What happens to infants when they die?

The eternal destiny of those who die in infancy remains a difficult question to answer, though it continually and unavoidably arises in pastoral sitautions. Two books which give very helfpul biblical and theological insight on this issue are (1) R. A. Webb, The Theology of Infant Salvation (1874; reprint, Harrisonburg, Virginia: Sprinkle Publicaitons, 1981) and (2) John MacArthur, Safe in the Arms of God: Truth from Heaven About the Death of a Child (Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas Nelson, 2003).

Church attendance and avoidance

I was very interested to read a recent Barna report that listed the latest statistics on church participation at
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdateNarrowPreview&BarnaUpdateID=293

Of most interest to me personally was the categories of attendees/non-attendees that Barna calls the Unattached: people who had attended neither a conventional church nor a house church or some other kind of "organic faith community" in the past year. The statistics say that 1 out of every four adults is "unattached" and one-third of them have never attended any kind of church at all any time in their lifetime.

Particularly telling to me were some of the characteristics of the Unattached. They are:
*more likely to feel stressed out
*less likely to be concerned about the moral condition of the nation
*less optimistic about the future.

There are several more characteristics, but this is enough to remind me of the challenge we have to reach our world with the good news of salvation and hope. We certainly do have our work cut out for us.