Don't get it (again)
Checking out my daily RSS news feeds, I saw nothing too out of the normal interesting. I even clicked on cnn.com to check out the more "minor" headlines...nothing caught me eye. But after turning on BBC while eating my sandwich I hear about how the Catholic church is going to likely be changing their...(don't know what to call it) let's say minds about the whole limbo idea. [No, I'm not talking about the bending-under-the-stick game...hehe.]
Here's the deal...for hundreds of years there has been a tradition in the catholic church (which is generally held on equal level with Scripture) that babies who have not been baptised before they die will not be allowed to enter heaven or hell. Instead they are relegated to this neutral state, limbo.
Why change the idea? Well, for one, it's not Scriptural. But this is not what is being reported. The reports I've been listening to are mentiong a lot about how the current pope is wanting to give the Catholic church a fighting chance against the rise of Islam in under-developed countries where infant mortality rates are extremely high. The problem is that many would-be converts have been put off by the Catholic tradition of limbo because they have babies who have died and the church is telling them that their kids are just out there...somewhere.
My point with all of this. Christianity is not a political chip that we use to win points with people. It's not something that we have the right to twist and contort for our own gain or even for the gain of our denominations or religion as a whole. I don't understand why Catholics around the world don't have been questions about all of this. It just seems to me that I would have a big problem with an organization that first has a foundation of these baseless traditions and second, that has someone running everything who can just up and change this and that with ultimate authority.
Does this make sense to any of you? Maybe I'm making a big deal out of this and I should just be quiet and be glad that they are scrapping this tradition that many have been taught (as if were Scripture -- don't get me started down that road) for generations and generations.
I'm just sayin'.
Here's the deal...for hundreds of years there has been a tradition in the catholic church (which is generally held on equal level with Scripture) that babies who have not been baptised before they die will not be allowed to enter heaven or hell. Instead they are relegated to this neutral state, limbo.
Why change the idea? Well, for one, it's not Scriptural. But this is not what is being reported. The reports I've been listening to are mentiong a lot about how the current pope is wanting to give the Catholic church a fighting chance against the rise of Islam in under-developed countries where infant mortality rates are extremely high. The problem is that many would-be converts have been put off by the Catholic tradition of limbo because they have babies who have died and the church is telling them that their kids are just out there...somewhere.
My point with all of this. Christianity is not a political chip that we use to win points with people. It's not something that we have the right to twist and contort for our own gain or even for the gain of our denominations or religion as a whole. I don't understand why Catholics around the world don't have been questions about all of this. It just seems to me that I would have a big problem with an organization that first has a foundation of these baseless traditions and second, that has someone running everything who can just up and change this and that with ultimate authority.
Does this make sense to any of you? Maybe I'm making a big deal out of this and I should just be quiet and be glad that they are scrapping this tradition that many have been taught (as if were Scripture -- don't get me started down that road) for generations and generations.
I'm just sayin'.
posted by Michael Shattuck at
6:48 AM
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