Here's a side point regarding children:
Reasoning Book pages 47-8 Armageddon ***
What will happen to young children at Armageddon?
The Bible does not directly answer that question, and we are not the judges. However, the Bible does show that God views the young children of true Christians as “holy.” (1 Cor. 7:14) It also reveals that in times past when God destroyed the wicked he likewise destroyed their little ones. (Num. 16:27, 32; Ezek. 9:6) God does not want anyone to be destroyed, so he is having a warning sounded now to benefit both parents and children. Would it not be wise for parents to pursue a course that would result in their children being looked on with favor by God both now and at Armageddon?
*** w72 1/15 51 Completing the Work of the King's Secretary ***
11 Let us not egotistically presume that we, if with unmarked foreheads, shall be able somehow to go unnoticed by the armed “six men.” When ancient Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 607 B.C.E., then, according to the hard facts, little children as well as virgins, women, young men and old men were destroyed. If the little babies did not die from hunger or pestilence or at the hands of the cruel Babylonian soldiers, then they died at the pitiless hands of their own starving mothers, who ate them like cannibals. The prophet Jeremiah, who was a prisoner inside Jerusalem until it fell to the besiegers, tells us so. (Lam. 2:20, 21) What about your children who are too young today to make an intelligent dedication and get baptized in symbol of becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ? They may be too young to get the mark in the forehead personally.
But are you yourself marked with that mark of dedication and of Christian personality? Are you striving to do as the Christian apostle Paul admonishes a parent to do, namely, bring them up in the discipline and the mental-regulating of Jehovah, and are they obediently responding to your loving efforts? (Eph. 6:1-4) Only if this is the case can you trust that the merit of the “mark” in your own forehead will extend to your minor children and that they will be mercifully spared with you from execution or destruction in the oncoming “great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.” (Matt. 24:21)
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You parents, do you want your little children to be considered, not “unclean,” but “holy,” because of your marked forehead in Jehovah’s day for executing vengeance? Naturally you should. But do not presume that your children who are intelligent enough to make a decision and personally dedicate themselves to Jehovah through Christ will come under the merit of your marked forehead.
*** w72 10/15 633-4 Do the Churches Provide Sanctuary from Divine Anger? ***
Consequently, a person’s being inside the premises of a church or temple, or in a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s witnesses, will not protect that person from Jehovah’s anger, if he is not living in harmony with God’s righteous laws. Even children whose parents fail to bring them up in “the discipline and mental-regulating of Jehovah,” in pure worship, will not be protected.
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Age or sex was no reason for an offender back there in Jerusalem to be spared when the anger of the Divine Ruler blazed against that city. ‘Unmarked’ parents will be responsible for the death of their little children.—Eph. 6:4; Ex. 20:5.
*** w65 3/15 175-6 Our Own Twentieth-Century Generation and the Resurrection ***
8 The “goats” would also include those husbands and wives who have believing marriage partners but who, in spite of the good example of their believing marriage mates, are found to be still unbelievers in the day and at the hour of the execution of God’s judgment against this enemy world; also, the children of a believing parent or the children of believing parents (fathers and mothers), which children were once “holy” as minors, as unresponsible children, but who have grown up to responsible years and have refused to become dedicated, baptized believers by the time that divine execution upon the “goats” begins.—1 Cor. 7:12-16.
The undedicated children of goatish people will not be spared from execution and being sentenced to Gehenna just because they are themselves minor, unresponsible children. This hard fact is illustrated in the orders that Jehovah God issued to his executioners when apostate Jerusalem was to be destroyed. To his executioners he said: “Pass through the city after him [the man who marked the ones to be spared] and strike. Let not your eye feel sorry, and do not feel any compassion. Old man, young man and virgin and little child and women you should kill off.” And that is what they did, as illustrated in Jerusalem’s destruction, 607 B.C.E.-Ezek. 9:5-7.
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Shortly Jehovah will terminate its existence in the battle of Armageddon and usher in a new world of righteousness. It is a serious time for children as well as adults, because children that do not obey Jehovah will not be among the survivors of that battle. God will not preserve them into his new world merely because they are children. This is evident from the fact that he did not preserve the young children through the flood of Noah’s day just because they were children. It is also shown in the book of Ezekiel that just because you are young is no reason for God’s keeping you alive. Ezekiel wrote: “Slay utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark.” (Ezek. 9:6, AS) Your being children who worship and serve Jehovah as he has commanded and who have the mark of protection—ah yes, that will mean preservation and life for you.
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Parents who reject the good news of the Kingdom and who ignore the good principles and wonderful purposes of Jehovah God cannot expect their minor children to survive the execution of divine judgment. Until a child reaches the age where it can be held responsible for its actions, it is under family responsibility. Divine punishment or blessing that comes to its parents automatically falls upon it. This principle is seen at Ezekiel 9:6, where God’s command was to “slay utterly the old man, the young man and the virgin, and little children and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark.”—AS.
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The unresponsible children of the people who perished in the flood were not preserved with Noah in the ark, but were destroyed with their wicked parents. The same was true with regard to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. If those cities had contained ten righteous persons they would have been spared. Certainly there were more than ten unresponsible children in them; nevertheless, God destroyed the two cities.
