Many many questions

[fdmilkis]

Hello again I’ll get straight to the point

1. Jesus gave his apostles authorities to spread the word of God correct? And there are mentions of many churchs in the New Testament such as the ones in minor Asia. Did the apostles establish those churches? Do they still have apostolic succession?
2. In the cross Jesus said ‘Father into your hands I commend my spirit’ (Not sure exact verse) What does that mean? What happened to his spirit? Where did it go? Is this spirit Jesus’ soul? Didn’t he go to sheol after death?
3. Limbo - I know our Pope just abolished Limbo but what did he say? Did he say now unbaptized infants go to Heaven? Then, is infant baptism really necessary? If they are already saved though innocence, do they need baptism?
4. Is this correct? “By dying on the cross, Jesus Christ repaired Mankind’s relationship with God. However, Jesus did not repair man’s relationship with each other thus we have purgatory.”
5. could I say to someone else that the Old Testament was more of a prototype of Human race. That is why God destroyed many cities, killed few people etc etc to show what is good and what is bad. And by redeeming the human race (Jesus), God has perfected the human race and gave the Church authority?
6. Jesus is more referred to as the Word of God in the time of Old Testament. Is the term “Word” literally mean word? Does that mean whenever God said anything it was Jesus who was doing the talking or something? Was Jesus or Word a spirit before incarnation?

thank a lot in advance.

 

[Mirdath]

Fair warning: not a believer, I just happen to know a lot of the answers

1. Some were established by the apostles, some by Paul and other later missionaries. I could be wrong, but I think most of them got rolled up and became what are now the various Catholic and Orthodox rites. I’m a little fuzzy on this part of Church history though
2. ‘Into your hands I commend my spirit’ is kind of ‘okay, dad, it’s up to you now’. The sacrifice was completed, it was time to open Heaven for business.

According to the credo, Jesus ‘descended into hell’ – however, this may not refer to pitchforks-and-brimstone Hell but to an area of waiting for those who could enter paradise but died while it was still closed up – Limbo of the Fathers (as opposed to the other Limbo you ask about next). They could finally enter heaven, and he was there to take them to it.

1. Limbo has not been officially declared null. A commission originally set up by John Paul II said ‘we think there isn’t one’ but it is not required of Catholics to agree with this as an article of faith.
2. No. Jesus’ dying on the cross just meant the pearly gates weren’t closed anymore. Humans are still fallen and still commit sin, which separates them from God. Venial sins, those which aren’t a complete denial of divine love, still require some atonement. Purgatory exists to purify people and remove this debt before sending them on into heaven.
3. Not and be right. The people of the Old Testament were just as human as we are, and we in turn no more perfect than they. And honestly, if you tried to pull that out in a discussion, you’d deserve every weird look and nervous titter you’d get.
4. Not just the OT, but the beginning of John’s gospel as well ‘Word’ or ‘Logos’ (the Greek) is a very meaningful, uh, word. We are shown that Logos was both with and of God. It is through Logos that God created: let there be light. Logos is not ‘the one doing the talking’ but the talking itself, united with God yet distinct. God’s speech is its own Person and shares in his divinity.

 

[fdmilkis]

thank you very much

 

[jmcrae]

Limbo - I know our Pope just abolished Limbo but what did he say? Did he say now unbaptized infants go to Heaven?

No.

Then, is infant baptism really necessary? If they are already saved though innocence, do they need baptism?

Infants do need baptism. If they die without baptism, we have no idea where they go.

We trust in God’s mercy, and we know that God will not cause them to go anywhere that they should not go, since God loves them even more than any human being, including their parents, ever could.

We also know that there are only two possible places to go in the afterlife - Heaven, or Hell. So, from the human point of view, it seems reasonable to think that unbaptized infants most likely go to Heaven. But we have no way of knowing that for sure. We simply trust that God knows best.

