Yeah, thinking about this led me to thinking about all the people who lived and died without hearing about Jesus
There's another branch too, that believes that those who never had the chance to accept Christ will have the opportunity to do so in the afterlife. Which leads to a conundrum when you're the same age as wee Catholic Glamcookie, something along the lines of, "then shouldn't we try to avoid proselytizing anyone because we surely will do a lousier job of it than Jesus, you know, in the actual afterlife?"
While I obviously don't know if it's existentially true, I love what C.S. Lewis said on this topic: "Is it not frightfully unfair that this new life should be confined to people who have heard of Christ and been able to believe in Him? But the truth is God has not told us what His arrangements about the other people are. We do know that no man can be saved except through Christ; we do not know that only those who know Him can be saved through Him."
It's too early for Coultergeist, y'all.
Do you think she's like that all the time? Like, is that who the old gang from high school remembers too? Her calling the biology teacher a "liberal moron"?
I don't know why I care...
I'm not sure which branch of doctrine this belongs to, but apparently one purpose of Purgatory is for the righteous heathens, the ones like the Ancient Greeks who never had the chance to hear the gospel but who lived good lives. Or maybe it's the first circle of Hell in Dante.
My memory says this is the first circle of Hell in Dante, but memory is a shifty beast.
My memory says this is the first circle of Hell in Dante, but memory is a shifty beast.
Your memory is correct. First Circle of Hell is Limbo, which is where the unbaptized & righteous pagans live. I don't know if Dante based it on any doctrine, but that's where he meets up with Virgil et al.
First Circle of Hell is Limbo, which is where the unbaptized & righteous pagans live.
So they're stuck there for all eternity?
So they're stuck there for all eternity?
As far as I know, but Limbo is described as a pretty decent place. There's fields and a castle, and, um, other things....
(It's been a while since I read The Divine Comedy, I should re-read it.)
As far as I know, but Limbo is described as a pretty decent place. There's fields and a castle, and, um, other things....
Huh. Although that means when you die, you could end up in Heaven, Hell, or the place that's pretty decent.
So what do you have to do to be a Righteous Pagan? If you're exposed to the Gospel but reject Jesus anyway, do you lose the Righteous Pagan option?
Yeah, it's only technically Hell. I mean, Buffalo and NYC are both parts of New York, right?
If you're exposed to the Gospel but reject Jesus anyway, do you lose the Righteous Pagan option?
Yeah, rejection of Jesus pretty much ruins your Limbo qualifications. And no amount of dancing will save you.
How low can you go?
Lower than that, apparently.