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Because their course of action directly affects their minor children, parents have a grave responsibility. They cannot afford to look upon God’s declared purposes in a passive manner. That is not the way to receive a favorable judgment for themselves and their minor children. Parents that manifest love for God and his kingdom in an active way are classed with the sheep and will be blessed by him with the privilege of being preserved along with their children.
*** w51 5/1 287-8 Questions from Readers ***
Some maintain that at Armageddon there will be three classes: sheep that survive, goats that are eternally destroyed, and uninformed or unresponsible ones who will die but will be resurrected, and that in this latter class will be young children. Is this correct?-L. P., Montana.
We know of no Scriptural backing for such a view. The parable of the sheep and goats shows the nations being separated into two classes, not three. The goats headed for everlasting cutting-off are not just those who persecuted Christ’s brothers. The parable upbraids the goats, not for what they did, but for what they failed to do, for their indifference toward and lack of interest in his brothers.—Matt. 25:45.
Many who never come in touch with the anointed remnant nevertheless subscribe to what others do in persecuting or fail to do in the way of giving help. The Bible shows a communal responsibility, where a community upholds rulers who persecute Jehovah’s people. Did not the Egyptians suffer the plagues because of Pharaoh’s hardheartedness? Did not the Amalekites suffer for generations afterward because of Amalek’s opposition to Israel in the wilderness? Were not the entire households, including little children, of Korah and Dathan and Abiram swallowed up in destruction because of the rebellion of the household heads? Did not Achan by his greed bring death not only to himself but to his sons and daughters as well? Even King David brought death upon his people by his own transgressions. (Ex. 5:1, 2; 9:13-16; 17:8, 14, 16; 20:5, 6; Num. 16:23-33; Josh. 7:24, 25; 2 Sam. 24:10-17) Now, who will be rash and commit the folly of posing as more just than God by saying He was wrong in such procedures?—Deut. 32:4.
In harmony with the parable of the sheep and goats, Ezekiel chapter 9 shows but two classes, those marked for preservation and the unmarked ones appointed to destruction. And in this latter class note that little children were included, to be slain without pity. This is a prophetic picture of the destruction at Armageddon. At a time of judgment Jesus said: “If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” That means not only clergy and laity but also parent and child. If a parent chooses to sin against the holy spirit despite the eternal interests of his offspring, that then becomes the responsibility of the parent. In that same time of judgment Paul and Barnabas said to the Jews: “It was necessary for the word of God to be spoken first to you. Since you are thrusting it away from you and do not judge yourselves worthy of everlasting life, look! we turn to the nations.” (Acts 13:46, NW) Those Jews became responsible for the fate of their offspring, not Paul and Barnabas.
Parents devoted to their children will in the interests of their offspring shun wrong ways, taking instead right paths so as to put their children in the way of preservation. “Jehovah knows those who belong to him,” and that also means little children at Armageddon whose parents belong to Jehovah and who try to rear them according to God’s Word. (Deut. 6:6, 7; Eph. 6:4; 2 Tim. 2:19, NW) To Christian parents of young children the promise is: “Otherwise, your children would really be unclean, but now they are holy.”—1 Cor. 7:14, NW.
*** w50 11/15 463 Questions from Readers ***
Will children who have not reached the age of accountability and who die at Armageddon have a resurrection?—Ohio reader.
We cannot be dogmatic about this matter, as God is the judge. However, if Jehovah God expresses an adverse judgment against certain individuals, and does this through his King Christ Jesus at Armageddon, there must be some sort of finality to God’s decision. If so, those destroyed by the judgment of God in the battle of Armageddon are really destroyed. Ezekiel chapter 9 appears to refer to Armageddon, and verse 6 states, “Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark.” Those unmarked by a favorable reception of God’s warning receive no mercy from him. This is no injustice on God’s part. If it were a case of absolute justice he would spare no one, as everyone, young or old, is an imperfect sinner. It is only through the exercise of his love and mercy that anyone is preserved through Armageddon or is resurrected.
*** it-2 1167 War ***
Laws concerning assault and siege of cities. Jehovah instructed Israel as to military procedure in the conquest of Canaan. The seven nations of Canaan, named at Deuteronomy 7:1, 2, were to be exterminated, including women and children. Their cities were to be devoted to destruction. (De 20:15-17) According to Deuteronomy 20:10-15, other cities were first warned and terms of peace extended. If the city surrendered, the inhabitants were spared and put to forced labor. This opportunity to surrender, together with the assurance that their lives would be spared and their women would not be raped or molested, was an inducement to such cities to capitulate to Israel’s army, thus avoiding much bloodshed. If the city did not surrender, all males were killed. Killing the men removed danger of later revolt by the city. “The women and the little children” were spared. That “women” here no doubt means virgins is indicated by Deuteronomy 21:10-14, where prospective war brides are described as mourning for parents, not for husbands. Also, earlier, when Israel defeated Midian, it is specifically stated that only virgins were spared. Such sparing of only virgins would serve to protect Israel from false worship and no doubt from sexually transmitted diseases. (Nu 31:7, 17, 18) (As to the justice of God’s decree against the Canaanite nations, see CANAAN, CANAANITE [Conquest of Canaan by Israel].)
