Conversely, we also have no reason to assume that all infants are equally enveloped and therefore saved according to some special purpose the Lord has. That seems to have been reserved for a select few, of which I do not question the Sovereignty of the Lord.
What, then, can we conclude from the silence in either direction without all the emotional injections that so many others out there are prone to force into the white spaces between the words and sentences?
Well, that is what landed me into starting this thread...perhaps they WILL live in the Millennium to make that choice, where there will remain no excuse for the majority of all the babies and children who died before the point of accountability, and still land themselves in Hell rather than to be taken up into Heaven regardless of the choice they would have made otherwise.
That too is an unsettling possibility that I find hard to swallow so easily.
So, these are the three possibilities:
1) All babies and children who die before the point of accountability are saved,
2) All babies and children who die before the point of accountability will be given the opportunity to choose in the Millennium, or
3) Of all the babies and children who die before the point of accountability whom the Lord knows would have rejected Him, will not be saved, with only those He knows will have accepted Him being saved.
Are there other possibilities?
Generally speaking, it can then be asked if there would be a measure of injustice for those who never made it to that point of accountability, and yet are rejected on the basis of God's foreknowledge. What of that? Could they not stand up before the Lord and try to accuse Him for their not having been afforded that opportunity? Sounds absurd, but then, are we not all prone to assume what is absurd in some measure?
On the other hand, those who did make it, and chose Christ and lived the hardships, then watching those be counted among them who never even made it to that point and would have rejected Christ...
See where this all can go? I'm not trying to say that there will be jealousy in Heaven, but rather pointing out that we in this life have to consider these kinds of things in order to properly measure our own thoughts and reasoning against what is stated as solid and unquestionable doctrine.
The bottom line remains, and is beyond question for all:
John 3:5-8
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born of water and [of] the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee,
Ye must be born again.
8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof,
but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
The Spirit being WITH someone, verses being born of the Spirit after calling upon the name of the Lord...there are no caveats in the context.
Therefore my gravitation toward point #2 above, within the economy of what I perceive as being God's perfect justice played out in every life.
For those who disagree, that's ok. This is not a topic that really affects us and our salvation. It should, however, spur us on to reaching as many people and children with the Gospel right now as is possible.
MM