+++ 170. Turning to the Conclusion +++
Dear soul, we are now ready to
tie things up and weave all of the earlier threads in this book into a complete
and harmonious whole.
Which doesn’t mean ----
with my apologies to the impatient, baffled or overwhelmed reader --- that the
final conclusion is just a page or two away. To the contrary, many more words
must be perused to reach the very end.
However, compared to the number
of chapters already finished, the end is near.
Yet can you fault someone for the
length?
This controversy has been
millennia in the making, generating assumptions that masquerade as
‘facts’ while misleading into error. Will any reasonable person who
cares about the truth… or who cares about the fate of others who do not
know of this truth… pretend it can be totally explained and summed up
adequately in just a few pages?
Not if you’re intelligent
& honest --- and really do care about the saving truth, and about the
spiritual welfare of other people when it comes to eternity.
What’s more, I am not a
priest with religious jurisdiction or spiritual authority in the Church. I
cannot pontificate or command. I am merely a layman who loves theology and
wants to help others understand. How, then, could I pretend to proclaim from on
high in a brief statement and expect everyone else to throw up their hands in
surrender and agree with me about a subject that has seen previous men, far greater than I, take varying positions in their
often contradictory opinions?
The topic of water baptism is
fraught with ignorance & confusion.
The intelligent & honest man
will hence take his time to study it carefully,
think it through thoroughly,
and make a decision --- refraining
from judgment for as long as he’s uncertain --- only after he comprehends all
of the logical and factual arguments from both
sides, cautious to stay within the bounds of a simple & clear orthodoxy.
+++ 171. The 1917 Code of Canon Law +++
That said,
let us toss one more ‘baptism of desire’ (BOD) argument into the
ring.
Specifically,
the 1917 Code of Canon Law argument.
But why have I waited till now,
near the conclusion, to grapple with this point?
Because it is, perhaps, the weakest argument made on behalf
of BOD. For while arguments from Sacred Scripture are the least impressive as a category, the argument from Canon
Law --- all by its lonesome self without
a category of many separate & individual canons claimed to uphold BOD,
and hence hardly any similar arguments with which it may be grouped --- is,
truly, the most ineffectual and least
convincing of all BOD arguments for the cautious inquirer.
(Strictly speaking, and to be
utterly accurate, there is one other canon in the 1917 Code of Canon Law, of
which I am aware, that does also obliquely refer to BOD. Namely,
the very first section of Canon 737. This canon deals with the Holy
Sacrament of Baptism and uses the --- by now --- classic formula of
“…in re vel saltem
in voto…”, a phrase meaning
“…in reality or at least in resolution…”, when
referring to water baptism’s necessity, the word “voto” again constantly mangled as the poorly
translated “desire” in English. See Chapter 6 in this book, Baptismal Confusion, if you’ve
forgotten why the word “desire” is a rather incompetent and
misleading translation of the Latin “voto”,
or are a very impatient and proudly ignorant person who merely
‘skims’ or ‘cherry picks’ through a long writing
without carefully noting a seemingly ‘small’ yet very, very, very
crucial point like this about an eternally fateful subject such as water
baptism.)
Indeed, upon ruthless and
meticulous reflection, Church’s Canon Law turns out to be a surprisingly strong argument on behalf of the
opposing side, ‘water
only’ (WO)!
How so?
Consider.
The staunch BOD proponent is
usually more well-informed than the run-of-the-mill person going by the name of
‘catholic’ nowadays. Be he traditionalist --- i.e., either a real
Catholic or else a Traditional Novus Ordoist (a TNO
for short, please see Chapter 132 in this book for details) --- then he will
often be familiar with the last official version of the Church’s Canon
Law. In this case, the 1917 Code of Canon Law, since the 1983 version came out
well after Vatican II and the eruption of the Great Apostasy into our
contemporary world of unbelief and neo-paganism, not having true hierarchical
authority behind it.
And what do we find in this 1917
Code of Canon Law?
That unbaptized catechumens are
allowed to be buried in a consecrated cemetery.
We repeat:
That
unbaptized catechumens --- those
souls who are not actually visibly joined to the Very Visible
Catholic Body of Jesus Christ via the very visible laver of regeneration
as applied to their earthly, and thus visible, flesh --- are now
sometimes permitted to be buried, should they happen to die
‘accidentally’ before they finish their catechesis and
receive the visible sacramental water, in a consecrated cemetery
reserved solely for the corpses of those souls who are actually, physically & visibly joined in water
baptism to the Roman Catholic Church.
For it says in Canon 1239:
“Unbaptized persons may not receive ecclesiastical
burial, with the exception of catechumens
who, through no fault of theirs [through no fault of their own since it’s
an ‘accidental’ death], die without
having received baptism, and are therefore to be regarded as
among those baptized.” (1917 Code of Canon
Law, Canon 1239. All emphasis & annotation added.)
“See!” exults a BODer. “There it
is. Right in the Church’s law. A catechumen is
sometimes allowed burial in a Catholic cemetery without water baptism. It’s a done deal. The Hierarchy from
the highest point of authority is officially favoring the ‘baptism of
desire’ opinion over the ‘water only’ opinion --- the Bishop
of Rome has ruled. A Pope is infallible and hence the argument ought to be over
with… BOD wins!”
+++ 172. Why Canon Law CANNOT Automatically +++
Win the Argument for BOD (1st Problem,
Part 1 ---
When Is a Pope
Being Infallible?)
Except that it doesn’t.
Why not?
Well, my dear reader, do you
remember what we learned in Chapters 22, 52 & 84 of this very book, Baptismal Confusion, regarding the
Charism of Infallibility as exercised by a true & legitimate Roman Pontiff?
Assuming, of course, you bother
reading this book at all, cautiously and intelligently, without
‘skimming’ and ‘randomly perusing’ here-and-there. As if ‘skimming’ and
‘randomly perusing’ are adequate, patient, sincere & smart,
making a person properly informed
about a religious subject that is --- oh, I don’t know --- shall we say utterly vital to one’s eternal fate?
You’ll pardon the sardonic
riposte.
But in my experience, people
during the Great Apostasy are very little concerned about religion,
believing whatever they please…
as if ‘whatever-they-please’ is enough to make false into true and
true into false, the actual truth
about religion of little consequence to them in this life.
It is also my experience that
people during the Great Apostasy showing concern about religion (and
however tiny few these may be in comparison to the rest of the world’s
vast population) --- maybe they’re quite traditional and call themselves
‘catholic’ --- still like believing whatever they please… and even if
‘whatever-they-please’ is only a ‘tiny thing’, just
‘one little belief’ compared to everything else and the other
teachings they seem to get right, the
actual truth, notwithstanding, of this ‘one little thing’ of
little consequence to them in this life.
Whichever, DAMNABLE SCHISM OR HERESY occur.
In all likelihood you
irrationally hate the statement above; notwithstanding, your personal preference in the matter is irrelevant.
The truth is the truth regardless
of whatever it is you want to believe is true before you bother
to get up off your hind quarters and take the time (and intelligence) to
look carefully, thinking it through
fully and humbly acknowledging what you find, based on evidence &
logic, is actually true.
With this sober warning, dearest one, please take heed.
Don’t be an arrogant &
ignorant rebel and so destroy your precious soul.
Because God’s Singular
& Infallible Catholic Church teaches us about the Papacy:
“We teach and define that it is a dogma divinely
revealed [that] the Roman Pontiff [the Bishop of Rome, a Pope],
when he speaks ex cathedra [‘from the chair’, to wit, from
St. Peter’s throne], that is, in discharge of the office of pastor
and teacher of all Christians [when he teaches all Catholics
everywhere]… he defines a doctrine regarding faith or
morals to be held by the universal Church [he clarifies a teaching on
faith or morals that should be believed by all Catholics], is…
possessed of [he has]… infallibility [i.e., he cannot
be mistaken]…” (Pope Pius IX’s
Pastor aeternus, issued by the Vatican Council
during Session 4 in AD 1870, Chapter 4, Paragraph 9. As found in Dogmatic Canons and Decrees: Authorized Translations
of the Dogmatic Decrees of the Council of Trent, the Decree of the Immaculate
Conception, the Syllabus of Pope Pius IX, and the Decrees of the Vatican
Council. Originally published by Devon-Adair Co. in
And what does this infallible proclamation mean?
As stated before, but put here more briefly:
1.) ONLY A POPE is
infallible. Absolutely nobody
else can speak ‘for the pope’, in his name, as if such
statements make non-papal persons
‘infallible’ as well, or as if the pope can ‘delegate’
the Charism of Infallibility to someone under
his papal authority in the Vatican, or etc., etc.
2.) Infallibility concerns SOLELY FAITH & MORALS. Absolutely
no other subject guarantees a
pope infallibility, such as liturgy, discipline, canonization, civil rules,
administrative decisions or so forth that do
not directly involve the matters of dogmatic
or ethical teachings.
3.) A pope teaches infallibly ONLY THE
4.) Infallibility must CLARIFY. Either a pope must go further in
defining --- without contradicting
--- what has been taught infallibly
earlier, or else he must condemn --- without contradicting earlier infallible teaching ---
something taught merely fallibly
before.
Period.
+++ 173. Why Canon Law CANNOT Automatically +++
Win the Argument for BOD (1st Problem,
Part 2 ---
Papal
Infallibility vs. Papal Authority)
Now, what has this to do with
canon law? Very simple.
It is a Pope who promulgates
canon law to the Church in general, if only via his delegated authority… that is, to a person or persons he sanctions to act in his name &
authority, on behalf of his responsibilities to lead, govern and protect
Jesus’ One & Only Roman Catholic Body.
This delegated authority
is particularly applicable in the eastern part of the Catholic Church, with all
of its different ancient rites, with a Pope --- who is the Primate of the
West and not simply the Bishop of Rome or a Pope with universal
jurisdiction --- not normally an expert in all the arcane yet important
rules of multiple centuries accumulated over history in parts of the Church
far, far from his own culture or not following his own Latin Rite in the West.
Even in the western region of the Church, as Primate of the West, no Pope is
required to be an expert in canon law in order to be a Pope. (He might be an expert in canon law
from training, but it’s not
a requirement for him to be a Pope in the first place.) Ergo, if canon law is
being organized (as it was in the early 2nd millennium) or
systematized and re-written altogether (as it was at the beginning of the 20th
century), no Pope is necessarily going to… or even be able
to… examine every single point and aspect of a long, complex &
comprehensive canon law, understanding it fully, let alone officially issue canon law as if it’s coming from
his own private person, in the entirety of its text, as the singular &
sole source of all that a collection of canon law says, in every individual
word.
Do you savvy?
The reasoning is ironclad.
In
recent centuries at least, there is not one single body (collection) of
canon law in the Most Holy Roman Catholic Church that has been promulgated
by a Pope while invoking his wholly unique & divinely-bestowed Charism
of Infallibility.
Yes, Church’s canon law
normally comes with a pope’s approval (although this is not always the
case, there being situations where a bishop with local diocesan jurisdiction
can enact canon laws within his diocese that are not necessarily applicable to
another diocese, as well as the example already given, wherein certain regions
of the East use their own venerable & ancient rites, requiring, therefore,
their own unique variations of a collection of canon law).
Howsobeit, no collection of canon law has ever come, as of yet --- at
least in the last few centuries --- in its entirety, in every single individual
word, from the private person of a pope. Consequently, canon law --- whatever
the version or its region of applicability (remember the variant version, or
versions, of canon law for the several rites of eastern Roman Catholics since
most ancient times) --- by this criterion alone cannot be an act of the Charism of Infallibility.
Wherever a canon in the body of
canon law impinges directly on a matter of faith or morals… and correctly expresses the infallible
teaching of the Catholic Church in this particular matter… then,
yes, that canon is transmitting the infallible truth concerning a matter
of faith or morals.
But an act of
papal infallibility in & of itself, overall, for all of the canons?
Not
so.
Because a pope has not yet promulgated any body of
canon law from himself --- at least in more recent
times --- as if it were his own
private person expressing and communicating each and every single word in this body of canon law. It is
thus not a pope exercising
his charism of infallibility; rather, it is a pope making use of his supreme authority.
The distinction?
The former (charism of infallibility) invokes the
Holy Ghost, the Third Person of God divinely preventing him (a pope) from
explicitly teaching something concerning faith or morals that is indisputably
an error. Acts of papal infallibility are therefore, whilst clearly possible,
never always (nor even commonly!) the
case in most of a pope’s everyday words, public sermons, writings of a
casual or formal nature (including
encyclicals!), or any kind of communication, whether open or private.
Meanwhile, the latter (supreme
authority) invokes his utterly unique office of universal jurisdiction,
which, albeit flabbergastingly powerful and very awe-inspiring, is still
dependent upon that particular pope’s intelligence (his mind) and goal or intent (his will).
Put another way:
You could have a
dim-witted & good pope. Such a man might intend to use his
supreme authority to make wise laws and holy decisions, while
nonetheless ending up making lots of foolish laws and unholy
decisions due to his lack of intelligence.
Or you could have an
unlearned & good pope. Such a man might also intend to use
his supreme authority to make wise laws and holy decisions, while
nonetheless winding up making lots of foolish laws and unholy
decisions due to his lack of training.