If, on the other hand, we baptize them early, and then they die after being baptized, we know for sure that they go to Heaven, so you can see that it is still very important to baptize infants.

 

[fdmilkis]

icic

 

[Bishopite]

[fdmilkis;2281366]Hello again I’ll get straight to the point

1. Jesus gave his apostles authorities to spread the word of God correct? And there are mentions of many churchs in the New Testament such as the ones in minor Asia. Did the apostles establish those churches? Do they still have apostolic succession?
   **

Yes, They are churches as in different community churches but part of the one doctrine (Eph 4:5) of faith. Jesus said that the church should be one John (17:21)

1. Is this correct? “By dying on the cross, Jesus Christ repaired Mankind’s relationship with God. However, Jesus did not repair man’s relationship with each other thus we have purgatory.”

No that’s not quite right. Jesus’ death did repaired mans inability to go and be in heaven with God, but His death on the cross was more so to redeem us not to take away all freedom to sin. Purgatory isn’t just for our sins against each other, for when we sin we don’t just sin against each other, but more so against God. All sin is a direct disobedience against God; purgatory is a purging of the sin we fail to relinquish over to God in this life, it is the final step of our sanctification.

1. could I say to someone else that the Old Testament was more of a prototype of Human race. That is why God destroyed many cities, killed few

people etc etc to show what is good and what is bad. And by redeeming the human race (Jesus), God has perfected the human race and gave the Church authority?
The human race isn’t perfected, Jesus’ death didn’t perfect the human race but redeemed it for those who would by faith trust in Him, Col 1:24. Jesus did establish an authoritative church Mt 16:15-19, 18:18, 1 Tim 3:15. History shows it was the Catholic church; Apostles and Nicean creeds are evidence of this.

1. Jesus is more referred to as the Word of God in the time of Old Testament. Is the term “Word” literally mean word? Does that mean whenever God said anything it was Jesus who was doing the talking or something?

No when God the Father speaks it is Him who speaks, Jesus and the Holy Spirit they are speaking as persons. Some say that when God speaks it is actually Jesus speaking, but that’s false, it’s called modalism an early church heresy. The Trinity is three persons one God.

Was Jesus or Word a spirit before incarnation?
thank a lot in advance.

Yes, Jesus was always the word and was a Spirit before taking on a human body in whats called the incarnation.

The word “Word” in Greek is logos John 1:1. Haydocks commentary says this about Jesus…

Ver. 1.

In the beginning was the word:[1] or rather, the word was in the beginning. The eternal word, the increated wisdom, the second Person of the blessed Trinity, the only begotten Son of the Father, as he is here called (ver. 14.) of the same nature and substance, and the same God, with the Father and Holy Ghost. This word was always; so that it was never true to say, he was not, as the Arians blasphemed. This word was in the beginning. Some, by the beginning, expound the Father himself, in whom he was always. Others give this plain and obvious sense, that the word, or the Son of God, was, when all other things began to have a being; he never began, but was from all eternity. — And the word was with God; i.e. was with the Father; and as it is said, (ver. 18) in the bosom of the Father; which implies, that he is indeed a distinct person, but the same in nature and substance with the Father and the Holy Ghost. This is repeated again in the second verse, as repetitions are very frequent in St. John. — And the word was God. This without question is the construction; where, according to the letter we read, and God was the word. (Witham) — The Greek for the word is Greek: Logos, which signifies not only the exterior word, but also the interior word, or thought; and in this latter sense it is taken here. (Bible de Vence) — Philo Judæus, in the apostolic age, uses the word Greek: Logos, p. 823, to personify the wisdom and the power of God. Greek: Logos estin eikon Theou di ou sumpas o Kosmos edemiourgeito. By a similar metonymy, Jesus Christ is called the way, the truth, the life, the resurrection. — And the word was God. Here the eternity and the divinity of the second Person are incontrovertibly established; or, we must say that language has no longer a fixed meaning, and that it is impossible to establish any point whatever from the words of Scripture. (Haydock)

http://haydock1859.tripod.com/id92.html

 

[Bishopite]

Fair warning: not a believer, I just happen to know a lot of the answers

1. Some were established by the apostles, some by Paul and other later missionaries. I could be wrong, but I think most of them got rolled up and became what are now the various Catholic and Orthodox rites. I’m a little fuzzy on this part of Church history though
2. ‘Into your hands I commend my spirit’ is kind of ‘okay, dad, it’s up to you now’. The sacrifice was completed, it was time to open Heaven for business.

