[On infants going to hell]
Those who have never heard die in their sin. That is sad. Hence, we should preach the Gospel to all men.
14 comments
Only a Fundie can be sure that Jesus freed us from sin, everyone to this day, they're absolutely adamant that this is true.
Yet they're also as sure we're born sinful
Pick one already
The scary thing is: What he is saying is consistent with christian dogma. And this is saying a lot about christianity...
Christian catholic dogma reserved a special place in hell for unbaptized infants, for centuries. They had to do so, because the whole weird thought system of "every human is sinful", "hell" and "salvation by accepting Jesus" gives nearly no other logical possibility to solve the paradox of "Where do the innocent, but unbaptized babies go?"
The church rather prefered to send babies to hell than to risk that their whole faith system crashed down.
Fortunately, there is an alternative: To recognize what "The Fall of Man" really is.
It is a bad fairy-tale, nothing else. A fairy-tale, which has instilled fear, unneccesary guilt, and a lot of neuroses in the hearts of too many people.
@the other Anon:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbo
"The Limbo of Infants (Latin limbus infantium or limbus puerorum) is a hypothesis about the permanent status of the unbaptized who die in infancy, too young to have committed personal sins, but not having been freed from original sin. Since at least the time of Augustine, theologians, considering baptism to be necessary for the salvation of those to whom it can be administered, have debated the fate of unbaptized innocents, and the theory of the Limbo of Infants is one of the hypotheses that have been formulated as a proposed solution. Some who hold this theory regard the Limbo of Infants as a state of maximum natural happiness, others as one of "mildest punishment" consisting at least of privation of the beatific vision and of any hope of obtaining it. This theory, in any of its forms, has never been dogmatically defined by the Church, but it is permissible to hold it. Recent Catholic theological speculation tends to stress the hope that these infants may attain heaven instead of the supposed state of Limbo."
So even Rome would say that Othniel is completely missing the point, although it might not excommunicate him for having such a belief.
Funny, I've heard otherwise from moderate Christians, they've said that children are innocent. But of course, you're a fundie.
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
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