Or you could have a
smart & evil pope. Such a man might intend to use his
supreme authority to make hideous (perhaps cleverly and subtly so) laws
and wicked decisions (ditto the previous parenthetical observation), and
succeed greatly due to his cunning iniquity.
The point is, a body of canon law
--- any collection of canon law, no matter where in the world it applies and at
least in more recent centuries --- has never been an act of infallibility
since it has never yet come solely from the private person of a pope in
each and every word, despite his supreme & official approval, or
regardless of his learning and holiness… or lack thereof.
+++ 174. Why Canon Law CANNOT Automatically +++
Win the Argument for BOD (1st Problem,
Part 3 ---
Canon
Law Is Different for Different Areas &
Rites
Around the World)
Yet
the subject of canon law gets even more complex and more crucial.
Because a body of canon
law has never yet in all of history, to my knowledge, applied in its
fullness to every single Catholic, in every single place in the world, all
over the earth. This is because various versions of canon law must
apply, at the same time, to DIFFERENT
RITES AND DIFFERENT REGIONS ACROSS THE WORLD. As a result (and as far as I can
tell thus far) no complete and entire body of canon law has ever been an act
of papal infallibility since it’s never been promulgated to the
whole and entire Roman Catholic Church.
You want proof?
Let us quote from an eminent
priestly authority who wrote a scholarly & expert commentary (with the proper ‘nihil
obstat’ and ‘imprimatur’ granted by
his bishop, of course) on what was then, in 1918, the ‘new’
Canon Law of the Catholic Church put forth by Pope Benedict XV (not to be confused with the recent, and, as
I write, still living Antipope Benedict XVI --- note the contrast
between XV and XVI!) the previous year, 1917, and enacted on
19 May 1918:
“1.
It is stated in the first Canon of the Code that its laws are obligatory
[necessary to obey] ONLY FOR CATHOLICS
OF THE LATIN [Western] RITE, except in those points which of their
very nature [they are truly universal in their importance] affect also the
Oriental [Eastern or ‘Greek’ Catholic] Church. This ruling [that not everyone in the Catholic Church is obliged
to obey every canon in the 1917 Code of Canon Law being explained in
this priest’s learned commentary] is NOT NEW, it has obtained for
many centuries [been around since ancient times]. On account of the great difference in
manners and customs between the peoples of the East [areas east
of Rome and Italy] and those of Europe [that is, those Catholics who
live in the West, being the region west of Rome and Italy], and
of countries christianized [converted to Catholicism]
by missionaries of the Latin [Western] Rite, the Holy See [the Bishop of
Rome and those in the Vatican who rule via the Pope’s delegated
authority] WISELY MODIFIES for the Oriental Church [Catholics in
the various rites of the East of the Church] SOME LAWS [canons]
in accordance with requirements [what these various kinds of eastern
Catholics need for their daily religious lives in their particular
culture or land]. A special Congregation for the Orientals has
been established at
Are you getting it, my dear
reader?
A scholarly & expert priest
writes plainly and clearly, in his commentary on the very first canon
of 2414 canons altogether in the ‘new’ (at the time) 1917 Code of
Canon Law, that the Pope of that time (Benedict the Fifteenth) and his Vatican
are explicitly NOT requiring all
Catholics everywhere in the world to be bound by every single canon
in this Code of Canon Law.
And why would this be?
Because
different Catholics in different rites in different
regions of the Church throughout the world CANNOT be governed or covered
correctly --- and thus rightly --- by one single body (collection) of
canon law, despite this law’s utmost
urgency and having been promulgated by the Supreme Authority
of the Roman Catholic Church.
End of sentence.
What’s more, this expert
priest and his learned commentary on Canon 1 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law (the very first of 2414 canons
altogether!) was officially examined and sanctioned legally
to publish his scholarly commentary (which
commentary was made to give priests in the Latin Rite a handy and quick
reference for acting in obedience to the ‘new’ Canon Law) by
NOT merely one but, indeed, two authorities in the Church, both
his Franciscan superior (Fr. Blecke) and his Archepiscopal superior (Cd.
Farley) granting him their respective imprimaturs.
And why is this logical point
imperative to understand?
Because
the Vatican Council in 1870 obviously & infallibly stated, with Pope
Pius IX’s official approval, that Papal
Infallibility --- when actually in
operation and being exercised by a pope with something he puts forth
--- must be teaching “ALL Christians…” (Ibid., emphases added) Viz.,
every single member of the Roman Catholic Church in the world everywhere,
and NOT just some Catholics in one region, or several parts,
of the world.
+++ 175. Why Canon Law CANNOT Automatically +++
Win the Argument for BOD (1st Problem,
Part 4 ---
Canon
Law Is Not Just About Faith or Morals,
and Is Primarily to Govern, Not Teach)
But do you need still more
convincing?
Then consider:
A
body (collection) of canon law does not ever directly grapple with or govern
solely matters of faith or morals, being a body of laws about many other
things, too.
Meaning?
Canon law covers all kinds of
subjects and all manner of situations that --- while often indirectly connected to questions of faith and morals --- are not, all by itself and directly,
only grappling with a dogmatic or ethical issue. (E.g., canon law in the
West has not allowed a priest, since
ancient times and in a typical situation, to have a wife. Whereas bodies of
canon law from the East have allowed
priests… but not bishops!... to be married and
exercise conjugal privileges. Perspicuously speaking, then, whilst indirectly linked to morals, priestly
matrimony alone --- clergymen having or not having wives --- cannot be a divine law that is
forever immutable. Pragmatic & disciplinary considerations enter the
equation here, not just faith or morals.)
Ergo, a body of canon law --- in
its entirety --- cannot be an
act of papal infallibility since it certainly does not deal with things alone “regarding faith or
morals” (Ibid.), as the Vatican Council infallibly put it. Therefore, too, for some single canon
in a body of canon law (as opposed to all of the canons in a collection
of canon law) to be infallible, it would have to directly &
explicitly address a matter that is indisputably & directly about faith or
morals.
Bringing us to
the final point in this problem with ‘BOD-in-canon-law’ argument.
Namely,
that no collection of canon law or individual canon purports in any way
at all to define, and thus clarify, some aspect of faith or morals,
whether positively or negatively. That is to say, a pope, or other
jurisdictional bishop in his local diocese, gives us a collection of rules
(canon law) primarily to govern
--- and not for teaching dogma.
Wherefore no canon --- in
whatever body of canon law, for the last several centuries at an absolute
minimum --- attempts to explain dogmatic or ethical teachings beyond what
has been explained prior to a specific canon, or tries to condemn teachings
of this nature beyond what has been circumscribed prior to that specific
canon. Thus, to my knowledge, no
collection of canon law can be put forth, at least in recent centuries,
as an example of papal teaching about faith or morals that
goes beyond what the
Roman Catholic Church and Her Visible Heads may have infallibly taught about faith or morals previously.
And, were that not enough, in the
second millennium at least, popes have always been exceedingly cautious to use
very explicit (and, by the 2nd millennium, very traditional)
language in order to make sure that everyone hearing of their teaching, who is
supposed to be Catholic, knows without doubt that this pope is defining, and
hence, clarifying, Catholic dogma.
Does any single canon in the 1917
Code of Canon Law do this?
Not to my knowledge.
The inescapably
logical conclusion, then?
It is as we have said in the
previous paragraphs:
The ‘BOD-is-in-canon-law’
argument fails the test of papal infallibility in each of the
four criteria proclaimed infallibly at the Vatican Council held from
1869 until 1870 (and infallible because Pope Pius IX officially affirmed
them!) when pondered carefully & rigorously.
At a bare minimum, throughout all
Church history, no collection of canon law can be cited as supposedly
‘infallible proof’ of the ‘baptism of desire’ position
since later bodies of canon law automatically fail to satisfy at
least the third criterion of infallibility as infallibly taught by the
Vatican Council via Pope Pius IX in 1870 (to
wit, a collection of canon law is never
being promulgated to the entire
Church all over the world!), and since, previous to the second
millennium, a pope has never
upheld BOD in canon law during the first
millennium.
The upshot?
BOD
being supported in a mere two canons of the 1917 Code of Canon Law is not
--- repeat, NOT! --- an act of papal infallibility and thus invoking the
divine protection of the Holy Ghost by preventing him from teaching
something that is theologically erroneous.
+++ 176. Why Canon Law CANNOT Automatically +++
Win the Argument for BOD (2nd Problem,
Part 1 --- You
Can
Respectfully Disagree With a Fallible Notion
Just as Long as You Stay True to Dogma!)
So, now that we’ve
established that the Church’s 1917 Code of Canon Law is not
something infallible (however important
and wise it might be otherwise!), is there any reason we should, or even
‘must’, take Canon 1239 (the
canon that says an unbaptized catechumen can be buried in hallowed
ground… to wit, a cemetery consecrated by the Church’s priests for truly
Catholic people alone to lay their mortal bodies, provided they died in
good standing without public scandal of sin) or, for that matter, Canon
737, as strong evidence for ‘baptism of desire’?
Well, dear soul, do you remember
Chapter 59?
That is to say, where we were
discussing the evidence for BOD when it comes to the many and various fathers,
saints & doctors of the Roman Catholic Church?
Specifically, where we
encountered what I like to call The Four A’s --- Ss. Ambrose, Augustine,
Aquinas and Alphonsus? The latter, Alphonsus Liguori, BODers often cite as strong evidence for ‘baptism of
desire’ since he not only speaks in its favor (though only in its orthodox
sense, never supporting modernism and
espousing salvation heresy!), but also refers to the Council of Trent as if
what the many bishops at this council said regarding the Sacrament of Baptism
(or, cautiously speaking, regarding how the water of the Sacrament of
Baptism relates to ‘justification’ of a human soul) is an
‘explicitly’ infallible proof for BOD.
This particular idea --- that
But since I’m a nobody in this world, we did not leave it there.
For, while the evidence is indeed
clear and the logic indeed solid, who am I?
Why
should anyone believe me, however logical and solid my points?
And, so, in Chapter 51 we
grappled with it head on.
St. Alphonsus
obviously implies the Tridentine Council explicitly
taught ‘baptism of desire’, whereas I have dared to say,
“Hold on. Alphonsus was a very great and holy
saint. But infallible? Especially when it comes
to something that is merely a human opinion about what the Council of
Trent taught… and clearly is
something the Council of
But again, who am I?
Therefore, in Chapter 59 of Baptismal Confusion we brought out the
big gun, the very thing people of a more conservative or traditional nature ---
who claim to be Catholic, and whether or not they really are what they say they
are --- go gaga over:
Eminent theologians!
Oh, but even better than
that… a preeminent German theologian of the mid-twentieth century so
revered and so respected that TNOs (Traditional Novus
Ordoists) practically fall all over themselves in
their mad rush to crowd around his altar, venerating his every word:
Dr. Ludwig Ott!
Famous for his masterwork, Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma, as
re-published by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., in 1974 in the United States,
and earlier published in a fourth edition by The Mercier Press in Ireland in
1960 (as well as its original German edition printed by Verlag
Herder in 1952 under the title, Grundriss der Katholischen Dogmatik), we pointed out how, in carefully
distinguishing theological categories of certainty, Dr. Ott
notes the certainty of the teaching of water baptism’s necessity
as (appropriately quiet yet dramatic musical build-up cued here):
“(De fide.)”
Which, as we explained earlier,
is a kind of theological shorthand for the Latin phrase “de fide definita” --- that is, something the Catholic Church
has propounded to us as infallibly
certain… and thus most certainly is, by definition
(pun almost intended), beyond any
doubt lest you lose your Roman Catholicity (assuming you actually had
it in the first place).
Ah, but what did our great &
eminent 20th century theologian, Dr. Ludwig Ott,
have to say about the certainty of the teaching called ‘baptism of desire’?
That is to say, if, for some reason, the sacramental water is
‘unavailable’? He wrote (drum roll, please, for maximum effect):
“(Sent. fidei prox.)”
Which is, as we also explained
earlier, a theological abbreviation for the full Latin phrase ‘sententia fidei proxima’ --- that is, something the Catholic Church
has not yet propounded to us
as ‘infallibly certain’ (assuming it ever will do so)… and thus most certainly is, by a lack of definition (okay,
pun pretty much intended here), safe to doubt since it’s NOT
defined, provided you have orthodox
& intelligent reasons, as well as a justified cause (in other
words, you’re not just shooting off a haughty mouth because you’re
too impatient or ignorant to know better).
As Dr. Ott
helpfully describes the idea of ‘sententia fidei proxima’:
“A
Teaching proximate to Faith… is a doctrine, which is regarded by
theologians generally as a truth of Revelation, but which has not yet been finally promulgated as such by the
Church.”
In stark contrast, he says about
“de fide definita”:
“The
highest degree of certainty appertains [is connected] to the immediately
revealed truths… and if the
Church, through its teaching, vouches for the fact that a truth is
contained in Revelation [something God reveals to us from Heaven that is
absolutely necessary for our Salvation], one’s certainty is then
also based on the authority of the Infallible Teaching Authority of the
Church… If truths are DEFINED BY A SOLEMN JUDGMENT OF FAITH (definition)
of the Pope or of a General Council, they
are ‘de fide definita’.”
