The Pope says there is no Limbo. What say you?

Question

I think the Pope is a sack of ****. Anyway, let the responses begin!

The mercy of God...burn little Tina! You did not get the special water ritual in time!

Answer 1

>>The Pope says there is no Limbo. What say you?<<

I say he didn't say that. The document states, "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." (emphasis mine)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070420/ts_nm/pope_limbo_dc_2

If we can only HOPE that these infants MAY go to Heaven, we must allow the POSSIBILITY that there is ANOTHER place where they may go.

Answer 2

what an atheist has to assert with regard to the deliberations of the Roman Catholic Church on the doctrine of limbo: "will we even conceive of a undertaking greater intellectually forlorn than this? basically think of what those deliberations could be like. Is there the slightest possiblity that somebody will recent information indicating the eternal way forward for unbaptized babies after dying? How can any knowledgeable individual think of this something yet a hilarious, terrifying and unconscionable waste of time? whilst one considers the actual incontrovertible fact that it is the very business enterprise that has produced and sheltered an elite military of baby molesters, the entire company starts off to exude an exceptionally diabolical air of secret of misspent human potential."

Answer 3

The Church has pondered the suggestion of Limbo for a few hundred years and has decided that it is not a good idea. Limbo was never official doctrine.

Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptized will be saved." (Mark 16:15-16)

For centuries, people have wondered about children who died before they were baptized. The Bible does not explicitly state that they will go to heaven.

Limbo was suggested as the place where unbaptized babies went when they died. This idea was never official Church doctrine and has been rejected.

The Church now says that it is not sure what happens to unbaptized babies when they die but she entrusts them to the mercy of God.

With love in Christ.

Answer 4

The Pope is infallible; he cannot declare false doctrines. Therefore, he is perfectly correct in denying the existence of limbo.

By the way, limbo is NOT the same thing as purgatory; the concept of limbo was invented to provide a place for the innocent, unbaptized, unborn infants to go. Purgatory, on the other hand, truly exists; it is the final purification before entering Heaven.

Answer 5

I think from i read Limbo was for the good men of the Old Testament ,when the Heaven was closed for men, because the sin of Adam and Eve. (From this Limbo Jesus takes those men and goes with them in Heaven.)
After the Resurection of Jesus Christ the Heaven was open for men, so now we don't need Limbo anymore, just believe in Jesus Christ God.

Answer 6

I applaude the pope for doing this. I think the true Christians always knew this. Especially King David after commiting adultery with Bathsheba.

Answer 7

I believe nothing the pope says even if he happens to be right. The Bible says there is death..resurrection..judgement..then heaven or hell..nothing else..no pergatory, limbo..different levels..second chances..nothing.

Answer 8

the pope is just a man. the bible says nothing of limbo

Answer 9

There is no limbo. There is likely no deity watching over us and concocting strange rules about how we should appease him. Thus, there is no point in fighting over theological doctrines that have straddled human societies to the prison of faith, or belief without evidence.

Answer 10

The root of the word “limbo” is the edge of a hem on a garment, so the word itself is telling us that limbo is someplace which borders very close to another. A very broad definition of limbo is a zone which exists between two definite places. The Bible does not give the name “limbo” to any specific place or realm, but various people have used the word “limbo” in various ways.



One Roman Catholic tradition names a limbo for children who die before their baptisms or die outside of the Roman Catholic religion. There is no Bible support for this view. It is merely a religious opinion which has been handed down by Catholic theologians. For a study on the destiny of children who die, please read our article on the age of accountability.



The closest Biblical account for a “limbo” concerns “Abraham’s bosom” and “Paradise” in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31). Although it is a parable, to teach a truth concerning prophecies declaring the kingdom of God, the places mentioned must exist or Jesus would not have used them. Parables are not based upon imaginary objects and locations, but things which are real. So, before the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, there were two places souls went to upon death. One place is at the side a Abraham (often described as Abraham’s bosom); this would be people who died in faith in God’s promise, just as Abraham did, and were declared righteous by faith just as he was (Genesis 15:4-6; Romans 4:13-24). Those who died in unbelief went to a place of torment. The Greek word used is Hades and probably is the best Greek word for the Jewish “Sheol,” literally the lowest pit. It is clearly a place of great torment.



When Jesus is on the cross, remember that He turned to the thief and told the man: “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). He must have been referring to that place where the soul of Abraham was, so it seems that paradise is another name for “Abraham’s bosom.” When Jesus went to paradise where the thief, Abraham, and others who believed God’s promises were, He set them free through preaching the gospel to them so their faith could become complete.



This ties into Paul’s explanation of a prophetic passage quoted and explained in Ephesians 4:7-10: “But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore He {God} says: ‘When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.’ Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth [Paradise/Abraham’s bosom]? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.” So the “limbo” of Paradise is gone now, because its inhabitants, who were “captured” by Jesus, have entered into the presence of God, just as each Christian does upon their death (2 Corinthians 5:8).



This leaves us with Sheol as the only limbo remaining. But this is also a temporary limbo. These souls will appear at the second resurrection before the great white throne of Revelation 20:11-13. These people are not in the Book of Life because they do not have eternal life through faith in Christ and they are cast into their final destination in the “Lake of Fire / Gehenna.”



The idea of Limbo as a realm in between Heaven and Hell, sort of another Purgatory, is not Biblical. If there is any sort of a Limbo, it is the temporary holding place of the wicked (Hades / Sheol), which will eventually be emptied into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).

Recommended Resource: What the Bible Says about Heaven & Eternity by Ice & Demy.