“And I also beheld that all children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom of heaven.” (DC 137:10)

It’s a sweet thought for babies to get a trip straight to the Celestial kingdom without any further challenges that might put them at risk of falling short. However, such a doctrine creates some moral hazards.

Should we rejoice that about 8 million children younger than 8 die annually around the world? Would it be counted as a righteous sacrifice for a mother to trade her own chance at eternal glory for a guarantee that her baby had a place in the Celestial kingdom, effected by killing her newborn? Will the mothers of millions of aborted babies be able to look up in the hereafter and assuage their guilt by knowing that their choice to kill turned out to be a gift of Celestial glory for their baby?

Are variations in accountability levels from one individual to the next ignored? Some children are far more spiritually advanced than others. Does every ape whose intelligence approximates that of a small child get a free pass to the celestial kingdom too? A adult with mental capacities that never rise beyond childhood levels presumably also qualifies. Would a father be doing a baby a favor by dropping it on its head until it sufficiently brain-damaged to qualify automatically for celestial glory?

Should children who die on their 8th birthday be subject to hell for greedy behavior, perhaps not appropriately sharing birthday presents, while those who die one day younger be promoted straight to the top heaven?

Imagine two classes of citizens in the celestial kingdom, those who got the effortless shortcut to glory and those who were diligent through adulthood to pray and obey not matter what trials came their way.

To understand the applicable principles underpinning the scripture on children who die, one must consider other scriptures about salvation of the ignorant.

“All who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God.” (DC 137:7)

If it works like that for naïve adults shouldn’t it also work like that for naïve babies, with only those babies who would have accepted the gospel had they survived long enough to make informed choices inheriting celestial glory? To extend the question, why couldn’t God use His knowledge of the future to identify every person who will inherit the celestial kingdom, send them straight there, and spare them the time and troubles of earth life?

Peter, the chief apostle, wrote that Jesus, “quickened by the Spirit… went and preached unto the spirits in prison” who had transgressed under conditions of pervasive apostasy. (1 Peter 3:18-19) Millions of children born into wicked societies such as those of Noah’s day were raised without righteous examples having no fair opportunity to hear and embrace righteous principles.

“For this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” (1 Peter 4:6)

Why should the conditions of salvation be different for children who die in ignorance than adults who die in ignorance? Seven-year-old children raised in Christian homes make countless unrighteous decisions knowingly while millions of adults raised in ignorance of Christ have tried hard to be good people as defined by their culture. Ignorant adults and naughty children alike need to acquire an adequate understanding of the message Jesus.

So, it makes sense that children, like naïve adults, should be given the chance to hear the gospel in the postmortal existence and, having retained their agency to choose, will reject or accept to the extent commensurate with the desires of their souls. And, because the character of souls persists beyond death, whether infant or oldster, “All who have died without a knowledge of this gospel, who would have received it if they had been permitted to tarry, shall be heirs of the celestial kingdom of God.” (DC 137:7)

No souls had accrued so much grace via personal righteousness in the premortal realm as to earn their Celestial reward without subsequent training and testing excepting Jesus. Even He, already God, “learned obedience by the things which He suffered” and took “upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.” (Heb 5:8, Alma 7:12)

So, how should the statement that “all children who die before they arrive at the years of accountability are saved in the celestial kingdom” be reconciled with the logical conclusions? Much of salvation scripture is not written as a complete formula or recipe. Often, one line focuses on only one ingredient, leaving other ingredients to be mentioned elsewhere in the holy writ.

For example, Peter taught that “whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” (Acts 2:21) But no sensible person thinks to stand before the Lord at judgment day and claim heaven by saying, “Hey, I used the name of the Lord once.” Paul taught, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, and your house.” (Acts 16:31) There are those today who believe that confessing Christ is the Savior is sufficient to be saved but other scriptures say there’s more to it than prayer and belief, “He that endureth to the end shall be saved.” (Matt 10:22)

Putting multiple scriptures together builds the case that mere belief in Jesus is insufficient for salvation. “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe.” (James 2:19) Devils believe but are the furthest from being saved. One of the most ignored scriptures is the statement by Jesus himself in the Sermon on the Mount, “Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven.”

Dozens of scriptures have provided sufficient proof that believe-and-be-saved passages cannot be taken in isolation. Everyone is saved to one extent or another so scriptures that tout the salvation of children are easily accommodated into a warm picture of God’s abundant mercy. Unfortunately, the doctrine of salvation for children in the “celestial kingdom” is mentioned only once. Perhaps if Joseph Smith’s life had not cut short by murdering mobsters we would have more context for it.

The celestial kingdom scripture probably means that all children who die young are cleansed from any bad choices by Christ’s atonement and therefore are candidates for the Celestial Kingdom unless they forfeit it in the afterlife through more bad choices as adult spirits. Until additional revelation from God makes sense out of it, LDS Christians will continue to teach this doctrinal snippet in isolation just as non-LDS Christians continue to isolate and teach the scripture snippet, “Believe… and you shall be saved.”