Why are Catholics so defensive? I can show you pre-Vatican II tracts that defend the concept of "Limbo" as steadfastly as you folks are defending certain practices INVENTED by the church of Rome. It was such intolerance and blind faithfulness to practices not mentioned in the scriptures or practiced by the Church pre-Nicea that drove me away from the RC Church.
"Then said Jesus to them again, Peace [be] unto you: as [my] Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on [them], and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost: Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; [and] whose soever [sins] ye retain, they are retained. (John 20:21-23)
Hmmm. Sounds like Christ is giving men the power to forgive sins, doesn't it?
Limbo was never a formal teaching of the Church. It is purely based on speculation of where infants who are not baptized go.
It was such intolerance and blind faithfulness to practices not mentioned in the scriptures or practiced by the Church pre-Nicea that drove me away from the RC Church
So your church 1900 years removed got it right, huh? How do you know that?
Regards
Still, we did not think that peace, once granted in whatever way by a priest of God should be taken away; and for this reason we have allowed Victor to avail himslef of the comunion granted him.
Lactantius 250 A.D. The Divine Institutions
Because, however, all the various groups of heretics are confident that they are the Christians, and think that theirs is the Catholic Church, let it be known" that is the true Church, in which there is confession and penance: and which takes a salubrious care of the sins and wounds to which the weak flesh is subject
"Father who knowest the hearts of all grant upon this Thy servant whom Thou hast chosen for the episcopate to feed Thy holy flock and serve as Thine high priest, that he may minister blamelessly by night and day, that he may unceasingly behold and appropriate Thy countenance and offer to Thee the gifts of Thy holy Church. And that by the high priestly Spirit he may have authority to forgive sins..." Hippolytus, Apostolic Tradition, 3 (A.D. 215).
"In addition to these there is also a seventh, albeit hard and laborious: the remission of sins through penance...when he does not shrink from declaring his sin to a priest of the Lord." Origen, Homilies on Leviticus, 2:4 (A.D. 248).
You can believe that the moon is made out of cheese if you want, too. Your belief doesn't change the fact that it isn't or that Marajade is indeed ignorant.
The BIBLE and early christian tradition teach that one must publicly testify their sins to fellow believers, NOT to some guy who Rome designates as a cleric,
Unfortunately for you and all the other self proclaimed "Bible experts" here, Christ, St. Matthew, St. John and St. Paul, disagree with you.
"And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give to thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth, it shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose upon earth, it shall be loosed also in heaven." Matthew 16:18-19
"Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth, shall be bound also in heaven; and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth, shall be loosed also in heaven." Matthew 18:18
"When he had said this, he breathed on them; and he said to them: Receive ye the Holy Ghost. Whose sins you shall forgive, they are forgiven them; and whose sins you shall retain, they are retained." John 20:22-23
"But all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Christ; and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. For God indeed was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing to them their sins; and he hath placed in us the word of reconciliation. For Christ therefore we are ambassadors, God as it were exhorting by us. For Christ, we beseech you, be reconciled to God. Him, who knew no sin, he hath made sin for us, that we might be made the justice of God in him." 2 Corinthians 5:18-21
The following also disagree with you.
"Let us not listen to those who deny that the Church of God has power to forgive all sins" St. Augustine
rebuking the Novatianists who "professed to show reverence for the Lord by reserving to Him alone the power of forgiving sins. Greater wrong could not be done than what they do in seeking to rescind His commands and fling back the office He bestowed. . . . The Church obeys Him in both respects, by binding sin and by loosing it; for the Lord willed that for both the power should be equal" St. Ambrose
"It seemed impossible that sins should be forgiven through penance; Christ granted this (power) to the Apostles and from the Apostles it has been transmitted to the office of priests" St. Ambrose
"God makes no distinction; He promised mercy to all and to His priests He granted the authority to pardon without any exception" St. Ambrose
"This (forgiving sins), you say, only God can do. Quite true: but what He does through His priests is the doing of His own power" St. Pacien
"Men filled with the spirit of God (i.e. priests) forgive sins in two ways, either by admitting to baptism those who are worthy or by pardoning the penitent children of the Church" St. Cyril of Alexandria
the priest's power of forgiving sins "penetrates to the soul and reaches up to heaven". Wherefore, he concludes, "it were manifest folly to condemn so great a power without which we can neither obtain heaven nor come to the fulfillment of the promises. . . . Not only when they (the priests) regenerate us (baptism), but also after our new birth, they can forgive us our sins" St. John Chrysostom
"As the man whom the priest baptizes is enlightened by the grace of the Holy Ghost, so does he who in penance confesses his sins, receive through the priest forgiveness in virtue of the grace of Christ" St. Athanasius
It was such intolerance and blind faithfulness to practices not mentioned in the scriptures or practiced by the Church pre-Nicea that drove me away from the RC Church.
Quid est veritas? You left of your own free will. Reject the truth if you wish but don't try and use the Church and your ignorance of Scripture and history as scapegoats for your decision.
Or perhaps it was your own historical ignorance on this point ...
Origen, teaching at Caesarea towards the middle of the third century, here indicates that those persons who submit to the Penance of the Church make their confession to a "priest of the Lord," who indicates the penance or penalty. This penance then takes the severe form of the early exomologesis. S. Cyprian will be found similarly to speak of confessions made to the priest. And these passages point to a procedure which was probably normal. The confession of the penitent does not appear to be made in open congregation but to the priest, who hears it and indicates the measure of the penance. (Oskar Watkins, A History of Penance, Vol. 1 (London: Longmans, 1920), 137)
Yes, you're not a Catholic because of your scholarly study of early church history. Got any swampland to sell me?
Did you miss the part where Tertullian, 100 years before Nicaea, gives a catechism lesson on how to choose a good confessor?
But you know, John 20:22 always seemed like it was "pre-Nicean" enough for me.