What I Learned In My Years In Catholic School

[Resurrexi]

[quote]Limbo was never dogmatic.[/quote]

Correction: Infants Limbo has never been dogmatic, but Limbo of the Fathers was.

[quote]Therefore, at best, limbo was a commonly believed theological speculation.[/quote]

Correction: Infants Limbo is a commonly believed theological speculation (it was never outlawed or made null, and is currently held by many people, including myself)

[Budge]

[quote]what about mentally handicapped people who cannot understand? should they be excluded from the Body of Christ? are they to be denied baptism?[/quote]

I leave that up to God. I dont think people who are incapable of understanding right from wrong, are capable of sins that would keep them out of heaven.

[Mercy me]

Budge, I am trying to figure out where you are coming from so please for give me if my question sounds dumb. In the Catholic church we believe that baptism makes a permanent shall we say imprint(this isn't the right word but I think it works) on your soul that marks you as a member of the body of Christ. Humans either pour water or immerse those to be baptized but God with His infinite power is really acting and incorporating that soul into His body and cleansing it of original sin.

What I don't understand is why protestants can be baptized so many times. Why do some protestants act like sometimes baptism doesn't work and they have to do it again. Do protestants believe that baptism only works when the recipient wants? The reason I ask is because you are not the only person that I have heard say that they were baptized more than once. Three people that I know who are Baptists said that the were baptized as teenagers and then again in their 30's like you. I know that you can't speak for them but perhaps you can explain the difference in belief.

[kamiller42]

[quote name='StThomasMore' post='1064565' date='Sep 16 2006, 10:06 PM']
Correction: Infants Limbo is a commonly believed theological speculation (it was never outlawed or made null, and is currently held by many people, including myself)
[/quote]
[quote]In recent years, the theological speculation of Limbo has fallen out of popularity amongst many lay Catholics and theologians alike. The Catechism of the Catholic Church entrusts the fate of infants and the unborn to the mercy of God:

CCC #1261 states:

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' [Mark 10:14, cf. 1 Tim. 2:4], 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.

The International Theological Commission was asked by Pope John Paul II to consider the question of the fate of unbaptized babies. Under Pope Benedict XVI, the Commission recommended that the [b]theological hypothesis of Limbo be replaced by the more “compassionate” doctrine that all children who die do so “in the hope of eternal salvation”.[/b] A Catholic News Service article quotes Redemptorist Father Tony Kelly, an Australian member of the commission, as saying that turning away from the idea of limbo was part of "the development of the theological virtue of hope" and reflected "a different sense of God, focusing on his infinite love."[/quote]

Read the headlines and stories at the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbo#Limbo_today"]bottom of the page[/url]. I wouldn't be placing bets on Limbo.

[Resurrexi]

It's still a theological speculation, just like it used to be and I'm free to believe in it no matter what you say :-P

[Budge]

[quote]
What I don't understand is why protestants can be baptized so many times. Why do some protestants act like sometimes baptism doesn't work and they have to do it again. Do protestants believe that baptism only works when the recipient wants? The reason I ask is because you are not the only person that I have heard say that they were baptized more than once. Three people that I know who are Baptists said that the were baptized as teenagers and then again in their 30's like you. I know that you can't speak for them but perhaps you can explain the difference in belief.[/quote]

Christians dont believe a Catholic baptism is valid so of course they would get baptized believeing the first one was just a babybath.



That is why you are seeing what you perceive as "repeated" baptisms.

Edited September 17, 2006 by Budge

[cmotherofpirl]

Whether one believes it baptising infants or not, "there is ONE baptism for the forgiveness of sins" so the rest is just playing in the water, and unlike the first one, anything else are mere personal symbols.

[Fides_et_Ratio]

The real difference is that Protestants don't think God can work on His own... He somehow "needs" our assistance in "understanding" His grace to work. Catholics know God doesn't need our understanding to work; grace flows in abundance from Him, our job is to accept it as we are able.

[Winchester]

I learned that friends are like flowers, beautiful flowers. I learned that friends are like flowers in the Garden of Life!

[Mercy me]

[quote name='Fides_et_Ratio' post='1065200' date='Sep 17 2006, 04:23 PM']
The real difference is that Protestants don't think God can work on His own... He somehow "needs" our assistance in "understanding" His grace to work. Catholics know God doesn't need our understanding to work; grace flows in abundance from Him, our job is to accept it as we are able.
[/quote]

That has always been my impression and Budge seems to have confirmed it.