Limbo

I always thought of this when thinking of Limbo: Galatians 3:23-26

23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith,

But, I could be wrong and maybe it's still a belief of the Church.

RileyG said:

I don’t know about the levels of hell, though. It sounds like medieval theology.

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Like Dante's Inferno. It could be medieval theology.

RileyG said:

Is it permissible to believe in limbo, different levels of hell, or not? Or has the Church finally got rid of those places?

Thanks for clarifying

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Limbo started off as a theory and never a doctrine. Pope Benedict really only restored it to a theory. Basically we don't know how an unbaptized baby is saved. I think we are free to cautiously speculate.

chevyontheriver said:

Limbo started off as a theory and never a doctrine. Pope Benedict really only restored it to a theory.

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Hello Chevyontheriver, thanks, I didn't know that

Question, did Limbo ever become more than just a "theory" in the CC, officially, that is? After all, it's one of those words and concepts from the CC that is basically known by everyone now, including those outside of the CC, IOW.

chevyontheriver said:

Basically we don't know how an unbaptized baby is saved. I think we are free to cautiously speculate.

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The CCC says the same thing.


My question (please remember that I am a Protestant) would not be how an unbaptized baby can be saved, but instead, how any baby, baptized or not, can be justly judged and condemned by God to live out eternity in torment in the Lake of Fire (on the basis of their sinful "nature" alone)?

Perhaps this was at least one of the questions or concerns that led the CC to formulate the "theory" of Limbo at its outset?

Thank you

God bless you!!

--David

St_Worm2 said:

Hello Chevyontheriver, thanks, I didn't know that

Question, did Limbo ever become more than just a "theory" in the CC, officially, that is? After all, it's one of those words and concepts from the CC that is basically known by everyone now, including those outside of the CC, IOW.

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It was taught to me as a real deal, that babies who died without baptism went to Limbo, not a place of punishment but not heaven either. Only later did I find out that the whole initial intent of limbo was theologians saying they didn't really know, not that they knew for sure there was this sort of non-heaven non-hell place for unbaptized babies who died.

St_Worm2 said:

The CCC says the same thing.

1261 As regards children who have died without Baptism, the Church can only entrust them to the mercy of God, as she does in her funeral rites for them. Indeed, the great mercy of God who desires that all men should be saved, and Jesus' tenderness toward children which caused him to say: "Let the children come to me, do not hinder them,"63 allow us to hope that there is a way of salvation for children who have died without Baptism. All the more urgent is the Church's call not to prevent little children coming to Christ through the gift of holy Baptism. ~CCC​

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This pretty much goes back to us not knowing. And that because baptism IS an essential part of the faith. And yet because God is merciful and loving we do not want to close of what we have no real evidence that God has closed off.

St_Worm2 said:

My question (please remember that I am a Protestant) would not be how an unbaptized baby can be saved, but instead, how any baby, baptized or not, can be justly judged and condemned by God to live out eternity in torment in the Lake of Fire (on the basis of their sinful "nature" alone)?

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Limbo originally, and then later, and now again is a statement that God likely does not condemn unbaptized babies to hell based on original sin alone. We leave that to God in his mercy. For a while we thought we had the exact mechanism figured out but now we remember that we don't have it all figured out. But isn't it Reformed teaching that such babies, and anyone not predestined to be saved to be damned based on nature alone? And that even breathing is a sin? Oh don't let me go into that territory. It's good enough that God is merciful.

St_Worm2 said:

Perhaps this was at least one of the questions or concerns that led the CC to formulate the "theory" of Limbo at its outset?

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Yes, they didn't want to say that a dead unbaptized baby goes to hell. But they couldn't ignore the necessity of baptism. I think now we could think that baptism is the normal way for the Church to proceed but that God might have even more means.

According to the CCC, the unmerited Grace received from proper water Baptism makes one a Christian and part of the body of Christ and is necessary for salvation. Without it, we can only speculate.

I have a grandchild who died in the womb, I pray his/her soul is in eternal bliss.

On one side of the coin, limbo lessens the egregious nature of the first sin.

On the other, how can a baby be Damned.

Far above my pay grade.

RileyG said:

....I don’t know about the levels of hell, though. It sounds like medieval theology.

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I think there are bound to be some levels of hell, or at least differing degrees of punishment. I don't see why a petty thief should be punished in the same way as Adolf Hitler or Josef Stalin, who were responsible for the deaths of millions.

5. She was shown different levels of hell.​

According to Paul Kengor, a professor of political science at Grove City College and a National Catholic Register contributor, Faustina “observed Dante-like sections of hell reserved for specific agonies earned in this fallen world.”

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“There are caverns and pits of torture where one form of agony differs from another,” Faustina recorded in her diary. ”There are special tortures destined for particular souls. These are the torments of the senses. Each soul undergoes terrible and indescribable sufferings related to the manner in which it has sinned.”

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