December 14th, 2011
How did the Church explain getting rid of Limbo?
Question by …: How did the Church explain getting rid of Limbo?
I understand that the Church withdrew its stance on the existence of Limbo some time in the past few decades (don’t remember just when) but how did they explain this?
I mean did they apologize for ‘making it up’? And where did they get the idea it existed in the first place?
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Tags: Church, explain, Getting, Limbo
Filed under: Church News
They probably got rid of it because they were defrauding people out of their money to get their loved ones out of limbo after they died. In which case, as it always is when the church screws up, they say nothing about it.
When have they ever apologised for making stuff up?
I mean the list is pretty big…..
They use special brooms for sweeping certain things under the carpet. They only have to answer to a God that they can’t even get to show up. If a boss never showed up, wouldn’t workers take liberties?
The concept of Purgatory (limbo) still exists within Catholicism. See link for more information.
Somebody may have tried to explain it away, but I am there every day. Plus it has a really cool name. LIMBO, doesn’t that just sounds so enticing? I mean you have Hawaii, you have Las Vegas, but crap, Limbo sound hellava lot better.
Also, I have heard that they have done away with the church. There currently is no Church anymore. There is only humans walking, sitting, standing, laying in graves, and pretty much disappeared via incineration on the earth at this time. The rest appears to be a figment or your vivid imagination. So, have a nice life and don’t worry so much.
If you are referring to the Catholic Church, you’ve been misinformed. The media reported things like “Catholic Church buries limbo after centuries” (first link), but the document in question actually states that the theory of Limbo “remains a possible theological opinion” (see paragraph 41 in the second link).
http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/04/20/us-pope-limbo-idUSL2028721620070420
http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20070419_un-baptised-infants_en.html
1) Limbo and Purgatory are two different things.
2) The Church never proclaimed the existence of Limbo.
3) The Church still proclaims the existence of Purgatory.
(FYI: Limbo is the belief in a special afterlife for children who die without baptism.)
The Church never did get rid of Limbo. And which Limbo are you speaking of? The Limbo for the Fathers or the Limbo for the Infants?
The Limbo for the Fathers is mentioned in the Apostles Creed when Christ descended into Hell, He descended into the Abode of the Righteous Dead otherwise known as the Limbo for the Fathers. A place of natural happiness for the souls of those who were righteous but lived before Christ Jesus was born and were born into disobedience because of original sin in which they could not enter Heaven.
The Limbo for the Infants was formulated from Scripture all the way back to the 3rd century. The Church Fathers felt it necessary to address the issue on where the unbaptized children souls enter after death. The early Church Fathers believed that they went to a middle place that was without reward or punishment. St. Augustine said that these souls went to Limbo and were in a state of natural happiness. Latter on St. Thomas Aquinas said that these souls would not remain in a state of Limbo but would eventually enter Heaven. The teachings about Limbo for the Infants has always been an unofficial doctrine of the Church.
PS Purgatory is not the same as Limbo.
Limbo usually refers to the place unbaptized infants might go. This was never an official teaching of the Church, but it was believed by many Catholics.
The reason it is considered at all, is because the Bible indicates that one must be baptized in order to enter heaven. When Jesus talks to Nicodemus he says a man “must be born of water and the spirit.” Because of this, there was concern that unbaptized infants could not see heaven…and yet no one could believe that they’d go to hell since they had no personal sins. So, in an effort to understand what might happen to their souls, the term Limbo was introduced. The idea being that this is a happy place, just not actually heaven.
However, Limbo was never doctrine. As No Chance has indicated, it is still considered theologically possible.
Many Catholics (and non-Catholics) believed in Limbo as a place, and an official teaching. The Pope cleared that up by saying it isn’t official, never was and all we really know is that we trust the souls of the unbaptized babies to the love and mercy of God.
what are you talking about? you’re obviously not Catholic and thus just trying to start something foolish. Limbo was NEVER a Catholic doctrine but rather something that was more a thought that people started and it “took off”. kind of like chapel veils on women in the Churches — it was NEVER mandated that women had to cover their heads in the mass – it started,it caught on and so – it became something people did.
the Church didn’t “make it up” so they had nothing to apologize for….. where did it come from!??! probably the fact that, in the 9th or 10th CENTURY (see our denomination IS that old) people didn’t know and were not as “educated” as today. they had to come up with something to help a grieving family – have you any clue to the infant mortality rate back then!?!?
There never was a Limbo… ever. The Church never believed in in, neither did it provide any endorsement of the idea that The Limbo of The Unbaptised existed, at any point, ever.
It was a speculation by some theologians, and for some reason people kept arguing about it. Pope Benedict XVI put the issue to bed forever by saying it didn’t exist.
No apology was needed, because again, The Church never taught it, ever. The Church didn’t make it up, because it isn’t there and The Church never said it was.