VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Limbo -- the place where the Catholic Church teaches that babies go if they die before being baptized -- may have its days numbered.
See, the RCs are reading my blog! ;)
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Limbo -- the place where the Catholic Church teaches that babies go if they die before being baptized -- may have its days numbered.
Yeah.
ReplyDeleteWho's gonna clean up after them?
ReplyDeleteActually, the furthest the Church is considering, is to stop explicity teaching the doctrine, since it offends some people. I disagree with such reasoning, but that doesn't mean the idea is gone. Limbo, means "in the margin." Ergo, God hasn't explicitly revealed what happends to those the Church considers to be in "Limbo".
ReplyDeleteSince we are concieved in iniquity (which is a quality of the soul), and iniquity cannot exist in heaven, there are only a few options for the unregerated souls of infants.
First, we could say they go to hell. This seems unlikley, considering the benevolence of God. Another option, the first of the "Limbo" theories, is that unregenerated babies go someplace where, though they cannot exist metaphsysically as a child of God, they experience a perfect natural happiness, not missing God, since they never knew Him to begin with.
The second Limbo theory, which is the one I hold, runs thus: When unregenerate infants die, they are given an option to choose faith and trust in God, and thereby worship Him, or not. This is done in such a way that preserves both the child's free will, and the justice and perfection of God. If they choose God, then their souls are cleansed, after which they are admitted into heaven. If they do not choose God, they go to Hell.
Both of these theories have been approved by the Church as not running contrary to Church teaching, and therefore a Catholic is free to believe in either of them.
However, the Church cannot define something as dogma that has not been revealed, and since God has not revealed anything about the state of unregenerate infant's souls after death, any theory is simply pius speculation.
"Actually, the furthest the Church is considering, is to stop explicity teaching the doctrine, since it offends some people."
ReplyDeletehmmm... maybe they'll remove that whole merit-theology thing since it offends God? nah...