"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," How can that be said?

Look at this cute baby! Can you see a minister from the pulpit pointing down at this child and in a voice on the verge of thunder boom, "SINNER, repent, or you are going to hell!"

Romans 3:23 states, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,"

If you are a Calvinist, you can skip this article because you believe God already chose this child, or didn't, before the creation of the world.

Time to test scripture.

As parents, we often think of our young ones as little angels rather than as people in need of a savior.

There are no exceptions, as shown in Ephesians 2:1-3, "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind." We are born with a worldly nature and need to accept Christ, and with his spirit, we are spiritually alive, no longer children of wrath.

Psalm 51:5-6 "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart."

Learning God's ways and putting on God's righteousness is how one turns away from being a natural man mired in sin. Children are born in sin. Without Christ's sacrifice, they will not know God. They will worship themselves. Proverbs 22:6 explains the parents' role, "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." Parents need to teach their children God's ways.

When the Israelites became scared and didn't trust that God would give them the Promised Land, and God turned them away, the children eventually were given the land: Deuteronomy 1:39-40 "And as for your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. But as for you, turn, and journey into the direction of the Red Sea.'" Israel was sent out into the desert to die, but their offspring made it to the Promised Land. The time Israel spent in the wilderness would be spent raising people who understood God's ways.

As for babies that die young or are aborted before they are born, they are like the Israelites who made it into the Promised Land. God was accepting of them before they were offered a choice.

The children were eventually given the same choice that their parents had when they were about to enter the Promised Land 40 years later. There comes a time when one knows right from wrong. When they were old enough to make their own decisions, the children put their faith in God.

Humanity's default is to sin. Thank God for his grace.