Most people reading the headline, "Pope Gets Rid of Limbo" are probably thinking, "What a killjoy! We really liked that game." They have in mind, of course, the game invented in Trinidad in which people shimmy their way to an ever-lowering pole and then try and propel their bodies, facing up and legs first, under the bar. It's a lot of fun to watch, especially when there are girls doing it, and alcohol is involved.
This type of limbo has not been outlawed by Pope Benedict, although I am sure he is ambivalent about it. Rather, the Pope has approved a theological commission's recommendation that the Catholic Church get rid of it's longstanding concept of limbo--a place, mentioned nowhere in the Bible, where babies go if they die before being baptized. Limbo has never been a formal doctrine of the Catholic Church, but it was considered sufficiently standard to be included in pre-communion lessons in Catholic schools around the world.
I was scornful of the idea when I first learned it in Catholic cathechism. But over the years I saw that it makes a kind of sense. The Christian idea is that we humans are born with original sin, what Immanuel Kant called the "crooked timber of humanity." This warped disposition is part of our nature, and therefore Catholics held that even newborns have it, and how can anyone who has an unrepented sinful nature go to heaven? Hell seemed like too harsh an alternative for little ones who had done nothing wrong, and so the Catholic Church invented limbo.
Think of limbo as a place which has no suffering, or if there is suffering, it is very mild. One of my Dartmouth professors explained it as a place where one-year-olds were gently pelted with marshmallows which they were nevertheless permitted to eat.
But today we live in a strange era in which infants are killed even before they are officially born. Thanks to Roe v. Wade and other abortion laws, being born is itself getting to be quite an achievement! And certainly it seems cruel and unreasonable to consign an unborn child, whose life has been snuffed out even before it began, to anything less than heaven. Even marshmallow pelting seems unfair under these circumstances.
And so from now on Catholicism will teach that unbaptized infants--born and unborn--go straight to heaven. I like this idea better, although I'm going to have to throw out my old cathechism book.
Reader Comments ( Page 6 of 33)
76. Welcome to the 14 century old Muslim teaching that all children are innocent, that one need not even pray for their salvation and they go to paradise when they die. This state is accepted till the child is old enough to be able to judge between right and wrong. And this applies to children born in all faiths.
Jamal Khan at 12:50PM on Apr 21st 2007
77. Organized religion particulary the catholic church is full of crap; historically they have made up stories in order to alienate weak minds and control society.
Carlos at 12:50PM on Apr 21st 2007
78. As a protestant, I've always believed that the Bible teaches that there can only be sin when there is knowledge of spiritual law. Babies have not come of age to understand spiritual law and so are not capable of sinning. Every culture has spiritual laws that it encourages its people to follow. And no one in any culture follows those spiritual laws perfectly. Christianity is the only religion that tells its people: "humans are unable to be perfect, therefore God will provide away to attribute perfection to them..through the sacrificial blood of the Lord Jesus Christ." All other religions demand perfection and the adherents of those religions trust in their righteousness to get them to some perfect place. Christians trust in the love and mercy of God solely. The Bible has always declared that hell exists. (Old Testament Jewish writers and New Testament Christian writers.)So the church did not invent hell. Every religion has a place where its adherents wish to go and a place where its adherents do NOT wish to go. Indeed, all religions have something in them which points to Jesus Christ. Whether it was sacrificing a perfect person in Aztec religion or the Buddhist custom of putting their sins on little boats. All religions and folklore which have managed to remain untampered with show people that Christ is the Way. If one searches, one will find it. Because God was always working in all cultures to show them the need for a pure sacrifice.
carole at 12:17PM on Apr 23rd 2007
79. For Heavens sake there is no mention in God's word about "LIMBO" Little childern are not responsible for thier sin's until the age of accountablity,which is when they know right from wrong,but to say babies are in limbo is stupity gone to see be it Thelogians or whoever is ignorant enough to beleive that mess.As for as not being baptized??What aout the theif on the cross???The Lord imself said,"This day thou shalt be with me in Pardadice".There's some relegions(and thats all they are) thats going to be held responsible for misleading and misguideing people and their blood will be on their hands at the Judgement.
Barbara at 10:26PM on Apr 24th 2007
80. I just have to correct le_sacre on his/her command of English grammar. Sadaqat did not misspell "its", nor use it incorrectly. You did. "It's" ALWAYS means "it is", "its" ALWAYS means "belonging to it". I suggest you brush up on the rules of grammar before trying to correct someone else's.
Natalie at 12:49PM on Apr 21st 2007
81. God, can't everyone just appreciate each others religious views without deciding they have the right God? I mean Christian's get so bitchy. Born Catholic, baptised a Catholic, but to most Aussie's like me, church is the local pub on a Sunday at about 6pm with all the other "worshipers". So that has been my religion of choice. Thankfully it's not shoved down your throat or has ANYTHING to do with politics in Australia. No one I knew ever was arrested, did drugs, had wild sex or stole anything. Yet because they choose to be nice, they won't go to heaven. I'd rather be nice and tolerate others views, than proclaim myself a Christian and live a life as a hypocrite which is all I see in the USA. The Catholic Church has hidden some pretty freaky pervs over the years, and the evangelicals have all come unglued for one reason or another. Anyway, I'm off to confirm what tie church is tomorrow! Have a good one!
kanga at 12:52PM on Apr 21st 2007
82. As for those of you who don't think theres a GOD wait until you leave here and then tell someone theres no God,you'll see as i said eariler it's ingnorants gone to seed.