(Publishing
information as stated ten paragraphs above, with the five quotes from Pages
356, 356, 9, 9 & 9, respectively, of the TAN Books paperback edition. The ‘nihil obstat’ for the Irish
printing of the English translation was given on 7 October 1954 by Jeremiah J.
O’Sullivan, D.D., who was the Censor Deputatus,
and the ‘imprimatur’ by Cornelius, Ep. Corgagiensis
et Ap. Adm. Rossensis on the
same date. All emphasis and annotations added, except for the parenthesized
quotes, some of which are italic in the TAN printing.)
+++ 177. Why Canon Law CANNOT Automatically +++
Win the Argument for BOD (2nd Problem,
Part 2 --- An
Acclaimed Theologian
Proves the Canon’s Fallibility)
Are you getting it, my dear soul?
I may be a
nobody… but Dr. Ludwig Ott was a big
somebody, highly respected to this day by Traditional Novus Ordoists
(TNOs), and considered to be a theologian, and
seminary or university professor, of highest caliber back in the middle of the
20th century.
So
how is it I dare to disagree with one of St. Alphonus’
theological opinions?
Because I have orthodox &
intelligent reasons to do so (this book is proof of that), as well as justified
cause (since I’m trying to clear up the terrible confusion surrounding
the Sacrament of Baptism that persists till this very day). I take no
pleasure in disagreeing with the great, holy & wise saint --- a doctor of
the Church, to boot --- and would never recommend doing so as a normal
and routine course of action for most Catholics most of the time. I.e., we are
safer respectfully following a saint & doctor’s theological opinion
the vast majority of the time.
Yet every single time? NO.
Because once in
a long while they can be mistaken. Unless one of them is a Bishop of Rome
exercising his Charism of Infallibility, then, by strict and logical
definition, they are not
infallible. Which in turn means they could be mistaken, however rarely.
Yet don’t take my word for
it. Eminent theologian Dr. Ott has said so, too.
For, as you’ll recall from
Chapter 59 of Baptismal Confusion,
Dr. Ott directly referenced the Tridentine
Council as his primary backing for the teaching of ‘baptism of
desire’ (he was, after all, a theologian of his times and hence convinced
the scholastic theologians of the early 2nd millennium were not
mistaken about BOD). Notwithstanding, he gives to us the degree of certainty of
BOD as ‘sententia fidei
proxima’. That is, good ol’
BOD is a teaching that’s been around for awhile --- and we theologians
nowadays like to think it’s true and hence proximate to dogma --- but, honestly, it’s not quite
all the way there yet, and, consequently, not
actually dogma and thus not really and truly infallibly certain.
So take Dr. Ludwig Ott’s word for it.
That is to say, if eminent
theologians impress you.
In any case, this is proof that both he and lots of
other theologians of his time, in the mid-twentieth century, dared to disagree with St. Alphonsus Liguori’s theological
opinion that the Council of Trent had clearly and infallibly declared on behalf
of the notion of BOD… and even
though they very much agreed
with Alphonsus that BOD was true, treating Trent as
‘proof’ for it (albeit tangential
‘proof’, lacking the terms or descriptions that would put it beyond
doubt --- and thus not
adequately clear --- which is why Trent cannot
close the case with finality).
Which then means it’s hard proof,
additionally, that neither
Canons 737 nor 1239 of the
1917 Code of Canon Law made a
difference to Ludwig Ott or other theologians
mere decades after Benedict
XV promulgated this Canon Law, causing them to think ‘baptism of
desire’ was now more than ‘proximate’ to dogma, magically
becoming an ‘infallible’ teaching just because two papally-approved
canons obliquely reference BOD
and use this theological theory to ‘justify’ burying the corpse of
an unbaptized human in
hallowed ground… and despite the
fact this eminent German theologian clearly thought BOD was true while not infallibly so.
Do you comprehend,
dear soul?
If eminent theologians impress
you (and TNOs really do go gaga over Dr. Ludwig Ott’s Fundamentals
of Catholic Dogma, so highly do they revere it and him, and so available
has it been through the inexpensive TAN Books reprinting of the Irish edition
that first translated the text from the German original), then the stark fact that a major
theological textbook --- with both the appropriate ‘nihil
obstat’ and an episcopal
‘imprimatur’ --- did not
uphold BOD as ‘infallible’ is PROOF
POSITIVE (with absoluteness
of moral certainty!) that two canons out of a total 2414 canons overall in the
1917 Code of Canon Law, is in no way
relevant to the fight over BOD vs. WO (apart from it being very weak
evidence for the former) and, as a result, to be thought of as some kind of
‘infallible’ ruling from a pope that a so-called ‘baptism of
desire’ (BOD) is beyond questioning and that real Roman Catholics are now
‘forbidden’ to hold the
opposite and contrary theological opinion of ‘water only’
(WO).
For what did the imprimatured textbook of Dr. Ott
call BOD?
Sententia fidei proxima.
To wit, he as much as said:
“All of us theologians
nowadays think BOD is true, and agree that it is true… but, to be wholly
honest, the Church via Her Pope has never yet explicitly and infallibly
promulgated it as such, thereby leaving this theological idea as only
‘proximate’ or ‘near’ to dogma --- and hence, strictly
speaking, NOT ACTUALLY TAUGHT BY THE CHURCH AS INFALLIBLY, UNQUESTIONABLY
AND THEREFORE IRREFORMABLY TRUE!”
Or
else why did eminent theologian Dr. Ott call
BOD ‘sententia fidei proxima’ instead of ‘de fide definita’ and why did the proper Church
authorities sanction the publication of his theological textbook
that TNOs so adore?
End of interrogatory sentence.
And, oh yes, as I remarked in
Chapter 60, please beware that Dr. Ott --- for all
his learning or cleverness and correctness about lots of things --- was, like
nearly everyone else at that time just before Vatican II and the Great Apostasy
burst out into the open, a salvation heretic. (Please go here for a
thorough & comprehensive explanation and defense of the infallible dogma,
‘no Salvation outside the Church’, in its ancient, original and
strict sense, with both massive evidence and rigorous logic aplenty to back it
up.)
Viz., he very much liked to think
that a human being with perfectly sound intelligence could be, somehow,
‘invincibly ignorant’ about the Roman Catholic Religion, thereby
dying ‘sincerely’ in the beliefs or practices of false
religion (read: any religion that is not Roman Catholic), and, via a
supposedly ‘implicit desire’ for water baptism (mangling the
orthodox meaning of this concept, by the way), become mysteriously &
unknowingly (and unknowable to everyone else, too!) ‘catholic’ through an ‘invisible’ link to
the
Again… don’t fall for
this religious lie.
+++ 178. Why Canon Law CANNOT Automatically +++
Win the Argument for BOD (3rd Problem,
Part 1 --- Do
Self-Styled ‘Catholics’ of a More
Traditional Bent
Pay
Attention to the Scholars They Esteem?
Yet we go on.
For there is a third devastating
point against the ‘aha!-it’s-in-canon-law’ argument, a
powerful point that drives home even further how Canons 737 or 1239 were in no way
at all to be thought an ‘act of papal infallibility’, putting BOD
beyond question and so ‘settling’ it for good.
Because do you remember Chapters
85 to 87 in Baptismal Confusion?
We considered the evidence from
catechisms.
We especially took a hard look at
the greatest of catechisms thus far… the wonderful and authoritative Catechism of the Council of Trent (also
known as the Roman Catechism, or the Catechism of Pius V). And what did the
scholarly prefacing commentary tell us about Roman Catholicism’s greatest
catechism yet, scholarly commentary that the proper Church authorities
sanctioned all the way back in the 1920s, finding nothing wrong in their
scholarly assertions?
We read the most relevant parts:
“The Roman Catechism is unlike any other summary of Christian
doctrine, not only because it is intended for the use of priests in their
preaching, but also because it enjoys a
unique authority among manuals… Doctor John Hagan [another of
those eminent and highly respected theologians from the 20th century],
the present Rector of the
We repeat the devastatingly
pertinent part of the quote again:
“Its
teaching is NOT infallible [NOT every single word and teaching
found in the Catechism of the Council of
Once more:
“Its teaching is NOT
infallible…” (Ibid.)
Is it beginning to sink in, my
dear & beloved reader?
As I’ve said elsewhere in
this book, Baptismal Confusion,
there’s a lot of nonsense and ignorance about what constitutes
infallibility, about when a
real & legitimate pope is actually
exercising his charism of infallibility. Lots of people calling themselves
Catholic think a pope is infallible in everything he says & does (the
latter, what he ‘does’, not
even being an exercise of infallibility, but, rather, the gift of
‘impeccability’ --- i.e., without any sin… which shows their ignorance all the more since the
Church has never taught us
that every pope is automatically without sin just because he’s a pope!).
Others think his every sermon or writing is ‘infallible’. Plenty of
them think catechisms, encyclicals, canonizations, martyrologies, and so forth
and so on, are all of them, automatically and unquestionably and intrinsically,
acts of ‘infallibility’. One wonders… do any of them actually use their God-given minds to examine meticulously
what the Roman Catholic Church has really said, drawing true and correct
conclusions?
As an eminent scholar
tells us (almost as impressive as an eminent theologian):
“PROMULGATION
(Lat. [Latin] promulgare,
to make known). The public announcement of a law, before which it is not
binding...” (A Catholic Dictionary
by Donald Attwater, general editor. Macmillan Company
published the 3rd edition in 1958 in New York City, with a ‘nihil obstat’ for the 2nd
edition and accompanying ‘imprimatur’ from Georgius
D. Smith, S.T.D., Ph.D., Censor Deputatus, and E. Morrogh Bernard, Vic. Gen., Westmonasterii,
respectively, on 10 May 1946, and the same for the 3rd edition from
Hubertus Richards, S.T.L., I.S.S., Censor Deputatus,
and Georgius L. Craven, Epus.
Sebastopolis, Vic. Cap. Westmon., Westmonasterii, repectively, on
January 30, 1957. 1st edition published by Cassell
& Co., Ltd., as The Catholic Encyclopaedic Dictionary in 1931 in the
We reiterate:
“The
public announcement of a law…” (Ibid.)
The same eminent scholar tells
us:
“DECREE. An ordinance,
edict or decision set forth by ecclesiastical authority. The decrees of a pope
or of a general council are universally binding [meaning, under most
circumstances, every Catholic is expected to obey such a decree]; those of a
Roman congregation in a specific case are binding on those concerned, but not
necessarily on others; those of a national or provincial synod must be approved
by the Holy See before being put into force. The personal (as opposed to synodal) decrees of a bishop lapse with his death.” (Ibid., Page 138. Annotation added.)
We say once more:
“An
ordinance, edict or decision set forth by ecclesiastical
authority.”
And this eminent scholar says as
well:
“INFALLIBILITY OF THE
POPE… [The Vatican Council of 1870 is quoted at some length regarding
papal infallibility] … Note that this infallibility refers only to teaching concerning faith or morals, and then only when the pope speaks officially as teacher
addressing the whole Church
with the intention of obliging
its members to assent to his definition
(and this intention must be manifest
[must be made very plain & clear], though not necessarily
expressed); that neither
impeccability nor inspiration
(q.q.v.) are claimed; that infallibility is personal to the pope and
independent of the consent of the Church… Infallibility does not
by any means do away with the necessity
of study and learning [meaning that the pope himself must study and learn
before defining faith or morals, that he CANNOT merely presume to teach
about faith or morals while somehow ‘magically’ knowing without first
doing the study and learning he needs to do in order to teach intelligently],
but simply under certain conditions
guarantees that the conclusions
drawn from study and learning are free
from error; the pope’s knowledge is not infused into him by God: he gains it [knowledge of faith
or morals]just as does any other man,
but he is assisted, watched
over, by the Holy Spirit so that he does not use his authority and his
knowledge to mislead the Church at
the times and under the conditions stated above.” (Ibid., Pages 253 to 254. All emphasis & annotations
added, except for the parenthetical “(q.q.v.)”, which is italicized in the published text.)
In other words, papal
promulgations, decrees & etc., are NOT
automatically infallible!
+++ 179. Why Canon Law CANNOT Automatically +++
Win the Argument for BOD (3rd Problem,
Part 2 --- Papal
Orders for
So
How Is Promulgation of Canon Law an Exception?
Did you get that?
If you don’t believe me,
dear soul, then believe the eminent scholar, Mr. Attwater.
A pope cannot
‘automatically’ use his office’s charism of infallibility in
absolutely everything he says and does. To
the contrary, a pope teaches us infallibly “…only…
under certain conditions…”, conditions the Vatican
Council made infallibly clear --- by the infallible assent of he, Pope Pius IX,
who promulgated, decreed & ordered this definition regarding a teaching of
faith or morals way back in 1870. And these conditions that Pius IX and his
Vatican Council put forth as an infallible definition of papal infallibility
make it plain that a legitimate Bishop of Rome is NEVER ‘always’ and ‘automatically’
infallible with his every single papal word, deed, signature, promulgation,
decree or etc., etc.! (Ibid., Page 254)
This is why we looked at eminent
scholar Mr. Attwater’s explanations for
promulgation & decrees before diving into an extended quote from his
explanation for the infallibility of the papacy… so as to drive home the point that
promulgations or decrees, or what-have-you, from a pope are official
acts of his supreme authority, but not --- repeat, NOT! --- always and automatically
acts of his singular & personal papal infallibility.
