| MatC
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| 55390. Sat Feb 25, 2006 8:32 am |
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| Incidentally, the Times source above gives other translations of limbus: "a hem, edge or boundary." |
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| MatC
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| 55396. Sat Feb 25, 2006 9:04 am |
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Right: purgatory. Nothing to do with prunes, it turns out.
Bearing in mind that even people who were raised in all this find it hard to explain let alone understand (at least, all those I’ve asked do), as far as I can make out you go to purgatory if, although you die in God’s grace (and therefore fail to win a place in Hell), you also die with sins on your conscience which have not been fully forgiven yet (and thus you are not condemned to Heaven). As the word suggests, it’s a place where you get cleansed: it’s a soul-laundry.
Limbo, on the other hand, is full of people who for technical, legalistic reasons do not qualify for Heaven, but have not actually themselves committed a sin.
Source: www.newadvent.org/cathen/12575a.htm
Something interesting: on the proposed Limbo abolition, you find commentators celebrating the fact that the souls in Limbo will now ascend to Heaven.
There are, surely, two obvious problems with this.
1) Why will they ascend to Heaven? Why not descend to Hell?
2) The church presumably claims to be abolishing its own error in inventing the concept of Limbo, which it has now decided doesn't exist - not abolishing Limbo itself, which presumably would be God’s job, not the cardinals’. So Limbo isn't being abolished; rather, the fact that it never existed is being acknowledged. So all those souls who, their relatives have always been told, where in Limbo, weren’t: they were actually either Up or Down all along (unless they were in Purgatory, of course ...) |
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| Flash
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| 55408. Sat Feb 25, 2006 11:28 am |
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| Yes, God's going to have some explaining to do when Abraham turns up. Won't have happened yet, of course, because limbo hasn't been officially abolished, but I don't imagine he's looking forward to it. |
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| MatC
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| 55419. Sat Feb 25, 2006 12:08 pm |
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| The only real winners will be the bloody lawyers, as usual. |
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| Flash
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| 55446. Sat Feb 25, 2006 1:56 pm |
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| Quote: | Limbo is a novelty dance that originated on the island of Trinidad. The dancer moves to a Caribbean rhythm, then leans backward and dances under a horizontal stick without touching it. When several dancers compete, the stick is gradually lowered until only one dancer - who has not touched the stick or the floor - remains.
The name is said to be derived from the original purpose of the dance, which was to help a dead loved one's soul escape the state of Limbo. It is performed for one week after a funeral. It is also possible that the name comes directly from the English of Trinidad; Merriam-Webster lists the etymology as "English of Trinidad & Barbados; akin to Jamaican English limba to bend, from English limber". |
wiki |
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| Flash
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| 55500. Sat Feb 25, 2006 8:18 pm |
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| Limbo was also the name of an anti-submarine mortar weapon carried on Royal Naval ships until the 80s. |
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| Frederick The Monk
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| 55519. Sun Feb 26, 2006 5:05 am |
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The 'Limbo of the Children' is a kindergarten on the edge of Hell reserved for unbaptised infants.
source
The'Limbo of the Fathers' is where the souls of the just who died before Christ awaited their admission to heaven; for in the meantime heaven was closed against them in punishment for the sin of Adam.
source
Last edited by Frederick The Monk on Sun Feb 26, 2006 5:11 am; edited 1 time in total
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| Frederick The Monk
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| 55521. Sun Feb 26, 2006 5:06 am |
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'Gumbo-limbo' is a tropical American tree yielding a reddish resin used in cements and varnishes.
source |
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| MatC
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| 56857. Sat Mar 04, 2006 7:44 am |
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Following the attack on Limbo, it seems, nothing is sacred. The head of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Science is leading a campaign to “rehabilitate” Judas Iscariot; he is supported by intellectuals close to the current and previous popes.
They see the traditional reading of the Judas story - that he was an evil traitor - as creating a “problem of an apparent lack of mercy by Jesus toward one of his closest collaborators.” They argue that Judas was merely “fulfilling his part in God’s plan,” and that reviling him has been one of the historic cornerstones of Catholic anti-Semitism.
Other scholars, however, are worried that to “muddy the Gospel accounts” might “create confusion in believers.”
Source: The Freethinker, February 2006. |
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| Gray
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| 56888. Sat Mar 04, 2006 9:56 am |
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| Quote: | | Other scholars, however, are worried that to “muddy the Gospel accounts” might “create confusion in believers.” |
Yes, that is a worry, isn't it. :-D |
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| Frederick The Monk
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| 56989. Sat Mar 04, 2006 5:25 pm |
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| Rehabilitate Judas! Time to wheel out the Prophecy of St Malachy I feel...... The end is nigh I tell ye! |
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| Flash
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| 56993. Sat Mar 04, 2006 6:05 pm |
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| If we went with something like "Why is the Pope bending over backwards to help the unbaptised?" would that be a question that was just too pleased with itself to work, do we think? I suspect it might be, but I'll bring it to the meeting and we can see. |
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| MatC
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| 63155. Fri Mar 31, 2006 3:36 pm |
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| Did we ever decide on a question for this? (I'm using "we" in the sense of "other people," because I can't think of anything ...) |
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| Flash
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| 63191. Fri Mar 31, 2006 6:56 pm |
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It's in my list as:
Why is the Pope bending over backwards to help sinners?
but I'm far from sure about it as we really want to avoid putting the joke in the question. |
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| MatC
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| 72053. Wed May 31, 2006 8:54 am |
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| Fortean Times 211 p.12 has a report on the limbo rethink, which concludes with this interesting thought: “More than six million children die of hunger every year in underdeveloped countries where the Church is keen to see its support continue to grow. It is concerned that the concept of limbo may not impress potential converts. Moreover, Muslims believe that all children go straight to heaven without passing any test.” |
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