Why is repentance and baptism not necessary for little children?

Thomas R. Valletta

“Baptism is efficacious only after one has obtained faith in Christ and repented of one’s sins. The infant child can do neither. To suppose that baptism is essential to the salvation of little children who have no power to determine whether they are baptized is to make God ‘a partial God, and also a changeable God, and a respecter to persons.’ … Speaking to father Abraham the Lord said, ‘Children are not accountable before me until they are eight years old’ (JST, Gen. 17:11). This same principle was also revealed to Joseph Smith (D&C 68:27)” (Largey, Book of Mormon Reference Companion, 186–87).

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