329. Children in Heaven

Some people believe that only children born in the church get into heaven, not children born outside the church. They say this is because children born in the church are baptized and are introduced into the faith of the church by this baptism. They do not realize that no one gets either heaven or faith by baptism. Baptism serves only as a sign and reminder that we need to be reborn, and that people born in the church can be reborn because the Word is there, the Word that contains the divine truths that make regeneration possible. The church is where the Lord, who is the source of rebirth, is known. ¹

May it be known, therefore, that every child who dies, no matter where he or she was born, within the church or outside it, of devout or irreverent parents, is accepted by the Lord after death, brought up in heaven, taught according to the divine design and filled with affections for what is good and through them with direct knowledge of the truth; and then, being continually perfected in intelligence and wisdom, all such individuals are led into heaven and become angels.

Anyone who thinks rationally can realize that no one is born for hell - everyone is born for heaven. We ourselves are to blame if we arrive in hell, but children are not yet liable for any blame.

Footnotes:

22. I demonstrated in many sections of my book HEAVEN AND HELL that heaven and hell are from the human race; for instance, in the following. Nations and peoples outside the church in heaven (318-328). Children in heaven (329-345) The wise and the simple in heaven (345-356). The rich and the poor in heaven (357-365). Each individual is a spirit in his interiors (432-444). Man after death possesses a perfect human form (453-460). Man after death has every sense, memory, thought and affection which he had in the world, and leaves nothing behind except his earthly body (461-469). Man's first state after death (491-498); his second state (499-511); his third state (512-517). Further about the hells (536-588), All of these passages offer detailed proofs that heaven is not composed of a class of angels created from the beginning, nor hell of a devil and his crew, but only of those who were born as human beings.