Wow, this is really something. Sometimes--many times, in truth--I do understand why some of my friends are atheists or agnostics. It does seem that Man grafts so much of his own fears, needs, greed, etc.onto religious "truth" that such truth can be twisted all out of recognition. Limbo wasn't really belived in by most in the Catholic church, yet they had to get around to removing it from the literature? So many concepts of sin and morality seem to be based on the mores of the current times and political/social climates, not on a true connection to God. For example, I look back with chagrin remembering a time when I had to consciously get comfortable with the idea of female preachers. The church in which I was raised teaches the old time belief that men alone should be preachers, and as a kid, I didn't really question that too much. Of course, as my family will tell you, I basically question *everything* in life--with one notable exception being the existence of a God--so I got a round to the gender thing too. I had to look at history and realize the attitudes of the church were based on societal attitudes about women, just as the Mormons used to teach that we blacks weren't worthy of the same grace as whites, or how there have been times when churches would teach that long hair on men was improper, yet be okay worshipping a Jesus with same. I had to make myself get over that prejudice. So much of what we accept from organized religion needs to be examined closely. And times like these, so many who claim to follow God twist the truth to serve their own ends.
A friend of mine likes to say that Jesus never meant to start a religion. I get that. I believe in God, but man, do people make it hard! ************************************ Catholic Church buries limbo after centuries By Philip PullellaFri Apr 20, 2:21 PM ET 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. In a long-awaited document, the Church's International Theological Commission said limbo reflected an "unduly restrictive view of salvation." The 41-page document was published on Friday by Origins, the documentary service of the U.S.-based Catholic News Service, which is part of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. 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." The verdict that limbo could now rest in peace had been expected for years. The document was seen as most likely the final word since limbo was never part of Church doctrine, even though it was taught to Catholics well into the 20th century. "The conclusion of this study is that there are theological and liturgical reasons to hope that infants who die without baptism may be saved and brought into eternal happiness even if there is not an explicit teaching on this question found in revelation," it said. "There are reasons to hope that God will save these infants precisely because it was not possible (to baptize them)." The Church teaches that baptism removes original sin which stains all souls since the fall from grace in the Garden of Eden. "NO NEGATION OF BAPTISM" The document stressed that its conclusions should not be interpreted as questioning original sin or "used to negate the necessity of baptism or delay the conferral of the sacrament." Limbo, which comes from the Latin word meaning "border" or "edge," was considered by medieval theologians to be a state or place reserved for the unbaptized dead, including good people who lived before the coming of Christ. "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. 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 commission's conclusions had been widely expected. 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." In the Divine Comedy, Dante placed virtuous pagans and great classical philosophers, including Plato and Socrates, in limbo. The Catholic Church's official catechism, issued in 1992 after decades of work, dropped the mention of limbo. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