Got that?
Good.
Now put your thinking cap on.
Use that intelligent mind that
Our Creator gave you.
The unparalleled Council of Trent
(that is, unparalleled as of yet, occurring from 1545 to 1563) first put forth
the idea of a catechism in 1546, but originally envisioned it as a
‘simple’ catechism for ‘simple’ (that is,
‘unlearned’) members of the Church. Returning to the idea in 1563
--- many years later --- the Council then changed the plan to a catechism that
would, instead, be learned, long &
complex, giving every parish priest (who
is supposed to be learned!) a reliable source from which priests could draw
instructions for their much less learned,
and non-priestly, flock.
Still following this?
Excellent.
Now if the Catholic
Church’s greatest council so far, the Council of Trent, decreed this to
be done, with the approval of the pope of that time, Pius IV, in 1563, and
which, this pope agreed by the end of that same year, should be carried out
under the direct authority of the pope himself in Rome since the council was
ending, and therefore no longer overseeing the new catechism’s initial
writing in Trent… then, beloved soul, with the approval, order, decree,
promulgation or (put in your favorite ecclesiastical terminology here) of the
very next pope, Pius V, during the year 1566, wherein the new catechism was
officially published… would you
then be very inclined to think, out of thin air, that this was an act of
the Church’s --- and the Pope’s --- Charism of Infallibility,
not knowing what various chapters in this book make plain?
Of course you would.
Most if not all traditional
‘catholics’ assume it is so.
Notwithstanding, we have seen the
scholarly evidence that it is, in fact, not
so! To wit:
The
Catechism of the Council of
Got it?
Refer to the scholarly quotes
above if you still don’t want to believe me.
Then, dear soul, be intelligent,
honest and humble and admit
that we’ve just seen the authoritative and academic proof for this ‘astonishing’ fact (for those who
have not done adequate study,
and are thus not adequately
learned about this subject), and, hence, we can confidently know that
‘decrees’, ‘promulgations’, ‘papal orders’,
‘official announcements’, ‘ordinances’,
‘edicts’, ‘decisions’, ‘announcements’, and
etc., etc. --- whatever the precise terms employed --- are NOT then, automatically, ‘infallible’ simply because they’re official or
papal, and decreed, promulgated, ordered, decided, announced, signed, or
what-have-you!
Ergo:
Neither
‘BOD’ canon is infallible; they’re laws not dogma; and they could be mistaken.
Again, there is a difference
between a pope wielding his supreme
authority and a pope
exercising his charism of infallibility. How does this distinction
apply to Canon Law? Easy --- because it is a pope who
officially promulgates canon law for large sections of the Singular & True
Church of Roman Catholicism. And so unlearned people… especially
those who are proud or impatient in their religious ignorance… then
presume, wrongly, without actual solid facts and proper learning, that the very
act of papal promulgation --- all by
itself --- is an exercise of ‘papal
infallibility’, when it is, instead, an act of a pope’s supreme authority, and thus something
that can never ever --- all by itself
--- magically ‘end’ the battle of BOD vs. WO with finality.
Period.
(One last thing. The warning we
gave about eminent German theologian, Dr. Ludwig Ott,
goes for the esteemed British scholar, Mr. Donald Attwater,
too. As far as I am able to tell, based on the evidence I have, Mr. Attwater was a heretic, clinging to the core falsehood of
the Religion of Modernism --- the
‘salvation-in-the-state-of-invincible-ignorance-and-most-earnest-sincerity’
lie. I do not cite him because he’s completely safe when it comes to the
teachings of the Church, but because he was so highly respected and, as a
result, beyond questioning for TNOs or others of
traditional bent, calling themselves ‘catholic’, while worshiping
at the golden calf altar of a theological and scholarly ‘eminence’,
‘esteem’ or ‘brilliance’. Not that immense learning is
negligible… no one carefully reading what I write can honestly suppose
that I think that. Nevertheless, higher learning is ultimately no good without
wisdom & orthodoxy.)
+++ 180. The Hierarchical Authorities of the
Roman +++
Catholic Church Never Allowed Unbaptized
Corpses to Be
Buried in a Consecrated Cemetery at the Start of
the
New Testament Body of Jesus Christ! (Part 1)
Now take a deep breath.
Here’s where the sword of
Canon Law turns against BODers and their waterless
stance, shredding the idea of ‘baptism of desire’ way worse than it
does WOers and their waterful
position, showing us that ‘water only’ could still very much apply
to the Laver of Regeneration.
How so?
Anyone who studies carefully the
long history of God’s Singular Catholic Church comes to realize an
indisputable, simple fact. And what is this inarguable fact? We state it
plainly:
The Church’s Hierarchy during the first
millennium of Her existence, when being properly vigilant, never, never,
never, never permitted someone who was an unbaptized catechumen to
be buried in a consecrated cemetery reserved solely for the baptized
corpses of those souls who are visibly, and thus quite certainly,
joined to the Roman Catholic Body of Jesus Christ.
Period!
The proof?
Let us read what a major Catholic
council said in AD 572:
“It is also decided that
catechumens who die without the redemption of baptism, in the same way, are not
to be commemorated with sacrifice [the Holy Mass] or chanting of the psalms
[the Divine Office]…” (The 2nd Council of Braga, Canon
17, a synod held in what is now northern
We repeat:
“It
is also decided that catechumens who die without the redemption of
baptism, in the same way, are NOT
to be commemorated with sacrifice [the Holy Mass] or chanting
of the psalms [the Divine Office]…” (Ibid.,
emphases & annotations added.)
Starting to make an impression on
your mind?
The stubborn reader might be
tempted to rebut this evidence, of what the Second Council of Braga ruled, with
the veritable yet irrelevant observation, “Oh, but
Implying, then, that
Which is an odd
thing for such a person to say when we’ve spent lots of time driving home
the distinction between infallible acts of the Church & Her Pope,
and acts that are not guaranteed the Charism of Infallibility, howsoever
authoritative the acts may be otherwise. Why aren’t they so
concerned about the fact that the 1917 Code of Canon Law is not
infallible? One begins to suspect such people adopt whatever strategy is
most advantageous for them at the moment.
That is to say, they don’t
care about the truth… they just want to ‘win’ an argument.
In any case, we’re simply
pointing out that an important council of the Church upheld a time-honored practice --- and not that this
council was an ecumenical and infallible council, which is beside the point.
Furthermore, we also point out that Innocent III (a pope of the early second
millennium) ruled that the 2nd Council of Braga was real &
legitimate. So even if he as a pope personally disagreed with this
particular canon not allowing spiritual assistance for a dead and unbaptized
catechumen, he as a learned man knew
quite well that it had been the practice of the ancient Church to not spiritually assist the soul,
or bury in a consecrated cemetery the body, of a dead but unbaptized catechumen. Which didn’t then,
by his papal ruling, make Braga become an ‘ecumenical and
infallible’ council --- his purpose was not to raise Braga to an
ecumenical status but to remove any doubts that it actually occurred and
thus authoritatively decided many things for that area of Europe (an earlier
council purportedly held in Braga in AD 411 was doubtful, hence Pope
Innocent’s main goal was, most likely, to give the Catholics there
guidance as to which of the provincial councils held in Braga were
authoritative and which were not).
+++ 181. The Hierarchical Authorities of the
Roman +++
Catholic Church Never Allowed Unbaptized
Corpses to Be
Buried in a Consecrated Cemetery at the Start of
the
New Testament Body of Jesus Christ! (Part 2)
Nor can the stubborn reader gain
currency by claiming the Second Council of Braga merely mentions the Holy Mass
and Divine Office as forbidden for unbaptized catechumens, while
pretending that this regional council still ‘allowed’ --- so they
would like to claim, out of thin air & unsubstantiated --- for burial of
such corpses in the hallowed part of a consecrated Roman Catholic
cemetery reserved solely for the corpses of visibly & indisputably baptized
souls.
Because what is one to think?
Any Catholic knows that the Holy
Mass and Divine Office are offered up to the Lord on behalf of the recently
deceased member of the Catholic Church --- who
died in good standing, not being publicly & notoriously
wicked or heretical or schismatic --- so as to hasten their entrance into
Heaven after being cleansed in Purgatory (presuming he or she is no martyr or
great saint). Knowing this is so, how is
it an authoritative provincial council would deny unbaptized catechumens
this spiritual assistance while still burying them in consecrated
ground?
Obviously,
It’s as if the bishops at
“This catechumen was not visibly joined to Jesus’ Visible
Body through the visible Sacrament of
Baptism… the visible matter of which is a visible water… so how dare we act
like the dead but unbaptized
catechumen died inside the
Church (outside of which
there is no salvation!) and hence lawfully
& fruitfully offer up sacrifice for his soul, hastening him into
Heaven?”
Remember, we have already proven
in spades that ancient Catholics had no universal idea, confidence or
belief in some sort of ‘baptism of desire’. If you’ve only
read this part of the book, beloved reader, or are simply
‘skimming’ and ‘cherry picking’ through this long book,
then be an intelligent person and do some serious, thorough reading &
thinking about Baptismal Confusion.
Especially take a hard, long, serious look at Chapters 1 through 82. Never
has so-called BOD been explicitly & infallibly defined; never was it
explicitly & infallibly taught from the beginning with Jesus & His
Apostles; and there is even ancient
evidence against BOD.
For instance, whether or not St.
Ambrose actually came to believe in something like the supposed ‘baptism
of desire’ current in the second millennium (you’ll recall Chapters
34 to 37, where we demonstrated his exact words about the real necessity for
water baptism to be at times vague and elsewhere apparently contradictory), we
know --- from Ambrose’s own
words at the funeral for his dead but, seemingly, unbaptized disciple,
Valentinian --- how the crowd of Catholics
gathered for his eulogy were mourning Valentinian
as a lost soul without the sacramental water administered to his body
at the end of the fourth century!
St. Ambrose’s own words in
the eulogy prove this.
Meanwhile, Ambrose’s other
disciple (but really & visibly baptized in water, fortunately),
We also found, in Chapters 61 to
71, how a major early Church father, doctor and saint --- Gregory Nanzianzen --- whilst not intending to argue against
so-called ‘baptism of desire’ as it’s come to be known in the
last thousand years (and which, indeed,
he couldn’t even know about since it either didn’t
exist or, at least, hadn’t yet gained traction during his fourth
century lifetime), notwithstanding, used a logical argument that both assaults and most literally annihilates the supposition at
the very heart of BOD and its ‘waterless salvation’!
The point is, ‘baptism of
desire’ is a theological notion that was only very little known and,
where known, considered speculative and uncertain, at first, during the first
millennium.
Ambrose may have come up with the
core idea and believed in it near the end of his life, yet, whether or not he
did (BOD people of the past thousand years read
into his words what they already think
is certain, blind to what he truly says, which is unsure), his
student, Augustine, most surely did believe in BOD for awhile… but then
later rejected it. Theologians, saints and leaders of the Church by the
turn of the second millennium either didn’t know these facts were true
or else didn’t think it mattered they were true, choosing to
follow what an increasing number of them wanted to believe was true ---
that a thing called ‘baptism of desire’ (or, rather, ‘baptism
of spirit’ or ‘baptism of fire’ as it was known in Latin) was
real and, if a catechumen happened to
die ‘accidentally’ without
the sacramental water but with
perfect contrition in his heart, then God forgave his mortal sins, the Holy
Ghost entered into him, and he had hope of salvation.
So, is it any surprise a provincial
council would forbid the Holy
Mass and the Divine Office to be held for a dead & unbaptized catechumen during the sixth century? Does it really shock the reader who’s
paying attention that this then is, as well, rock solid proof they would never bury such an unbaptized catechumen in consecrated
ground, since he has no visible hope
for salvation, having died without
visibly joining Jesus’ Visible Body, the Catholic Church?
For the person
who’s paying attention, absolutely not.
+++ 182. The Hierarchical Authorities of the
Roman +++
Catholic Church Never Allowed Unbaptized
Corpses to Be
Buried in a Consecrated Cemetery at the Start of
the
New Testament Body of Jesus Christ! (Part 3)
But again, we’ll bring out
the big guns for skeptical readers.
Accordingly,
some eminent theologians and esteemed scholars.
E.g., the learned English Jesuit
priest, Fr. Herbert Thurston, had this to say:
“Only
baptized persons have a claim to Christian burial and the rites of the Church cannot
lawfully be performed over those who are NOT baptized.” (The Catholic Encyclopedia,
printed by Robert Appleton Co. at
Note that, being published in
1908 some nine years before
the ‘new’ Code of Canon Law in 1917, this learned Jesuit priest ---
the expert writer for this particular article within The Catholic Encyclopedia --- is relying on both the Code of Canon
Law in effect prior to 1917
and the rules for burial in the Catholic Church since most ancient times. Or else why didn’t he
mention the clause for an exception
in Canon 1239 of the 1917 Code of Canon Law? I.e., where it says:
“Unbaptized persons
may not receive ecclesiastical burial, with the exception of catechumens
who, through no fault of theirs
[through no fault of their own since it’s an ‘accidental’
death], die without having
received baptism, and are therefore to be regarded as among those
baptized.” (1917 Code of Canon Law,
Canon 1239. All emphasis & annotation added.)
