Well, the Catholic Church finally came around....?

Question

to rejecting "Limbo" which was a non- Biblical teaching. The teaching was that non- baptised infants either went to Hell (according to St. Augustine) or to a place in between (Limbo) but not to Heaven it self. Jesus taught about kids"Their angels do always see my Father" which sounds like Heaven to me.None of those kids were baptised into the church.They were dedicated ,as was Jesus, to Judaisim, but there was never in Judaisim or Christianity the rule of infant baptisim for the washing away of "Original Sin".Jesus said "Go ,make disciples and baptise in the name of the Father ,the Son, and the Holy Ghost..." One must be a disciple ,a follower,be baptised to publicly show your indentifying with His death (going under) and His resurrection(coming up to newness of life in Christ).But baptisim does not save! What say Y'all??

Answer 1

I'm not a Catholic, so I don't believe that without baptism one is unsaved. Christians understand the Bible to say that one is saved by faith and faith alone, and that not of ourselves, but a gift from God. That is what the Bible says over and over.

My husband was raised Catholic, but he has left that church. He has several issues, but one of them is this often-changing "rules." It's either right or it's not right. One can't go about changing it all the time. I'll get a lot of thumbs down for this from Catholics, but I wonder why they accept these changes so readily. Is a former pope now wrong? That would seem to go against who they believe the pope is.

Edit: There is a discussion of the difference between baptism by Holy Spirit and the ritual of baptism performed by men linked below. It contains all the Bible verses on the subject.

Question: If baptism is necessary to go to heaven (see answers here), and un unbaptised baby now does NOT go to "limbo", just where does he/she go? If it's not heaven, and it's not "limbo" ......

Answer 2

Limbo was never a doctrine of the Church. It was more like a theory, left up to the individual as to what they wanted to believe on the matter.

As far as Baptism, it is required for entering heaven, Jn 3:5; Mk 16:16. St Paul tells us that we are all born with Adam's sin and thus nees baptism (Rom 5:18-19). The Apostles baptized entire households (Acts 16:15, 33; 1 Cor 1:16) This would include infants. No Bible passage prohibits infant baptism.

God bless,
Stanbo

Above: Church Doctrines do not change. You may be confusing Church doctrine with Church disciplines. A doctrine is unchageable truth revealed by God, while a discipline is a changeable regulation.

Answer 3

+ Limbo +

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.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2.htm#1261

+ Infant Baptism +

The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, "Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin, children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God, to which all men are called."

Infant baptism is not a new thing. There are non-biblical documented sources starting in the second century telling of infant Baptism.

There are even several passages in the Bible where whole households were baptized. This would include everyone who lived there, men, women, children, and infants.

Acts 16:15, "After she and her household had been baptized"

Acts 16:33, "then he and all his family were baptized at once."

Acts 18:8, "came to believe in the Lord along with his entire household, and many of the Corinthians who heard believed and were baptized."

1 Corinthians 1:16, "I baptized the household of Stephanas"

St. Paul wrote that baptism has replaced circumcision (Col 2:11-12), and in Judaism circumcision was performed primarily on infants.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2.htm#1250

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 4

we've the Missal, it incredibly is a e book that has the Scripture readings already indexed for us. it extremely is why you do no longer see lots of Catholics convey Bibles to Mass, because of the fact they are no longer necessary because of the fact the Church components us with a e book that already has the Sunday readings. some Catholics convey their on an conventional basis Missals nonetheless and that they could be very great books! in the Missal is indexed the Order of the Mass, the 4 readings with verses (2 previous testomony Readings--one is the sung Psalm--and a pair of New testomony Readings--one is the Letters and the different the Gospel) and the Creed. it extremely is extremely efficient. next time you pass, p.c.. up the Missal (it's going to say that on the front, it incredibly is regularly a small e book placed next to the hymnal books) and change to the day placed on the backside of the website. There you will discover the readings and the verses.

Answer 5

Catholics cannot sidestep the issue by saying that limbo was not official Church doctrine, because it was still taught in church services and Sunday School. The teaching was never discouraged. So you might as well say it was official doctrine.

So what If the Church has decided to dump the unscriptural teaching of limbo? What about the other wrongs that it exposes its members to? Such as:

Ignoring Jesus' command not to call anyone "father" in a religious sense.

The trinity doctrine which is based on the Athanasian Creed, not on the Bible.

Hellfire.

The veneration of the cross, which is a pagan symbol that predates Christianity by thousands of years.

Pagan holidays, like Halloween, Chrstmas, and Easter.

Meddling in politics.

Supporting and participating in wars.

The Catholic Church is not clean, whether limbo has been scrubbed or not.

Answer 6

Acts 2: 38, "Peter (said) to them, "Repent and be baptized, 7 every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the holy Spirit."

Every single person who accepts Jesus must be baptized in the name of the Holy Trinity to be saved.

The Church never had an official doctrine on limbo.

God bless.

Answer 7

Limbo was never a doctrine. Theologians taught it but it has never been doctrine. Therefore, nothing changed.

Yes, baptism does save. There is plenty of biblical evidence for it.



Linedancer, no one is side stepping the issue. Whether you like it or not, the fact remains - it was never doctrine so doctrine was not changed.

Answer 8

Infant Baptism
Gen. 17:12, Lev. 12:3 - these texts show the circumcision of eight-day old babies as the way of entering into the Old Covenant - Col 2:11-12 - however, baptism is the new "circumcision" for all people of the New Covenant. Therefore, baptism is for babies as well as adults. God did not make His new Covenant narrower than the old Covenant. To the contrary, He made it wider, for both Jews and Gentiles, infants and adults.

Job 14:1-4 - man that is born of woman is full of trouble and unclean. Baptism is required for all human beings because of our sinful human nature.

Psalm 51:5 - we are conceived in the iniquity of sin. This shows the necessity of baptism from conception.

Matt. 18:2-5 - Jesus says unless we become like children, we cannot enter into heaven. So why would children be excluded from baptism?

Matt 19:14 - Jesus clearly says the kingdom of heaven also belongs to children. There is no age limit on entering the kingdom, and no age limit for being eligible for baptism.

Mark 10:14 - Jesus says to let the children come to Him for the kingdom of God also belongs to them. Jesus says nothing about being too young to come into the kingdom of God.

Mark 16:16 - Jesus says to the crowd, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved." But in reference to the same people, Jesus immediately follows with "He who does not believe will be condemned." This demonstrates that one can be baptized and still not be a believer. This disproves the Protestant argument that one must be a believer to be baptized. There is nothing in the Bible about a "believer's baptism."

Luke 18:15 – Jesus says, “Let the children come to me.” The people brought infants to Jesus that he might touch them. This demonstrates that the receipt of grace is not dependent upon the age of reason.

Acts 2:38 - Peter says to the multitude, "Repent and be baptized.." Protestants use this verse to prove one must be a believer (not an infant) to be baptized. But the Greek translation literally says, "If you repent, then each one who is a part of you and yours must each be baptized” (“Metanoesate kai bapistheto hekastos hymon.”) This, contrary to what Protestants argue, actually proves that babies are baptized based on their parents’ faith. This is confirmed in the next verse.

Acts 2:39 - Peter then says baptism is specifically given to children as well as adults. “Those far off” refers to those who were at their “homes” (primarily infants and children). God's covenant family includes children. The word "children" that Peter used comes from the Greek word "teknon" which also includes infants.

Born with a fallen human nature and tainted by original sin, children also have need of the new birth in Baptism to be freed from the power of darkness and brought into the realm of the freedom of the children of God, to which all men are called. The sheer gratuitousness of the grace of salvation is particularly manifest in infant Baptism. The Church and the parents would deny a child the priceless grace of becoming a child of God were they not to confer Baptism shortly after birth.

Christian parents will recognize that this practice also accords with their role as nurturers of the life that God has entrusted to them.

The practice of infant Baptism is an immemorial tradition of the Church. There is explicit testimony to this practice from the second century on, and it is quite possible that, from the beginning of the apostolic preaching, when whole "households" received baptism, infants may also have been baptized.

Answer 9

As a Catholic, I am Glad for the new theory on this.

There was not hard doctrine on this in the first place, but this is a much clearer view on the Church's position.

One that I applaud.

Peace and God Bless!

Answer 10

I could care less really, I gave up the church years ago, but I find it funny that the church can just change things at will really.....the most corrupt organization in the world.... these people are a bunch of child molesters and enablers to the molesters