Limbo abolished

I am intrigued by the findings of the International Theological Commission on the Catholic concept of “Limbo”.

The Commission's Secretary General has been quoted as stating, in relation to children that die without baptism; that “we can say we have many reasons to hope that there is salvation for these babies”.

The Pope has agreed with the Commission's assessment of an unbaptised baby's chances of being “saved”. It refers to “serious theological and liturgical grounds for so hoping.
So after centuries of frightening the living daylights out of parents who grieved the loss of their innocent children with that cruel and crazy nonsense about Limbo, the Church is at least conceding that it has “reasons to hope”.

I regard the long running Limbo saga as another example of how unwise and dangerous it can be to place blind faith in ANY religious teaching or doctrine.

The Church still teaches that people who die without confessing a mortal sin can wind up in Hell, a perpetual abode of terror and suffering whose torments are beyond human comprehension.  

None of these teachings are borne out by any kind of evidence apart from what was stated in ancient writings, any more than the belief by another Christian sect regarding the salvation of only 144,000 souls is anything other than a faith-based doctrine.

In my view, the best way to resolve the age-old issue of life after death is through diligent and carefully supervised research into all aspects of the paranormal. Already, psychic research has pointed to very strong indicators that we survive bodily death.

Mediums have yielded impressive evidence under laboratory conditions, and Near Death Experiences have in many cases given weight to the results of those experiments.

Interestingly, those high profile mediums who appear to be able to communicate with the “Other Side” have never (to my knowledge) reported visions of either Hell or Purgatory…let alone the now discredited Limbo

Nor, as far I am aware from reading reports of such experiments, have they seen any virgins greeting suicide bombers with decanters of wine. The mediums have been unanimous in declaring that the spirits of babies, regardless of religious affiliation or the lack of special sacraments fare as well as all other human beings in the world beyond this one.

While much more research is needed into this most vital life and death subject, I and many others am reassured by such evidence that God may after all be a merciful non-belligerent entity or force, and not the raving misogynistic “Man Above” depicted by all those theological and liturgical geniuses.

Religious faith is okay, but it can and often is-misplaced. It is a poor substitute for objective research to determine what exactly happens after bodily death. The zealots and scaremongers have dominated this field of study for far too long. As indeed have the agnostics and atheists who are equally pig-headed in their refusal to contemplate any form of survival.

Let's probe further into the mysteries realm of the afterlife, but with an open mind…unhindered by sectarian prejudice.