The Age of Accountability

From where did the concept of the “Age of Accountability” come? The term is absent in the Scriptures but it is adhered to by the Churches of Christ as if Christ said it himself. In case you are unfamiliar with the phrase let me give you my definition of it. The Age of Accountability refers to the age at which a child leaves the realm of spiritual innocence and becomes responsible for his or her sins. It is typically regarded as the age at which a child understands the difference between right and wrong and therefore can recognize sin. This means that once a child reaches the Age of Accountability he or she must be baptized for the forgiveness of sins (If you are unfamiliar with the theology of the Churches of Christ look here).

Typically children are forcefed baptism when they turn 10 or 11 years old and by the time they are 14 they are expected to be baptized. It is during this age range that people believe children enter this mysterious phase called the Age of Accountability (check out Age of Accountability in this article). As a youth minister I struggle to understand why we push adolescents to make a lifelong commitment to Christ before they are even able to drive a car. No parent would let their child get married when they’re 12 years old because teenagers don’t understand commitment, but when it comes to baptism adults push for these same kids to make a commitment of greater significance than even marriage. How can we expect middle school kids to grasp lifelong commitment to God when they’re going through the most hormonal stage of their lives?

Think about this, by pushing kids to commit to God around the age of 12 we are basically saying that this commitment is less important than driving a car (age 16), graduating high school (age 17), voting for the President or serving in the military (age 18), selecting a college along with an area of study or starting a career (age 18+), receiving auto insurance discounts (age 25), or getting married (the average age of marriage is between 25-27).

I believe that the Age of Accountability developed several decades ago (maybe even several centuries ago) when the age of 13 or 14 years old was considered adulthood. But since the 40s or 50s we’ve developed this thing called adolescence and by doing so we have “dumbified” our children. Adolescence actually allows children to stay immature longer and by creating a prolonged immature atmosphere we have caused our children to delay growing up. Ultimately our culture changed the age of adulthood but the age for baptism never changed with it. Maybe instead of looking for middle schoolers to be baptized we should be looking at high school and college students between the ages of 16-21. If you think about it, this is the age range that a person discovers themselves and begins choosing a direction for life and both of these are factors in becoming a Christian.

Although I disagree with the Age of Acountability and the whole “they should get baptized when the know the difference between right and wrong,” I do believe there is a gauge by which we know when someone can understand the decision to be baptized. This occurs when a person understands 3 concepts: FAITH (i.e. belief put into action; Hebrews 11:1, 6; Ephesians 2:8), REPENTANCE (i.e. giving up your sin; Acts 17:30, 2 Corinthians 7:10), and COMMITMENT (i.e. lifelong faithfulness; Revelation 2:10b). If one can understand these concepts then he or she can truly grasp the significance of their decision to be baptized.