(That should be fair enough warning.)
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Roman Catholic Church has effectively buried the concept of limbo, the place where centuries of tradition and teaching held that babies who die without baptism went.Pope Benedict, himself a top theologian who before his election in 2005 expressed doubts about limbo, authorized the publication of the document, called "The Hope of Salvation for Infants Who Die Without Being Baptised."
One option removed at the stroke of a pen. I guess Jesus wasn't the only one who could perform miracles, eh? Poof! Limbo gone!
And I was just talking about the Pope, was I not?
It said the study was made all the more pressing because "the number of nonbaptised infants has grown considerably, and therefore the reflection on the possibility of salvation for these infants has become urgent."
The possibility of salvation for the infants who've been stuck in limbo for the past several centuries before it started getting crowded was of no pressing concern to anyone but the infants stuck there, I suppose.
To be fair, the Church now says that those babies didn't need to be baptised. (Is the Church getting rational in its old age? Or is this like the old comedian who used to pretend to train his dog, when in fact he just gave orders according to whatever the dog happened to be doing on its own?)
Don't get too excited, though, because the Church says it disappeared Limbo only because God will surely not condemn the babies who didn't have a chance to be baptised, but that doesn't excuse any baby who lives long enough to get to a priest. I wonder, where are the babies going who live long enough, but whose parents don't get them to a priest before they die? How long does babyhood last in that case? Can you be five years old? Ten? Until you get your driver's license?
"People find it increasingly difficult to accept that God is just and merciful if he excludes infants, who have no personal sins, from eternal happiness, whether they are Christian or non-Christian," the document said.
Therefore, we must change God's mind for Him. We proclaim Him now able to realize that Limbo isn't such a good idea if He wants people to accept his justness and mercy.
Please don't ask how he could have been perfect if he didn't understand that to begin with, okay?
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. This is God talking.
In the Divine Comedy, Dante placed virtuous pagans and great classical philosophers, including Plato and Socrates, in limbo.[...]
In writings before his election as Pope in 2005, the then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger made it clear he believed the concept of limbo should be abandoned because it was "only a theological hypothesis" and "never a defined truth of faith."
Oh, well. That's okay then. God never said it in the first place. You were only fooled into believing it existed by centuries of .....oh never mind. It's gone. Okay?
Divine Comedy, indeed.
I wonder how many people just got a light-bulb going off over their heads and realized that this is how you can tell if somebody actually does talk to God or know God's will - the ones that make stuff up as they go along, aka theological hypotheses, don't.
P.S. to the Catholics out there: don't feel special. I'll get around to the rest of the religions sooner or later. It all depends on the news.
My personal preference is that we all just try to think for ourselves. And if we can't do that, then at least try to talk to God for ourselves, which makes a whole lot more sense than asking somebody else to do it for us.
....but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments are moderated. There may be some delay before your comment is published. It all depends on how much time M has in the day. But please comment!