What is the age of accountability?

Answer 1

The "age of accountability" is the age at which a person really understands right from wrong, good and evil, sin and so on, and know that they are personally accountable to God for what they do and think. Because the age of thirteen was traditionally when a Jewish boy assumed his full adult obligations upon the celebration of his Bar Mitzvah, some Christians believe that therefore by thirteen a child reaches the age of accountability. The Biblical verses often used to justify an "age of accountability" are :-

Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse.

Rom 2:17 Indeed you bear the name of a Jew, and rest on the law, andglory in God,

Rom 2:18 and know his will, andapprove the things that areexcellent, being instructed out of the law,

Rom 2:19 and are confident thatyou yourself are a guide of the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,

Rom 2:20 a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babies,having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth.

2Co 5:10 For we must all be revealed before thejudgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

However, that is a chronological age and not an emotional age: it takes no account of maturity. A one-size-fits-all age cannot be arbitrarily made to fit everyone regardless, because the age at which an individual person reaches maturity will differ from someone else. For example, girls usually mature at an earlier age than boys, some children are very mature at an early age, some children are immature longer than normal, and some immature children never grow up and, through no fault of their own, become immature adults, simpletons, and "intellectually-challenged."

Because of this variation between individuals, a particular chronological age cannot be rigidly set in concrete to apply to everyone regardless: the "age of accountability" is more accurately a "state of accountability". Unfortunately, in the real world, some people never reach this level of accountability and never will. Because they will always be childlike, God regards them as children and blesses them accordingly by giving them automatic entry to Heaven regardless of their actual chronological age.

Answer 2

The age of accountability is reached when a child reach adulthood. this is when a girl will get the monthly periods or a boys voice becomes manly and starts to get wet dreams. It is called the age of accountability because this is the age when a person becomes accountable for his deeds whether good or bad before God. Before this age a person is considered a child and have no responsibility of his or her actions.

Answer 3

The Bible mentions no age when it comes to accountability. In children each one comes to accountability at different ages. If a parent or other person is observant of the child it is not too difficult to determine if they are accountable or not. Other religions may have a specific age they go by but this is not a good determiner unless it over shoots a persons accountability by several years and by then it maybe too late. See related link for global norms: