Reasonable Infanticide?

Although I find myself disagreeing with him more lately than I used to, I've long been a fan of Greg Boyd's thinking. Even when I do disagree with him, I still enjoy the way he gets where he's going, and he typically lays out his reasoning in a way that even I can understand.

In a recent blog post, he discusses what he calls "baby universalism", or the belief that babies automatically go to heaven when they die. It's fun to think that because God is abounding in mercy and grace, babies would get a free pass since they don't have the capacity to either accept or reject the gospel. That's been my own fervent hope for years, although I don't find anything in the bible that clearly and specifically supports it. That hope (in my mind) also extends to adults who don't have the mental capabilities to understand or believe what is clearly required in order to enter eternal bliss. But there are consequences to this belief, if you're willing to follow that logic where it leads. Enter Boyd's post.

In the same way that I admire the authenticity of people who in this day and age are willing to say (without hatred, mind you) the word "nigger" instead of childishly resorting to the phrase "the 'N'- word", I admire the fact that Boyd, while referencing another author, fearlessly wonders whether it wouldn't be "reasonable, and in fact loving and courageous" to kill babies if doing so would remove any chance of their damnation. (no.)

Now, I'd never have said it like that, but if you're going to hold that babies do automatically go to heaven while adults need to believe, then you have to be willing to accept the consequences of that belief. Hmmm. I need to give this some more thought.