Barbara at 12:56PM on Apr 21st 2007
83. There are times when it is really terrificaly enjoyable to be an atheist. Especially this latest goof up by the catholic church. What a bunch of sappy people to believe in all this garbage - and now all of sudden - ooops - they have to change their teachings. Isn't it convenient of them to be able to change their theology on a moment's notice - like spinning on a dime? Next I suppose they will approve of pedophile priests preying on the innocent young charges in their care. Or, the latest abomination - those 5 catholic supreme court justices ruling in the abortion case. Deliver me from catholics and from religion.
Sheila at 12:59PM on Apr 21st 2007
84. Benedict is about 50 years too late on the Limbo doctrine. Those of us Catholics with a brain in our heads realized a long time ago that a mercifull God would not let a beautiful sinless baby go anyplace but to His glorious arms.
Estelle A at 1:02PM on Apr 21st 2007
85. It must be real easy to GIVE UP your faith in GOD IN THIS CHURCH ?
JERRJ HAIRSTON at 1:02PM on Apr 21st 2007
86. See Jerj Hairston, you Christians are so bitchy!! Have a beer and a good lie down, you'll be nicer for it!
kanga at 1:07PM on Apr 21st 2007
87. I am glad that the Catholic church is revisiting this issue after so long. It has always puzzled me how the concept of limbo has been part of the Catholic view. It seems that when too many people try to define the undefinable (heaven and hell) beyond what is written in the bible and described by the church fathers, we embark on a slippery slope. I am no theologian, and I was never raised Catholic; however I do have a mild familiarity with some of the Orthodox saints. My favorite writing on hell comes from St. Isaac the Syrian who simply wrote:
"Those who find themselves in Gehenna will be chastised with the scourge of Love. How cruel and bitter this torment of Love will be! For those who understand they have sinned against Love, undergo greater sufferings than those produced by the most fearful tortures. The sorrow which takes hold of the heart which has sinned against Love, is more piercing than any other pain! It is not right to say that the sinners in hell are deprived of the Love of God... but Love acts in two different ways: as suffering in the reproved, and as joy in the blessed."
Rob at 11:48AM on Apr 24th 2007
88. Catholics follow the New American Standard version of the Bible and not the King James since the New American Standard can be more closely translated to St. Jerome's Vulgate. St. Jerome made it the work of his life to translate the Bible into the vernacular which at the time was Latin. It is simply more closely translated and retains its meaning better.
Jesus made Peter the first Pope. He commissioned the apostles his bishops. Catholic means universal as Jesus came to call and to save everyone. As Catholics, we believe in following Church tradition since much of the teaching came from Jesus' mouth (later into the Gospels) and from the mouths of the apostles.
Everybody knows you can be a good or bad Catholic, just as you can be a good or bad Protestant, Jew, Muslim or atheist,etc. Jesus was critical of Pharisees whom he said did more harm than good in their teaching. [Jesus taught to follow the law but to follow it with love.] As Christians living in a God-centered world -- we must serve one another and by serving one another we do God's work and show our love for God in our love of neighbor. The story of Cain and Abel when Cain slays Abel illustrates that he is, in fact, his brother's keeper. We have a responsibility to one another. By the way, thank goodness for the Jewish people to be faithful to God and keep sacred the Ten Commandments. Thank goodness for all people who act in love.
Rose at 1:09PM on Apr 21st 2007
89. I totally disagree with this decision. Not because I believe in Limbo, but because the Catholic Church is ever becoming more and more "Politically Correct" and continues to change doctrine based on popular opinion. For instance, in the bible Jesus says "what God had brought together let no man put asunder" and that the only time it is proper for a man to put away his wife (divorce) is in the case of fornication. To meet popular demand for divorcees (of which I am one) to remarry in the church, the church invented annulment. These days, if you pay them enough, they'll annul a marriage more than twenty years old.
All these decisions are making a plastic God (one that changes whenever it's convenient). If the church is so willing to make a God out of plastic, maybe it's because they don't really believe in him either. Now the reason I don't believe in Limbo is because the church made that up also. Theologically, un-baptized infants would go to Hell. I know that sounds cruel, but if that is the will of our God, who are we to question it when we are only seeing a small part of the big picture? I'd like to think that there is a God and that he is a benevolent Deity. However, if God is as described in Judeo-Christian doctrine, then he is still my God and I won't second guess him or remold him in the shape of a false God just because people don't like what they hear.
By the way, the person that thinks Christianity is a copy of previous pagan religions really needs to do his homework rather than blindly believing the latest propaganda as formulated by a bunch of agnostics that are trying to push their beliefs on others.
Mike at 1:16PM on Apr 21st 2007
90. I wonder now who is going to notify the "Gate Keepers" at Heaven and Hell about this amendment. And in this regard another aspect has not been defined. Upto what age in life are you a baby and does this new regulation apply? I nominate Mr.Dinesh D'Souza to clarify and notify the "Gate Keepers"
Raman
R Shanker at 9:56PM on Apr 21st 2007