Notice that long
‘exception’ clause?
“…with
the exception of catechumens who, through no fault of theirs, die
without having received baptism, and are therefore to be regarded
as among those baptized.” (Ibid.)
The implication is plain.
The 1917 Code of Canon
Law innovated by adding this
‘exception’ clause to the most
ancient and normally unbroken rule of burial in Catholic cemeteries, an
‘exception’ the Jesuit expert, Fr. Thurston, does not dare to mention since it did not yet exist as a general rule in Canon Law anywhere
when writing his article for The Catholic
Encyclopedia in 1908.
Moreover --- and to add insult to
injury for the poor BOD enthusiast --- Fr. Herbert Thurston, like so many of
his fellow Jesuits at the turn of the 20th century, was suspect of
modernist tendencies and sometimes clashed with more conservative Church
authorities.
Meaning?
If he, a modernist-leaning and
liberal Jesuit clergyman, could have gotten away with it, then surely he would
have pumped it to the max, jumping on such an ‘exception’ clause
with glee as something clearly only ‘right’ and
‘charitable’ that the Catholic Church do for those pathetically
unbaptized catechumens who, ‘through no fault of their own’
(unvaryingly presumes the BOD aficionado for every single hypothetical case),
‘happened to die’ without water baptism… and which the ancient Church somehow, in its ‘rigidity’,
never allowed in a more ‘cruel’ era.
Ah, but we’re not finished.
Let’s see some more eminent
theological scholarship!
“A certain statement in the
funeral oration of St. Ambrose over the Emperor Valentinian
II has been brought forward as a proof that the Church offered sacrifices and prayers for catechumens who died before baptism. There is not a vestige of such a
custom to be found anywhere. St.
Ambrose may have done so [as in ‘he might have done this’,
and not that such an imagined
possibility is ‘for certain’!] for the soul of the catechumen Valentinian, but
this would be a solitary instance, and it was done apparently
because he believed that the emperor had had the baptism of desire. [So the
author of this article would like to think… review Chapters 34 to
37 in the book you’re reading right now, Baptismal Confusion, regarding the actual uncertainty of St.
Ambrose’s testimony when viewed objectively as a whole and without a
bias demanding some sort of pre-ordained conclusion for BOD.] The practice of the Church is more
correctly shown in the canon (xvii) [Canon 17] of the Second Council of
Braga: ‘Neither the commemoration of Sacrifice [oblationis] nor
the service of chanting [psallendi]
is to be employed for catechumens who have died without the
redemption of baptism.’ The
arguments for a contrary usage sought in the Second Council of Arles (c.
xii) [Canon 12 of this council] and the Fourth Council of Carthage (c. lxxix) [Canon 79] are not to the point, for these
councils speak, not of catechumens, but of penitents [i.e., baptized
Catholics who do serious public penance for a horrible or public mortal sin
for some time prior to being allowed to partake of the Eucharist again
during Mass] who had died suddenly before their expiation was completed.”
(The Catholic
Encyclopedia, printed by Robert Appleton Co. at
The writer of this Catholic Encyclopedia article, Fr.
William H. W. Fanning, was also a Jesuit priest, just like Fr. Thurston, who we
cited above concerning Christian (read: Roman Catholic) burial in consecrated
Catholic cemeteries. An American-born clergyman --- unlike Thurston’s
British heritage --- he was nevertheless almost as eminent as his English
counterpart. Any Jesuit priest back then was incredibly learned & trained,
and, amongst other posts, this U.S. Jesuit and contributor to The Catholic Encyclopedia, Fr. Fanning,
taught as professor of both canon law and ecclesiastical history at
And what does our distinguished
Jesuit, Fr. Fanning, say about ancient Catholic practice?
Once more we review closely his
most relevant words on the Sacrament of Baptism:
“A certain statement in the
funeral oration of St. Ambrose over the Emperor Valentinian
II has been brought forward as a proof that the Church offered sacrifices and
prayers for catechumens who died before
baptism. There is not a vestige
of such a custom to be found anywhere. St.
Ambrose may have done so for the soul of the catechumen Valentinian, but
this would be a solitary instance… The practice of the Church is more correctly shown
in… [Canon 17] …of the Second Council of Braga: ‘Neither
the commemoration of Sacrifice [oblationis] nor the service of chanting [psallendi] is to
be employed for catechumens who have died without the redemption
of baptism.’ The arguments for a contrary
usage sought in the Second Council of
Say again regarding dead but
UNBAPTIZED catechumens?
“There
is NOT A VESTIGE of such a custom to be found anywhere… The practice of the Church is MORE
CORRECTLY SHOWN in… [Canon 17] …of the Second Council of
Oh, and lest the unknowledgeable
yet avidly hostile reader wish to claim that my translation or handling of the
17th canon of the 2nd Council of Braga is
‘poor’ or ‘untrustworthy’ in Chapter 180, let him note
our expert Jesuit’s affirmation of what we learned from this council:
Forsooth,
Period.
Ergo, ancient Catholics most
certainly did NOT facilely presume
that God makes any exceptions at all for the urgent necessity of the Sacrament
of Baptism and this Sacrament’s form & matter, or that an
‘accidentally’ dead yet unbaptized catechumen was surely of good
will (which is not something that we, as merely human creatures without
God’s Omniscience, can know with a moral certainty) and, thus, surely
‘forgiven’ by God DESPITE
this catechumen’s visibly objective lack of sacramentally regenerative
water.
And if ancient Catholics did presume that God made
exceptions for these hypothetically ‘sincere’ yet
‘accidentally’ dead and UNBAPTIZED catechumens --- with at least moral certainty in the matter
(no pun intended) --- then why
would they bury UNBAPTIZED bodies of catechumens in the consecrated parts of a
Roman Catholic cemetery, while, at the same time, deny such unfortunate souls the help of a Holy Mass and
chants of the Divine Office?
Eh?
The truth is the truth, dear
reader.
The expert Jesuit, Fr. Fanning,
backs it up. He knew very well that ancient Catholics categorically never
knew or embraced a notion of ‘baptism of desire’, thereby
justifying themselves in praying for, or burying in hallowed ground, unbaptized
catechumens, canon law of ancient times explicitly forbidding
such actions. He knew what they believed, and he knew what the 2nd
Council of Braga taught, confirming what Chapter 180 of Baptismal Confusion reveals.
You don’t have to believe
me… but you might want to believe him.
After all, he’s the
brilliant expert; I’m just a little nobody.
Unless, of course, you dare the
following risky deed:
To cross swords
with an eminent Jesuit theologian.
+++ 183. The Hierarchical Authorities of the
Roman +++
Catholic Church Never Allowed Unbaptized
Corpses to Be
Buried in a Consecrated Cemetery at the Start of
the
New Testament Body of Jesus Christ! (Part 4)
We’re not finished, though.
There’s still even more
eminent theological scholarship to examine!
First, lets
take a look at yet another article in The
Catholic Encyclopedia, engorging our insatiable minds with a delicious
intellectual feast of delightful mental morsels. To be specific, where another
theological & scholarly expert says about the most ancient of Catholics:
“Catechumens when present
at Mass were not dismissed with the inquirers [‘inquirers’
were those interested, maybe, in becoming Catholic, but had not yet
decided and were, hence, not yet officially ‘catechumens’],
but were detained while a special prayer was recited over them. They [that is, the catechumens
--- not the inquirers, who were already dismissed] then also
withdrew before the Mass of the Faithful began [because it is a Mass
with the Most Holy Eucharist, which Eucharist is the Flesh & Blood
of God Almighty Himself and hence only available to persons who are baptized
members of God’s Body and professors of His Faith… i.e.,
real Roman Catholics]… As to their standard of living they had
to abstain from all immoral and pagan practices, and give proof by their virtue
and works of penance that they were worthy to begin a more immediate
preparation for baptism… A question… was the fate of those who died
at this stage [i.e., what happens to a catechumen who
‘accidentally’ dies whilst not yet baptized?]… St. Gregory [Nazianzen,
the early Church father] describes his terror during a storm at sea lest he might be taken away unbaptized…
(Carmen de Vita Sua, 324, sqq., P.G. XXXVII,
994).” (The Catholic Encyclopedia,
printed by Robert Appleton Co. at
We repeat:
“St.
Gregory describes his terror during a storm at sea lest he might be taken away unbaptized…” (Ibid.)
Remember this early Church
father?
We read an extensive and
intricate quote from his writings back in Chapter 63 of this book, Baptismal Confusion. (You may reacquaint
yourself with him --- or find out about him for the first time in your life if
you’re just dipping into this book here at this point and don’t
know anything about his fourth century existence --- more fully from Chapters
62 to 71 in what is, presently, Part 3 of Baptismal
Confusion as posted online.)
And we found how, although St.
Gregory wasn’t meaning to refute what has become known as ‘baptism
of desire’ during the last few centuries in our English-speaking part of
the world, he most certainly did not
believe in anything like what we call BOD, firmly opposing the central notion of ‘desire’
and the supposed role it plays in ‘saving’ the purportedly
‘sincere’ yet unbaptized
catechumen who dies ‘accidentally’ without the sacramental water.
If you don’t believe me,
then please read (or re-read) Chapters 62 to 71.
But whether or not you want to
believe my words… and whether or not you bother reading (or re-reading)
Chapters 62 to 71 of Baptismal Confusion…
you certainly cannot be both
honest and intelligent, calling
yourself a Roman Catholic and being of a conservative or traditional outlook,
and simply dismiss what
expert & scholarly theologian Fr. Scannell says.
Period.
Because it’s plain before
your eyes if you just read the quote above carefully, and you can easily do
some sleuthing of your own to see if what I quoted from him is what he really
said in the article he wrote about catechumens for The Catholic Encyclopedia some 110 years ago.
For what does Fr. Scannell attest, himself referring to earlier scholarly
authority, as well as the personal testimony of St. Gregory Nazianzen,
who wrote about his own life in some detail?
That
St. Gregory was terrified at the prospect of dying without water
baptism!
And why would that be, what would
make him afraid?
If not the prospect of hell forever,
then what would make him so scared during a storm at sea, where he could
die unbaptized, if not the threat of eternal damnation since he didn’t
believe unbaptized catechumens could die ‘accidentally’ and get
into Heaven via mere ‘desire’?
This is not surprising to someone
who reads what Gregory Nazianzen said in his
doctrinal sermon on the Sacrament of Baptism, thinking it over meticulously and
not indulging a BOD bias that demands a pre-ordained outcome when considering
evidence from early Church fathers both for and against the idea of a waterless
salvation, especially when you’re not a martyr. It’s no big deal if
you haven’t got an axe to grind. If it’s the truth you want, then
the truth is there regarding most ancient Catholic thinking about
‘accidentally dead’ catechumens.
And the truth is, most of them
didn’t believe in BOD.
Most of them didn’t even
know about BOD!
BOD was a theological innovation.
Fr. Thomas B. Scannell,
D.D., the co-translator and co-revisor of a famous
theological book published in 1890, A
Manual of Catholic Theology, and apparently ending his somewhat short life,
from 1854 to 1917, as the Canon of Southwark
Cathedral in England, was, if you read his whole article on catechumens --- not
to mention, very possibly, his many other articles in The Catholic Encyclopedia --- plainly in favor of the idea of
‘baptism of desire’. Which is no big surprise since we already
know, from what we’ve learned, that pretty much
all clergy and practically all of the laity had accepted BOD by the beginning
of the 20th century.
Hence why I
quoted parsimoniously from his article. Such people routinely use
evidence for BOB (‘baptism of blood’, how they thought purportedly
‘unbaptized’ martyrs for Catholicism got into Heaven) as a
not-to-the-point ‘proof’ of BOD. (Please see Chapters 23 to 28 in
this book, Baptismal Confusion, for
why this is not-to-the-point.) He’d also have you believe ‘baptism
of desire’ was widely known back then or, at least, many pondered it’s existence.
Not so. We’ve seen the
evidence.
Where there was pondering or
debate, it was not about the BOD (or BOS, ‘baptism of
spirit’, as the scholastic theologians called it) later Catholics came to
believe in. This BOD revolves around the core notion of ‘perfect
contrition’ for your sins, which, taught the scholastics, would cause God
to forgive the ‘accidentally dead’ catechumen for his mortal (but
not his venial!) sins.
There is not, to my ken, any
solid proof that ancient Catholics argued for this kind of BOD, apart from St.
Augustine of Hippo, implicitly, which is why I acknowledge he pioneered
‘baptism of desire’ in AD 400 in a truncated, incipient form of BOD
that later came to dominate by c1100. Claimed ‘proof’ for BOD (not
BOB!) back then lacks this core notion of ‘perfect contrition’.
Learned Catholics of old may have thought it imperative if ever entertaining
something like BOD, yet we have no hard evidence of that aside from Augustine.
Thus, in the AD 300s, St. Gregory Nazianzen
wasn’t arguing against the later popularized idea of BOD (and despite him
annihilating the less profound, though crucial, idea that it’s mere
‘desire’ that saves ‘accidentally dead’ catechumens).
