News Item:
Catholic Church dumps Limbo
There are two versions of Limbo that I’ve been aware of in my lifetime. One was made famous by Chubby Checker in 1962, with his hit single, The Limbo Rock. Chances are you were exposed to that at some point in your life, either as a child or an adult. The song was tied to a dance which resembled a gymnastic competition. Two people would hold a pole [usually a broomstick] a couple of feet above the ground, while others tried to shimmy under the pole without falling on their backs. Children would participate for the sheer fun of it. Adults would try it out at either a party or barbeque, when most likely there was alchohol involved. It’s possible the Catholic Church frowned on this display, but I don’t think they ever banned it. Either way, it doesn’t matter, because that’s not the Limbo we’re talking about.
The Church has long had a tradition of baptizing new born children, to ensure their entrance into heaven. This was deemed necessary because of the idea of original sin, wherein no one is born completely pure. Baptism would wash that sin away. All the way back in the 5th century AD, St. Augustine declared that unbaptized souls went straight to hell, which made Baptism that much more imperative. Even as early as the Middle Ages though, that doctrine seemed a bit harsh. It wasn’t the babies fault it hadn’t been baptized, so why the eternal damnation? A classic case of paying for the sins of the father, it seemed, not really fair at all. So a way station of sorts came into play, an in between place called Limbo.
It wasn’t hell by a long shot, but it wasn’t heaven either. More like waiting for that delayed flight at the airport. For roughly the last 1000 years or so, souls have waited, and waited, and waited. The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel? As of this past Friday, Limbo is on its way out, at least according to a document issued by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. It’s not completely gone, but the Bishops have decided there has to be a better way to deal with the unbaptized.
Full Story: LA Times
Cartoon from Sid in the City
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DISCORDIAN SOCIETY ACQUIRES LIMBO
Monday 23 April, 2007
In a surprise move today, the Discordian Society, a small neo-religious group which worships the Ancient Greek Deity of Chaos called “Eris” (and known to the Ancient Romans as “Discordia”), have announced that they have acquired the non-corporeal realm known as “Limbo”.
Limbo, the theological concept previous belonging to the Christian Catholic Church, was abandoned by the Church last Friday.
Although the Discordian Society is anarchic in structure, a self-proclaimed spokesperson for the movement who identified himself only as “His Wholiness the Rev.DrJon” made the following statement:
“The Discordian Society, in line with previous acquisitions, welcomes the arrival of Limbo into the fold. We look forward to giving the place a clean sweep, a good polish and a nice redecoration. We’d like to thank fellow Pope* Benedict XVI for making this opportunity possible. We’d also like to offer the hand of friendship to those tenants of Limbo who chose to stay. We assure all who do wish to stay that they are welcome to continue to reside in the manner to which they are accustomed, however we will also be undertaking a rolling series of improvements over the coming eons, which should see a marked increase in liveability benchmarks.”
There is no word yet as to what purposes, if any, the Discordian Society plan to put Limbo to, however opinion is divided amongst the Discordian faithful.
(* Discordians believe that every man, woman and child is a Pope.)
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