> > I do not believe that children are denied salvation because they can't understand it. . . . I don't know if there's Biblical support for this...
>
> ...that these babies would go to heaven (it's rather difficult to find support for either belief in the Bible though). What do you think?

The Bible supports it, although the teachings on this are overlaid upon the prerequisites of the more general teachings about sin and redemption.

In Romans 7, Paul is speaking of the spiritual death caused by sin. Verse 9 says, "For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." The type of life ("alive") and death ("died") here is clear from context, as the whole chapter speaks about sin being spiritual death, or separation from God. It also elaborates on what role the commandments of the law play in this -- in fact, most of the book of Romans is about this subject. Anyway, Paul says that at one time in his life he was alive -- not separated from God by sin in spite of the fact that he, as all humans are, was born with a sinful *nature* -- but at a later point in his life, he suffered a spiritual death. (Later he was saved when he committed his life to Christ, and this is frequently described scripturally as a rebirth.) What caused that spiritual death? It wasn't Paul's first sin that caused the spiritual death. It was when "the commandment" came. But weren't God's commandments in effect long before Paul was alive? Yeah -- so I think this has to refer to when Paul first became aware and understanding of the full impact of God's commandments. Granted, there is a little wrangling room in that interpretation of scripture but that's why you don't take single verses and base entire systems of belief on them. God wrote ALL His word. So let's look elsewhere for supporting this interpretation:

"I had not known sin, but by the law." (Romans 7:7)

"For by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Romans 3:20)

"For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law." (Romans 5:13)

"For without the law sin was dead." (Romans 7:8)

If you're interested in looking into this matter further, I would encourage a more complete study of Romans, verifying that the verses given here are not skewed by quoting them here in reordered fragments.

Anyway, sin has no power over us except because we understand God's commandments to us. When we reach a point where we are aware (in our hearts and/or by hearing and understanding the teachings of Christ -- men are judged according to their understanding), that is when we come upon a conviction of our sins and separation from God. That is also the point where we can choose to accept Christ's sacrifice and become spiritually reborn.

Upon the foundation of the more basic and more exhaustively studied biblical teachings of sin, judgment, and redemption, I think this is a pretty strong biblically sound argument for why not only young children (up to varying ages, depending on the individual) but mentally handicapped persons as well go to heaven when they die.

Another good reason, though, is exactly what Eric said. It is simply inconceivable that the God we know in the Bible, purely just in all things, would condemn a soul who had no awareness or capacity for understanding sin, separation from God, and the need for redemption in the first place.