He was arguing primarily against the ‘wisdom’ of those catechumens
who would purposely delay getting water baptism, presumably because (if
extremely cautious) they didn’t want to go on sinning mortally after
being baptized and thus end up damned in spite of their baptism, in an even worse
state in hell than if they hadn’t got baptized; or because (if extremely
wicked) wanting to sin all over the place, and not stop sinning, until the very
last moment of their lives and thus wind up, barely, in Heaven. Likewise, St.
Cyprian of
The upshot? Canon law hurts
BOD way worse than it does WO.
+++ 184. The Hierarchical Authorities of the
Roman +++
Catholic Church Never Allowed Unbaptized
Corpses to Be
Buried in a Consecrated Cemetery at the Start of
the
New Testament Body of Jesus Christ! (Part 5)
But… do you need a little
more proof?
Then we cite yet another eminent
clergyman & scholarly expert.
“Gratian
quotes Augustine as clearly opposed to any idea that catechumens are
saved without Baptism: ‘Catechumen,
quamvis in operibus bonis defunctum, vitam habere non credimus, excepto dumtaxat nisi martyrio sacramentum compleat.’ [Footnote 16:
C. 37, D. 4, de cons.] [
An American priest, Fr. Charles
A. Kerin --- the author of the long quote above ---
was born in 1905 and commenced his clerical training at St. Mary’s
Seminary (called St. Mary’s Seminary & University since 1974) in
Baltimore, Maryland, apparently finishing his education at the Catholic
University of America, where his graduate thesis was printed as The Privation of Christian Burial and he
received the title of J.C.D. (Doctor of Canon Law).
Ergo, once again we confront a highly trained Catholic expert
& cleric telling us the simple truth… that unbaptized catechumens who die ‘accidentally’
prior to receiving the sacramental water were never lawfully buried in Catholic cemeteries during ancient
times.
For he says:
“Gratian
[an expert theologian of the 12th century who compiled canon law]
quotes Augustine as clearly opposed to any idea that catechumens are
saved without Baptism: ‘Catechumen,
quamvis in operibus bonis defunctum, vitam habere non credimus, excepto dumtaxat nisi martyrio sacramentum compleat.’ [“A catechumen,
although in good works when dead, we
believe he cannot have (eternal) life, but with the only exception being
the one who gains the mystery (of the Catholic Faith) in martyrdom.”] From the sum of the evidence it would seem
to be fairly certain that catechumens were not considered members of the
Church as far as Christian burial was concerned… In Canon 15 the [2nd]
Council [of
Say again?
“Gratian
quotes Augustine as CLEARLY OPPOSED to any idea that catechumens are
saved WITHOUT BAPTISM… From the sum of the evidence it would seem
to be fairly certain that CATECHUMENS WERE NOT CONSIDERED MEMBERS OF THE
CHURCH as far as Christian burial was concerned… CATECHUMENS WERE
ALSO DENIED CHRISTIAN BURIAL by canon 17 in so far as the Council [of Braga] DENIED IT TO ALL WHO HAD NOT
BEEN BAPTIZED… 7. As proceeding from the ABSENCE of a
right to Christian burial, the privation
may arise from THE LACK OF BAPTISM…” (Ibid.)
And there you have it, from
another fantastic expert, greatly learned in canon law.
Certainly a priest of his times,
we can be sure he would defend ‘baptism of desire’ adamantly ---
were he still alive and we able to talk to him --- and think the
‘exception clause’ of more recent canon law during his era (to wit, the 1917 Code of Canon Law and what
the compilers of this systematized collection of statutes dared to change, when
it comes to canon law from ancient times, by adding an exception for
‘accidentally dead’ catechumens in Canon 1239) a most wonderful
and ‘charitable’ act of ‘enlightenment’ upon the part
of Church leaders.
Even so, as seen above, he knew
very well ancient Catholics disagreed
with him.
They cautiously never blithely assumed
unbaptized catechumens were safe.
To the contrary, per them,
unbaptized & unmartyred souls were in hell.
The
only exception mentioned in the 1st millennium by some Roman
Catholics (but not all of them!) is the very rare example of a brave
& unflinching martyrdom of a presumably unbaptized catechumen for
the sake of upholding the One True Religion of Catholicism.
End of very blunt and very true
sentences.
+++ 185. The Hierarchical Authorities of the
Roman +++
Catholic Church Never Allowed Unbaptized
Corpses to Be
Buried in a Consecrated Cemetery at the Start of
the
New Testament Body of Jesus Christ! (Part 6)
Okay, my dear & precious
soul.
Time to think
hard, get honest… and be brave.
I beg the reader’s pardon
if I have hurt your feelings, or sounded ‘too harsh’ the past
fifteen chapters. Perhaps you’ve only stumbled upon this website and
chanced to look at this particular page, wondering why I’ve been a tad
‘testy’ or a little ‘surly’. The answer is simple:
In my experience (more than 15
years now) I’ve found most of the people in this world don’t care
one bit for the truth when it comes to religion or philosophy. They’ll
believe whatever they want to believe, period. It doesn’t matter if
it’s true or not. It doesn’t matter to them if what they choose to
believe --- irrationally --- is a fantasy. They don’t care. Or, rather,
should I say, they do very much ferociously care… just as long as their favorite fantasy makes
them feel good.
In my experience, too (concerning
those who still call themselves ‘catholic’, but they aren’t),
they also don’t care one bit for the totality of truth when it
comes to religion or philosophy. If LNO (Liberal Novus Ordoist),
then they’ll make up out of thin air --- in defiance of the truth --- anything they like. If CNO
(Conservative Novus Ordoist), they believe lots of
stuff that is indeed true, maybe 70% to 90% of the One True Religion of Roman
Catholicism, yet then, strangely, completely
discount the other 30% to 10% as if infallible truth can be changed.
Whereas the TNO (Traditional Novus Ordoist)
believes, perchance, 90% to 95% of the True Religion. Then, just as
oddly, this same person --- despite really looking and sounding a whole lot
like he or she is really Catholic --- gets
just as mysteriously antagonistic and automatically rejecting of that
remaining 10% to 5% of infallible Church dogmas. (Please see Chapter
132 in this book, Baptismal Confusion,
to recall what LNOs, CNOs
& TNOs are, religiously speaking.)
What’s going on?
The Spirit of
Modernism.
Modernism is the animating force,
unholy religion & diabolic zeitgeist of our era, the reigning paradigm of
the Great Apostasy, the very thing the Holy Ghost, via
I therefore never made The
Epistemologic Works with delusions of grandeur.
Put humanly, I knew hardly anyone
would ever pay attention.
And whoever does will mock or
dismiss it.
Only God can make it otherwise.
So, if you’ve stumbled upon
this webpage, I trust God to give you humility to overlook potentially
‘biting’ remarks or candid statements that may look too
‘blunt’ or ‘offensive’ to those who are, mayhap, overly
sensitive and rather arrogant. Be you of good will and truly craving the truth
about our existence and purpose, then you will look further, investigating
carefully and eagerly. My frankness will be no obstacle, my candor no real
stumbling block.
But if, dear reader, you have
read this book straight through, paying close attention --- or skipping about
blithely, skimming here and there --- then, if of good will and having
humility, you will take my admonishments to heart and review what you may have
forgotten, or, if blithe yet suddenly humble, go back and read much more
cautiously what we have made clear, admitting the factual and logical truth of
what we have established as beyond doubt.
It is, after all, a very
important subject, fraught with eternal peril.
And the bottom line is this, the
experts cited above making it indisputable:
Ancient canon law NEVER allowed an
unbaptized catechumen, who dies ‘accidentally’ PRIOR to receiving
the sacramental & regenerating water, to be buried in the consecrated part
of a CATHOLIC cemetery.
Case closed.
To my knowledge, Pope Innocent
III, who ruled the Catholic Church as the visible head of Jesus’ Body and
Vicar of Christ from AD 1198 to 1216, is the very first Roman bishop ever in
history to officially permit the corpse of an unbaptized soul, who claimed the
name of Catholic and membership in Jesus’ Body, to be buried in hallowed
ground, with the accompanying ritual.
And yet even he,
learned & great man that he was, plainly knew that this conflicted with the
Church’s earlier practice. Hence, to my knowledge, neither he nor his
successors up until the early 20th century, ever dared to enshrine
this novelty within a collection of canon law. Ergo, by saying he
‘officially’ permitted this novelty merely means that he granted an
exception… and
absolutely not that he made
it a widespread custom or a new & binding canon law.
The point?
Again,
to my knowledge, the 1917 Code of Canon Law is the first time ever, in
all of the Church’s long and glorious history, that this novelty
--- allowing for ‘accidentally dead’ and unbaptized catechumens to
be buried in the consecrated part of a Catholic cemetery --- was enshrined
in a collection of ecclesial canon law, in defiance of ancient past
practice.
Review Chapter 182 of this book, Baptismal Confusion, for proof of what I
say.
Our dear & learned expert
Jesuit priest, Fr. Thurstan, made it stark.
Just prior to the release of the
1917 Code of Canon Law, in 1908, he did not
mention any canonical exceptions
to the Church’s perpetual practice… something he would not have done, learned and
expert theologian that he was, had there been an ‘exception clause’ to burial for
‘accidentally dead’ but unbaptized catechumens in a collection of
canon law before this
innovation was introduced into the 1917 Code of Canon Law via its Canon 1239.
So what’s the problem?
+++ 186. The Hierarchical Authorities of the
Roman +++
Catholic Church Never Allowed Unbaptized
Corpses to Be
Buried in a Consecrated Cemetery at the Start of
the
New Testament Body of Jesus Christ! (Part 7)
Well, dear soul, ask yourself a
simple, rational question:
Were
Roman Catholics way back then in ancient times correct, or did Roman
Catholics just lately --- in our modern world of the last few centuries --- finally
get it right at the start of the 20th century, becoming much
more ‘charitable’ and ‘enlightened’ and
‘compassionate’?
You can’t have it both
ways. The two positions are, in all honesty, polar opposites.
Either they were right back then,
or else we finally got it correct in 1917.
So which is it?
This is why, my beloved reader,
the argument from canon law cuts more deeply against the ‘baptism of desire’ position. Neither Canons 737 nor 1239 in the 1917 Code of
Canon Law are an act of papal infallibility. Ergo, they could be erroneous or unwise. The Holy Ghost does not, with the Charism of
Infallibility, assure us that every
pope will be perfectly wise & holy, or correct & impeccable,
in everything he thinks, says
or does. He must study, he must be watchful, and he must invoke four dogmatic criteria to gain useful infallible
assistance.
So we ask, once more, which is
it?
Were
ancient Roman Catholics during the first millennium correct about unbaptized
catechumens, or are we Roman Catholics today of the last century correct about
burying unbaptized catechumens in hallowed ground?
This is no idle flight of fancy.
This has real consequences. Either those unbaptized catechumens who died
‘accidentally’ before getting the sacramental water are in heaven
or they are in hell. Be it heaven, then we should pray for them and offer up
sacrifices to greatly shorten their time in purgatory, or lessen their
suffering. How could a good & charitable Catholic do otherwise? Whereas, if
in hell, then why in the world are we trying to help eternally damned souls?
Moreover, why would we risk offending God by treating them as if they could be
safe? Intelligently speaking, has God spoken clearly via His Church about their
eternal fate?
The answer is, yes He has --- at
least in the sense of disciplinary practice.
Ancient Catholics never dared to think
‘accidentally dead’ catechumens were in heaven.
And has God’s Church ever
infallibly & explicitly assured us to the contrary?
No, She
hasn’t.
So, then, where do we get off
acting like She has?
I’m not pretending
the Church has infallibly ruled in this matter with explicit intent. Au
contraire, throughout this book, Baptismal
Confusion, with solid facts and ironclad logic, I have constantly pointed
out that She has not. Hence, how dare we defy ancient canonic custom and act as if She has? And if the Church has not spoken
infallibly & explicitly regarding BOD (‘baptism of desire’) or
WO (‘water only’), then how is it we have the audacity to contradict
ancient law?
This is why, dear soul, I counsel
caution. Canons 737 & 1239 in the 1917 Code of Canon Law were, at the very
least, hasty and imprudent. Again --- either ancient Roman Catholics were
correct for centuries & centuries on end, or else Roman Catholics of a mere
past century suddenly have it right. There is no in-between, logically
speaking. Which is why I say:
“I don’t know about
you, precious soul, but I’m cautiously sticking with the ancients.”
Because whenever a blatantly contradictory
position is taken up by later generations of purportedly ‘catholic’
people, without infallible & explicit assurance --- and to the degree of outrageously denying
an infallible dogma of old, pretending the dogma’s meaning can
‘change’, or that the new meaning is the ‘same’
as the old meaning, when, in fact, it’s not! --- then something foolish and evil is going on. That’s
precisely what has happened here.
At the very moment in the early
20th century people who called themselves Catholic were being
taught, en masse, that the theological opinion of BOD was indubitably true, they
were also being taught that the infallible dogma of ‘no Salvation outside
the Church’ didn’t mean what earliest Catholics had always known
that it meant in its most ancient, narrow & correct sense.
