Are Doctrine's universal

[Vision]

So I am trying to make sense of the applications of doctrines within the World wide Church when cultural differences tend to alter the application of the doctrine. Please help me.

1. Baptism at 8, or the age of accountability begins at 8 yet different cultures count the age of a child differently. A new born Chinese baby is 1, yet a Western child is not counted as 1 until the first birthday. Further along the path the common taught doctrine is that 8 year olds being baptized have their sins washed away. So does accountability begin precisely on the birthday or at the baptism? Am I swatting a gnats?

Thanks for your replies

[Original_Intent]

My opinion, and my opinion only.

I think the age of accountability is set so that most people who do not have mental incapacities can make the clear distinction of right and wrong by that age.

I think that most kids have it by 5 or 6, but they are given a grace period up to their baptismal age. In other words I do think it possible for someone younger than 8 to sin, but because 8 is the designated age of accountability, any sins committed are automatically covered by the atonement.

I know there is probably scriptural support that kids under 8 can't commit sin, but I don't believe that on your 8th birthday a switch is flipped.

I also think that there is a good reason that the baptism of fire is usually a lot later than 8...

[wolfman]

Further along the path the common taught doctrine is that 8 year olds being baptized have their sins washed away.

My mother brought this point up to me last month on her own. She is one of the most spiritual people I know and it bothers her that this false doctrine is propagated in the children's song book. The scriptures make it clear that children are without sin therefore baptism cannot wash their sins away. There isn't anything magic about the water. At the age of accountability, baptism is a sign of a covenant to be honored for the remainder of ones life. Honoring Baptismal covenants cleanses you from sin through the Atonement of Christ.

[wolfman]

If you read the book The Majesty of Gods Law by Cleon Skousen he goes into the history of Gods Law with the Israelites. At 8 is when a person would be accountable by law. They could be legally punished and they were strictly taught that as children so they knew the importance of accountability not only to God but to the judicial system and honoring their parents. Victims were compensated for crime (not the government) It is an excellent book and one that was referred to Lance Richardson when he had his out of body experience in the book The Message. He said there is a quorum in heaven who are comprised of men who died in the revolutionary and civil wars assigned to preserve this land and prepare it for the Second Comming. These men told him Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, and Washington, were deeply inspired in their work, and that they came to an understanding of exactly what they were ultimately doing; laying the foundation for the latter-day Zion to be built spoken of in the Old Testament by several ancient prophets. President McKay and the first presidency told Cleon Skousen if the Elders of Israel are to save the constitution, we need to figure out how it is we are to do it, and so Skousen wrote that amazing book.

Other books Lance was told to read:

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
De Tocqueville's Democracy in America
The Real George Washington
The Real Thomas Jefferson
The Real Benjamin Franklin

[HeirofNumenor]

If you read the book The Majesty of Gods Law by Cleon Skousen he goes into the history of Gods Law with the Israelites. At 8 is when a person would be accountable by law. They could be legally punished and they were strictly taught that as children so they knew the importance of accountability not only to God but to the judicial system and honoring their parents. Victims were compensated for crime (not the government) It is an excellent book and one that was referred to Lance Richardson when he had his out of body experience in the book The Message. He said there is a quorum in heaven who are comprised of men who died in the revolutionary and civil wars assigned to preserve this land and prepare it for the Second Comming. These men told him Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, and Washington, were deeply inspired in their work, and that they came to an understanding of exactly what they were ultimately doing; laying the foundation for the latter-day Zion to be built spoken of in the Old Testament by several ancient prophets. President McKay and the first presidency told Cleon Skousen if the Elders of Israel are to save the constitution, we need to figure out how it is we are to do it, and so Skousen wrote that amazing book.

Other books Lance was told to read:

Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
De Tocqueville's Democracy in America
The Real George Washington
The Real Thomas Jefferson
The Real Benjamin Franklin

Great books all!