According to the credo, Jesus ‘descended into hell’ – however, this may not refer to pitchforks-and-brimstone Hell but to an area of waiting for those who could enter paradise but died while it was still closed up – Limbo of the Fathers (as opposed to the other Limbo you ask about next). They could finally enter heaven, and he was there to take them to it.

1. Limbo has not been officially declared null. A commission originally set up by John Paul II said ‘we think there isn’t one’ but it is not required of Catholics to agree with this as an article of faith.
2. No. Jesus’ dying on the cross just meant the pearly gates weren’t closed anymore. Humans are still fallen and still commit sin, which separates them from God. Venial sins, those which aren’t a complete denial of divine love, still require some atonement. Purgatory exists to purify people and remove this debt before sending them on into heaven.
3. Not and be right. The people of the Old Testament were just as human as we are, and we in turn no more perfect than they. And honestly, if you tried to pull that out in a discussion, you’d deserve every weird look and nervous titter you’d get.
4. Not just the OT, but the beginning of John’s gospel as well ‘Word’ or ‘Logos’ (the Greek) is a very meaningful, uh, word. We are shown that Logos was both with and of God. It is through Logos that God created: let there be light. Logos is not ‘the one doing the talking’ but the talking itself, united with God yet distinct. God’s speech is its own Person and shares in his divinity.

For not being a believer (I’m not sure what you specifically mean by that) you did a pretty good job.

The only part that is questionable is #1. There was only one church that Jesus founded and the Apostles passed on as history attests, and for one thousand years this didn’t change. In 1054 AD some Eastern Orthodox Bishops broke from the Catholic church; this is known as the great schism.

Also, #3, the commission set up was by Benedict XVI.

 

[Bishopite]

[fdmilkis;2281366]Hello again I’ll get straight to the point

1. In the cross Jesus said ‘Father into your hands I commend my spirit’ (Not sure exact verse) What does that mean? What happened to his spirit? Where did it go? Is this spirit Jesus’ soul? Didn’t he go to sheol after death?

He meant He was giving everything to the Father. Jesus has two natures, one divine and one human called the hypostatic union, we just have a human nature. Incidently, it was the Catholic council of Chalcedon (451) that dogmatically defined Jesus having two natures.

In these reflections we are considering the ancient conciliar definitions which contributed to the formulation of the Church’s faith. The Council of Chalcedon (451) made a decisive contribution to this formulation with its solemn definition that in Jesus Christ there are two natures, human and divine, which are united (without mixture) in the one personal subject which is the divine Person of God the Word. Because of the term hypostasis it is usual to speak of the hypostatic union. The same Person of the Word-Son is eternally begotten from the Father as regards his divinity; however, as regards his humanity, he was conceived and born in time of the Virgin Mary. The definition of Chalcedon therefore reaffirms, develops and explains what the Church taught in the previous Councils and what was witnessed to by the Fathers, for example, by Irenaeus who spoke of “one and the same Christ” (cf. Adv. Haer. III,17, 4).

vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/audiences/alpha/data/aud19880323en.html

1. Limbo - I know our Pope just abolished Limbo but what did he say? Did he say now unbaptized infants go to Heaven? Then, is infant baptism really necessary? If they are already saved though innocence, do they need baptism?

No, just set up a commission to see if it is still a valid idea or not since it was never inacted as an absolute teaching which Catholics had to believe.