(Please review Chapters 83 to 132
for historical proof of this assertion.)
This is vile and disturbing.
It doesn’t
‘prove’, all by itself, that the theological opinion of BOD --- in
its orthodox sense, applying solely to the ‘accidentally dead’ and
intelligent catechumen --- is erroneous. But it does certainly suggest that BOD
was a gateway used by learned heretics, posing as members of the Church, for
their own nefarious purpose, trying to destroy Catholicity from the inside out.
The upshot?
It is as we said:
The argument based on the 1917
Code of Canon Law is the weakest
of all arguments for the theological opinion of BOD (‘baptism of
desire’). It is, too, when examined thoroughly, shockingly powerful
evidence for the opposite
theological opinion of WO (‘water only’).
Or
would a wise reader have the nerve to call ancient Catholics stupid or wrong?
+++
187. The Real ‘Best Argument for BOD’ +++
Once
more, though, we drive it home.
However
precarious this ‘it’s-in-the-1917-Code-of-Canon-Law’ argument
is --- and regardless of how devastating the rebuttal is, UNDENIABLY PROVING
that ancient Catholics NEVER DARED TO THINK a supposedly ‘accidentally
dead’ catechumen, and thus unbaptized, is ‘surely’ in
Heaven --- the Roman Catholic Church simply has not ever yet solemnly,
infallibly & explicitly ruled in this matter (no pun intended), in this way
allowing every single member of Her Body to know for absolute certain which
one of them is the CORRECT THEOLOGICAL OPINION. End of sentence,
case nearly wrapped up & closed, and (a
pause, with dramatic silence)… period.
We
are still mired in a quandary millennia in the making.
Namely:
Is the visible matter of the
Sacrament of Baptism always & absolutely needed, therefore A TOTAL
& ESSENTIAL NECESSITY OF MEANS, or does the Triune God of the Roman
Catholic Church deign to permit, at least on rare occasion with
the exercise of PERFECT CONTRITION, the soul of an unbaptized
catechumen entrance into Heaven, thereby making an OUT-OF-THE-ORDINARY EXCEPTION
to an otherwise NECESSITY OF PRECEPT condition?
To wit, is the sacramental water always necessary without exception?
This
is the real battle, this is the real question. All else is
distraction.
And ergo pointless argument, getting nobody much of anywhere
at all.
Notwithstanding,
the real Catholic realizing this, then, with good-willed charity, Catholics
could politely debate the matter (pun
intended this time…), and, maybe, achieve some true progress in
actually understanding the pros & cons. At a minimum, this might clear up
the subject enough to allow a true pope in the near future to quickly rule with
infallible explicitness, putting the topic to rest. At a maximum, God willing,
it might form near unanimous opinion amongst today’s real Catholics,
howsoever few we be, and, while not infallible, put the topic to rest until a
true future pope sees fit to rule authoritatively and (one hopes) with infallible explicitness. Either way, we benefit. I
mean, when is vituperative fighting & rank confusion ever a ‘good
thing’? Such hullabaloos are embarrassing at best and schismatic at worst
for real Catholics.
In
the meantime, I offer ‘baptism of desire’ aficionados a helping
hand.
It’s
a strange thing, but in all their writings --- and whether or not any of them
are true Catholics --- I have yet to encounter the point I’m about to put
forth. Perhaps somebody has already made this point. Perhaps I’ve simply
never been fortunate enough to find it, in spite of all my years of research
& effort. Be this the case or not, it is the real best argument for BOD in the (thus far) orthodox
sense. Let us examine the logic.
We’ll
call it the ‘POD-by-proxy’ inference. And what is ‘POD’?
‘Penance by desire’. Again, the word
‘desire’ is a poor choice in English for anyone translating from
Latin. Still, understood correctly, we use the term since it has been so
prevalent in the last few centuries among English-speaking people claiming
Catholicity. We’ll not overwhelm all the more poor readers who have
gotten this far in a long book concerning the Sacrament of Baptism. We merely
note that the Council of Trent --- the greatest infallible council of
the Roman Catholic Church to date --- upheld POD in its teachings in at
least three places. Taken together, they constitute adequate
explicitness, giving any real Catholic an absolute certainty in the matter.
To find careful proof of this assertion, please peruse
The Sacrament of Penance Without a Priest Available
. You may discover it in the Quiklinks section to the right, or in
the Books & Articles section to your left. Whatever your lack of knowledge
beforehand, you now have no excuse to pretend an ‘ignorance’
about the subject, or to act ‘doubtful’ regarding what the
Church has actually, infallibly & explicitly taught. When in an
emergency situation, with no truly Catholic --- and hence legal --- priest
available, the real Roman Catholic person who finds his or her self in the
state of mortal sin can do three things so as to regain the state of grace.
One, accuse one’s self of the mortal sins you are guilty of, just
as you’d do in the dark and silence of the confessional booth. Two, have
perfect contrition for the transgressions you’ve committed. (You may
go
here to find assistance for having perfect contrition. Called
A Thorough Contritional Prayer,
it’s one morally certain way to achieve this necessity. You may find it
in the Quiklinks at the right as well, or in the Prayers & Devotions
section to your left.) And, three, truly resolve --- if ever given the
real opportunity --- to confess again these mortal transgressions, that
you have already explicitly accused yourself of privately before Heaven with
perfect contrition, to a completely lawful & valid priest, as soon
as such a man is REASONABLY
nearby.
Got
that? Good. Now go the next step. Use your brain to make a logical inference.
If,
indeed,
If
Our Creator’s One & Only Church of Roman Catholicism has already
infallibly & explicitly assured us something like POD is real for
the Sacrament of Penance (AND SHE HAS!!!), then how in the world
can it be totally inconceivable that His Catholic Church might
infallibly & explicitly reveal to us in the future that God has done the
same thing, in principle, with the Sacrament of Baptism for what we call BOD???
Do
you see? There is NO MORALLY
CERTAIN REASON this couldn’t occur.
Only
a future infallible & explicit ruling from a true pope can resolve
the question.
Ergo,
until then, the orthodox version of BOD is permissible (only a catechumen who resolves
to enter the One True Church but dies ‘accidentally’ before
he or she receives the sacramental water in the state of perfect contrition
may enter Heaven without visible reception of the baptismal form
& matter), and the argument above is actually the best-by-far argument presently existing
on behalf of a ‘baptism of desire’ opinion. Better, even, than the
essentially unanimous concurrence of the Scholastic theologians in the matter.
Better, because these theologians, for all their eminence, do NOT exercise a charism of
infallibility. Hence, where a pope HAS
ruled infallibly (POD, that is, a
‘penance of desire’) in a matter extremely similar, in
principle, to BOD, then, by extension of logical inference, it is
credible that BOD may be real
& operate.
And,
therefore, that this is --- oddly --- the best evidence to date for BOD.
Curious…
isn’t it? …that, to my ken, no BODer has thought to wield it.
Luckily,
they’ve a friend in me. Not a fan --- but I’m trying to be nice.
+++
188. And BOD’s Achilles’ Heel, Too +++
Unfortunately,
for all the possibility of ‘baptism of desire’ in its orthodox version turning out to
be infallibly true in a not-too-distant future, we’ve the other possibility to consider as
well. Accordingly, what if BOD turns out not to be infallibly true,
instead winding up infallibly ruled
out or infallibly condemned?
The blood boiling in your veins, my poor and much-put-upon
reader? My apologies. I want the truth. What are you interested in?
Comforting & prejudicial fables are of no use to me… or
anyone, if a person is honest, intelligently pursuing reality without
flinching. Ergo, we’ll face down this threat, too.
Yet
what is the BOD
Achilles’ heel? Where does its theological weakness lie?
It’s been the gateway to hideous
evil & rank heresy during our times.
Does
this then make the orthodox version of BOD not
‘orthodox’?
No, because the one does not
follow logically from the other.
What
does it do, though? Wave a big red flag of caution.
There’s
a story --- I’ve no idea if it’s true, not having the time or
urgency to have to spend a potentially enormous effort in nailing it down one
way or another --- that the renowned St. Thomas Aquinas, in one of his
exchanges with a dear friend, the nearly as renowned St. Bonaventure (the former was Dominican, the latter
Franciscan, by the way, mirroring the friendship between the two religious
orders’ founders, St. Dominic and St. Francis), was told by
Bonaventure, “You are the father of heresies.” Or
something very similar. So was Bonaventure saying,
if this account is true, that Thomas was himself a heretic? Not
at all. Franciscan saint & theologian was merely telling his
compatriot Dominican saint & theologian that, dear Thomas, some of your
explorations & speculations, bereft of wisdom & prudence in those who
may study them, can consequently lead such foolish people into damnable heresy
due to blindness.
The point? This is exactly
what the orthodox version of BOD resulted in.
Say
again? This is precisely where BOD has enabled the souls of fools to
go.
How
so? Think logically & honestly. Be candid & well-informed. Follow the
facts wherever they may cause us to wind up. Make sense? Helmet on? Then
let’s move.
In
it’s orthodox version, which the Church’s Hierarchy
--- and Her theologians & other thinkers, along with them --- both
tolerating & even promoting, but without
a pope ever actually solemnly, infallibly & explicitly defining
or clarifying with an absolute certainty BOD, it first became
acceptable, then prevalent, for a Catholic to suppose that the utmost
important thing about the Sacrament of Baptism was its invisible part… and not a visible aspect, which entails the obviously visible
& witnessable form & matter of this doorway sacrament. As a result,
Church leaders, theologians & thinkers began assuming, more & more,
that unseen graces (whilst
certainly there, of course! which is what a visible form & matter
allow Catholics to have certainty about...) of the Holy Ghost is,
plainly, what REALLY MATTERS when it
comes to baptism. Furthermore, that this is much more imperative to the
Sacrament of Baptism. That is to say, that catechumens
are ‘baptized’ already, so to speak, left-and-right everywhere via
a perfect contrition for their sins and the Holy Ghost’s purported
‘indwelling’ within them prior to actual water baptism. And
if, for some ‘unforeseen’ obstacle, such
‘already-baptized-via-perfect-contrition’ souls of catechumens,
resolved to enter God’s Church through baptismal water, are unable to
get this water baptism before an ‘accidental’ or
‘unplanned’ demise… well, they’re just fine & dandy
without it. I mean, after all, it’s an invisible perfect
contrition and an invisible indwelling of the Holy Ghost that really matters, right? Right. So what’s the huge deal with the
‘formality’ of the sacramental water? It’s an
afterthought, really. Perfunctory, mere symbolic ritual.
Certainly NOT the critical act of
salvation formerly believed.
Ah,
profound theology. How amazing! How perspicacious! Finally, we fathom.
Or
do we? Catholics can debate a relative efficacy of visibility vs. invisibility.
What
we CANNOT
presume, out of thin air, is that visibility is IRRELEVANT.
God
Himself, Jesus Christ, instituted visible
water baptism. Period. Simple logic
irrefutably demonstrates that, for visible
creatures called human beings, lack of a visible evidence for the Sacrament of Baptism calls into
question, automatically and unavoidably, any kind of certainty --- and thus validity or reality --- of the
purported sacrament being administered or received. Hence, how to tell
who’s really inside the
Catholic Church, and who’s on the outside?
Which then means, which human being actually has hope of salvation and who doesn’t? And who can we lawfully bury in Catholic cemeteries, or honor as martyrs, and who can we
not… risking offending Almighty God by praying
for, or praying to, those souls who are actually
in hell?
Do
you get it? This has real world implications. Everlastingly
so. Feel blithe?
Then
I dare to suggest that you’re not Catholic --- or not a very wise
one.
This
is what the ‘baptism of desire’ theological opinion has led to.
Particularly the version called ‘implicit desire for baptism’.
There is an orthodox version of this opinion. It’s what most, if not all,
Scholastic theologians held. Unfortunately, this opinion opened the passage to
an interpretation that was BEYOND THE
PALE, denying the
Salvation Dogma in its original, ancient, narrow, strict, correct, infallible
& unchangeable sense. Suddenly, intelligent people who never know about
Roman Catholicism, or who are ‘culturally prejudiced’ against Roman
Catholicism --- and, strangely, never bother to humbly & doggedly question
their ignorance or bias to seek for the Saving Truth --- become ‘saved’
regardless. And all because they’re supposedly ‘invincibly
ignorant’, despite their God-given intelligence and guardian angels
more-than-happy to assist them in a quest to find the One True Religion and
their purpose for existing as flesh & blood as the Image of God, and
purportedly ‘sincere’ in their lackadaisical state of not actually & truly being
Roman Catholic, visibly believing in & visibly professing, God’s
Singular Catholic Religion Whole & Entire, or visibly seeking & visibly
receiving baptismal waters. Such ‘invisible
membership’ is no real
membership, being heretical.
This
is what BOD has led to. So does this awful fact make BOD
‘heretical’?
Not
in its catechumenally orthodox version. Yet disturbingly suspect?
Of a certainty. Much earlier proponents of the
presently & catechumenally orthodox ‘baptism of desire’
positions cannot be held directly responsible for this outcome. Thus, we are
not foolishly accusing them of ‘heresy’ or the like. We simply
point out the result that is now indisputable. That BOD --- especially in its
‘implicit’ form --- has facilitated salvation heresy in modern
times by allowing clever but diabolic theologians to use this as a
‘jumping off point’ in order to usher in the ‘salvation-in-the-state-of-invincible-ignorance-and-sincerity’
heresy whilst superficially making it look ‘orthodox’.
