B
BDawg
Guest
I somewhat agree with Rebecca on this one. Limbo did show up in catechisms, and such, but it was never “infallibly defined.” But to say it wasn’t “doctrine” is a bit absurd, if you ask me. Doctrine is just what is believed and officially taught. If it was in the Catechism, it was officially taught. To be fair, though, I don’t want to be held responsible for everything that has been said in every official publication of the LDS Church.
On the other hand, trying to figure out exactly WHAT has been “infallibly defined” is very difficult, sometimes. You need a canon lawyer to figure it out. For instance, I was interested in the 12th or 13th century Papal Bull, Ad Extirpanda, in which the Pope commanded the rulers of cities to torture confessions out of accused heretics. Now, the Pope was obviously speaking in his official capacity (“Ex Cathedra”), and it was obviously an issue of “Faith and Morals.” Morals, specifically. So I asked one of the Catholic experts on the EWTN Experts Forum about the status of this teaching, and he said that this was not an infallible teaching, because infallible teachings must be about generalities, not specific instances. So if the Pope commands people to go torture accused heretics, that’s not an infallible pronouncement. It would only be infallible if the Pope were to say Ex Cathedra that torture of accused heretics is, in general, morally acceptable. We can’t just assume that if the Pope officially commands people to do something that it is morally acceptable.
Anyway, I find that baffling. What good is having an infallible teacher around to tell you what is morally right and wrong, if you can’t trust him to give you any specific examples? He could be absolutely backwards on those!
On the other hand, trying to figure out exactly WHAT has been “infallibly defined” is very difficult, sometimes. You need a canon lawyer to figure it out. For instance, I was interested in the 12th or 13th century Papal Bull, Ad Extirpanda, in which the Pope commanded the rulers of cities to torture confessions out of accused heretics. Now, the Pope was obviously speaking in his official capacity (“Ex Cathedra”), and it was obviously an issue of “Faith and Morals.” Morals, specifically. So I asked one of the Catholic experts on the EWTN Experts Forum about the status of this teaching, and he said that this was not an infallible teaching, because infallible teachings must be about generalities, not specific instances. So if the Pope commands people to go torture accused heretics, that’s not an infallible pronouncement. It would only be infallible if the Pope were to say Ex Cathedra that torture of accused heretics is, in general, morally acceptable. We can’t just assume that if the Pope officially commands people to do something that it is morally acceptable.
Anyway, I find that baffling. What good is having an infallible teacher around to tell you what is morally right and wrong, if you can’t trust him to give you any specific examples? He could be absolutely backwards on those!