Sanctification cannot occur outside of the choice and capacity2 of the individual. Little children are involuntarily justified through the atonement of Jesus Christ,3 but like everyone else, they cannot be sanctified except through learning4 and choosing to live a greater law.5
If children were sanctified against their will, it would be preferable to die as an infant. The truth is that this life provides a unique opportunity for sanctification,377 which is why the earth was created in the first place.378
While we are forgiven or punished according to what we believe is good, we can only be blessed inasmuch as we have learned and lived up to what is actually good.
Greater knowledge brings greater accountability, but you can’t obtain greater blessings without greater knowledge. Those faithful to a little knowledge receive the blessings of having a little knowledge. Those faithful to a lot of knowledge receive the blessings of having a lot of knowledge.
We are still subject to the temporal consequences of our ignorance, even if we are forgiven of the moral consequences of our ignorance. A baby is subject to the same gravity as an average adult or engineer, and while the adult can better avoid falling off a cliff than the baby, only the engineer will be able to design a plane to fly off of it.
Footnotes
- 1. For you shall live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God. For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And the Spirit giveth light to every man that cometh into the world; and the Spirit enlighteneth every man through the world, that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit. And every one that hearkeneth to the voice of the Spirit cometh unto God, even the Father. And the Father teacheth him of the covenant which he has renewed and confirmed upon you, which is confirmed upon you for your sakes, and not for your sakes only, but for the sake of the whole world. And the whole world lieth in sin, and groaneth under darkness and under the bondage of sin. And by this you may know they are under the bondage of sin, because they come not unto me. For whoso cometh not unto me is under the bondage of sin. And whoso receiveth not my voice is not acquainted with my voice, and is not of me. And by this you may know the righteous from the wicked, and that the whole world groaneth under sin and darkness even now. (D&C 84:44-53) ↩
- 2. Behold, ye are little children and ye cannot bear all things now; ye must grow in grace and in the knowledge of the truth. (D&C 50:40) ↩
- 3. The following scripture contains an understandable but mistaken conflation of justification and sanctification by Joseph Smith: “But little children are holy, being sanctified through the atonement of Jesus Christ; and this is what the scriptures mean.” (D&C 74:7) A more correct rendering would be: “But little children are innocent, being justified through the atonement of Jesus Christ.” ↩
- 4. For all who will have a blessing at my hands shall abide the law which was appointed for that blessing, and the conditions thereof, as were instituted from before the foundation of the world. (D&C 132:5) ↩
- 5. And again, verily I say unto you, that which is governed by law is also preserved by law and perfected and sanctified by the same. (D&C 88:34) ↩