I.e.,
they’ve gone beyond the pale. Earlier theologians have
‘fathered’ heresy.
Not
intentionally. Leastwise, we’ve no proof in the external forum, have we?
We
thus play it safe, and charitable. Only those theologians or thinkers, claiming
to be Catholic, who dared to notoriously & pertinaciously opine that
non-Catholics --- not ever hearing
of Roman Catholicism or else raised biased against it --- could,
nonetheless, end up entering Heaven in spite of never professing the Catholic
Religion Whole & Entire, or in spite of not receiving a real water baptism
or even obediently resolving to receive Holy Mother Church’s Sacrament of
Baptism, if only implicitly, knowing God’s Roman Catholic Church to be
His Sole Means of Salvation and that they must obey Her.
This
is what we mean by ‘beyond the pale’. This is where you cross the
line.
You
cannot pretend to ‘uphold’ one dogma or presently
permissible theological opinion whilst blatantly & repeatedly denying
the original & unchanging meaning of another simple & indisputable
dogma in doing so. And yet this is precisely what Modernists hellishly
have dared to do. And gotten away with it, because real Catholics either
nonchalantly fail to pay attention, or else Catholics haven’t
truly been Catholic. Whichever, the same thing results.
Religious lies charade as ‘religious
truth’.
Big stroke against BOD? Oh, yes. Massively
big. Doesn’t ‘prove’ BOD is wrong.
Notwithstanding, make a real Catholic, who is cautious, wary of it? I think so.
It has certainly made me wary. Extremely so. For good reason, too. Because without it, the Great Apostasy
could not have come upon us as we have known it. Fools who are uninformed could
have come to worldwide apostasy, regardless. Yet impressively learned, highly trained theologians? No. They would have
been identified quickly, alacritously sanctioned or
excommunicated. This is the loophole they
used to stay securely in their positions, tolerated by the unwary or the evil.
Whichever, this is explanatory of CNOs & TNOs,
too. Who can look really ‘catholic’ to a degree,
nevertheless, can espouse salvation heresy with spleen & venom. Because they avariciously drank the poison long ago, becoming
spiritual zombies. Literally.
And
zombies don’t think do
they? And they like to eat
you. Appalled?
I
am. I have no desire to reside in the belly of an Oceanic Beast.
+++
189. The Bottom Line… +++
and Best
Argument for WO
Let
us, then, turn to WO. We’ve just seen the best arguments for and against
the venerable (but not infallibly
& explicitly affirmed!) ‘baptism of
desire’. Meanwhile, equally venerable (to
the shock of venomously avid BODers…) WO also has a best
argument. My dear & precious reader, shall we take a quick but close look
at it?
It’s
simple, really. We’ve even touched on it several times before in this
book.
Earliest
and most ancient of Catholics were ‘water only’. Say again? The earliest
& most ancient of all Roman Catholics were most definitely --- without a doubt –- firm WOers. Not that they
even had any idea that the BOD theological opinion existed. The point
remains… they were WO, and ‘baptism of desire’ wasn’t
even on the mental radar.
We’ve
seen proof for this, too. Recollect? Or have you ‘conveniently’
forgotten?
Just saying. I find that people’s prejudices in this
matter outweigh actual facts.
So
let us review a few of those troublesome & annoying facts. Shall we?
Just as soon as you can stop squirming, fuming & cussing
furiously.
I
must insist you stop cussing. That’s not
being a good Catholic.
Remember
Chapters 34 to 37 of this tome, Baptismal
Confusion? Yes, this is where, shifting gears, we turned our attention to
certain early Church fathers, doctors, saints, theologians & leaders, over
a period of time of some 800 years. What did they have to say that bears
relevance in this face off between BOD & WO? Mind you, none of this is
‘infallible’. This is because none of them were real Bishops of
Rome, exercising a pope’s charism of infallibility. Nevertheless, their
various testimonies, observations, experiences & opinions certainly matter.
That is to say, it’s important to know what they knew, said, thought or
taught, eh? Indubitably. We have never advocated
disrespecting such highly respected lights of the Church merely because
they’re not popes, or popes not using a divinely bestowed charism of
infallibility. It’s just that it cannot ‘solve’ it for good.
Particularly when such excellent & powerful points exist for both
BOD and WO.
Savvy, my poor reader? Don’t want to upset you, but
facts & logic are crucial.
And
not just as pawns conveniently selected & spun to ‘uphold’ a
pet theory.
So
let’s be ‘brutal’, shall we? And face the facts & logic
without flinching.
You’ll
remember that St. Ambrose of Milan, after being raised to bishop of a diocese
which adorns his name --- Milan, Italy --- then faced, much later in a long
ecclesial reign, a crisis of unprecedented proportions. The emperor of that
time, Valentinian, suffered at the hands of one of his more recalcitrant &
rebellious generals. Who, resenting imperial decisions and
his status as ‘barbarian’, decided to dispatch with the hated
emperor. I.e., specifically, assassinate him. This was not openly
admitted --- Modernist scholarship today loves to axiomatically doubt it ---
but it was widely & popularly suspected at the time, and, sadly,
Valentinian was, too, someone who had been raised to think as an Arian but,
recently, had informed Ambrose that he wished to be Roman Catholic, becoming
the catechumen that he would be until, at his own request, Ambrose could
baptize the young leader himself, at his episcopal hands. The sad part is that
he was assassinated before,
apparently, he could receive water
baptism. This then led multitudes to mourn him.
Mourn
not just for his earthly life but his eternal fate as well. To
wit, hell forever.
Yes,
you read correctly. Review the aforesaid chapters again if you’ve (perhaps conveniently…) forgotten.
St. Ambrose himself had taught his diocesan flock. Yet, weeping disconsolately
at the funeral in
But the point remains. Whether or not Ambrose decided, at that
moment, to believe in something we now call BOD, his Catholic listeners at the
funeral eulogy certainly did not.
It wasn’t even a theological opinion which they were aware existed ---
because it didn’t. Not
yet. And they wept, and mourned disconsolate, because they were sure,
brokenheartedly so, that poor Valentinian was now in hell forever. Getting
it now?
This
is PROOF POSITIVE how
earliest & most ancient Roman Catholics were WO.
What
BODers blithely assume to be one of their ‘best’ proofs, is, in
reality, hard & solid proof for the opposite… that ancient Catholics had no big belief in, let alone knowledge
of, this novel theological concept. Recall St. Gregory Nazianzen? Who not only, without meaning to, attacked &
destroyed the key concept of ‘desire’ in ‘baptism of desire’
(see, please, Chapters 62 to 71),
but, we also recently learned in this book, when he was a catechumen, and
not yet baptized, but on a boat in the middle of a terrible sea
storm, Gregory’s utter terror
at the thought of dying in
this storm without water baptism
(Chapter 183). Comprehending fully now? Or how about the poor catechumen who
passed away while St. Martin of Tours was gone on a journey? Upon returning,
how responded the intrepid saint? Did he reassure his mourning monks, saying
something along the lines of, “Don’t worry, my poor religious. The
dead gentleman was surely ‘sincere’ in his resolution to receive
the Sacrament of Baptism, and doubtlessly was ‘perfectly’ contrite
for his sins. Therefore, ‘baptism of desire’ has taken care of him.
Indubitably, he enjoys Heaven, or at least Purgatory, right now!” No!!! To the utter
contrary… Martin
immediately prayed for the dead catechumen for two hours. Why would he do
that if he knew about BOD and thought it was a ‘sure thing’? Then,
the catechumen miraculously coming back to life (and why would God revive him if He teaches BOD and says
it’s a ‘sure thing’, huh?), they immediately
administered water baptism to him. (Chapter 31) That’s not all, too.
For the revived & baptized catechumen lived a long life afterward,
telling anyone who would listen that, at his judgment, he was condemned to a gloomy & hellish
place with vulgar crowds, until, suggested by an angel that this man
was the one that Martin prayed for, the Lord relented, allowing his soul to
return to his body. And all for what? To receive the baptismal water!
Again, are you comprehending completely now, my beloved soul? Finally beginning to perceive?
These
--- and others we could cite --- are ancient examples of Catholic practice.
Practice which most certainly does NOT comport with the BOD position.
The
proof is ironclad. Ancient Roman Catholics were strictly WO.
And
this is the best argument of all for ‘water only’. Period.
+++
190. The Part Where WO Tends to Stub Its Toe +++
(Or,
How to Lose Friends & Make All Kinds of Enemies)
Ah,
but let us be fair. We gave the best arguments for and against BOD. Now let us
swivel the other cheek, allowing WO to be struck again. Not that
avid BODers would hesitate for a moment. They really can be that vehement. No,
we’re just trying to be fair. And it wouldn’t be fair if we
didn’t honestly & adequately give the best argument against
‘water only’. The committed WOer is probably going, “You mean
there is an argument against
WO? A ‘best’ one, even?” Indeed
there is. Let us take a look. Shall we?
The
somewhat well-educated BODer may be saying, “Pretty much all of the
Scholastic theologians and Church saints & leaders are against ‘water
only’ in the past 700 years… that’s the problem. That’s
WO’s big weak point.” And there’s a lot of truth to that
claim. It’s true. Almost anyone who’s anybody in the Catholic
Church, since at least the 1300s, has touted BOD and --- if paying it any
attention at all --- dissed WO. Except, there’s a
reason for this. A reason that begs us to ask,
“Why?” It’s all very fine to observe that these
impressive thinkers or leaders upped BOD. That is indeed weighty evidence.
Notwithstanding, the real question is, “Why did they do
so?” What drove this?
After
all, there has to be a reason. It can’t just be personal whim or fancy.
Eh?
So
what’s the real reason for their BOD stance, hence the best WO attack?
And
we return, as well, to something we’ve mentioned before in this long
work, Baptismal Confusion. The ‘accidentally’ dead and purportedly
‘sincere’ catechumen. Now, the reason we continually put
‘accidentally’ in apostrophes is because, considering God’s
omniscience (all-knowingness) and
omnipotence (all-powerfulness), can
the death ever really be ‘accidental’? Not just dubious… but,
strictly speaking, impossible. And the reason I put
‘sincere’ in apostrophes, calling it purported, is because, taking
into account natural limitations in a human being’s knowledge about
another human’s motive, well… strictly speaking --- and being
completely honest --- can anyone truly, with an absolute certainty, know for sure that somebody else is really
& truly, not to mention totally, so very ‘sincere’ in his or
her motives? And the less-than-flattering-yet-candid answer:
Uh, no. No, we really cannot be absolutely certain
about someone else’s sincerity.
This
is because ‘sincerity’ is part of a person’s heart &
will. Which are invisible.
Ergo,
who but the Triune God of the Catholic Church can know for sure…?
Who but He can truly know that a
human being is, without doubt, sincere?
All
the same, we can as human beings know, to some degree of certainty, based upon
words & deeds of another human being, how ‘sincere’ or not this
other human being is. And this
is actually what the Scholastic theologians were concerned about. This is, more
than anything --- and ultimately --- why
they took the position they did of BOD. Yes, in great part they were following
the lead of yet slightly earlier Church thinkers & leaders. For instance,
St. Bernard of Clairvaux (amongst several
others). Nevertheless, the big justification for both someone like the
rather earlier Bernard and the somewhat later Scholastic theologians adopting
‘baptism of desire’ (or, more
precisely, ‘baptism of spirit’ or ‘baptism of fire’, as
they denominated it in the Church’s Latin) as a tenet practically
beyond contesting, being, thought they, ‘proximate’ to dogma, is
the worrisome & aforesaid ‘accidentally’ dead catechumen who
was ‘sincere’.
That
is to say, he or she really did publicly resolve to be trained in God’s
Singularly Catholic Church’s dogmas & commandments, and really did publicly
resolve to receive this same Church’s Sacrament of Baptism, with visible
form & matter administered in the sight of multiple witnesses, including
his or her Profession of Roman Catholic Faith. This on top of the
catechumen’s seemingly sincere reform of his or her life according to
good Catholic principles, and sincere attention to, and understanding of, what
he or she is being taught, leaves a human observer thinking, “Why did God
let him or her die?”
Forsooth,
given that God is not willing that anyone should perish eternally, why has
Almighty God not --- at a bare minimum --- allowed such a catechumen to receive
the water of baptism, thereby at least having a shot at everlasting
redemption? Hmmm?
This
is what they struggled with. This is what disturbed theologians immensely.
This
is why, then, they surmised, such catechumens could, notwithstanding, with a perfect contrition for their
sins, receive the invisible ‘fire’ of the Holy Spirit
without receiving the visible form of the right words, and ‘watery
matter’, of the Sacrament of Baptism. For, if the catechumen is truly
perfectly contrite, and thus truly fully
sincere… well, what is one to think? Is God unjust? Or
cruel? Is He not consummately fair & fully loving, to the highest
degree and without blemish? Then how could such a catechumen suffer in hell
forever when he or she had perfect contrition and God knows this, being utterly
just and having declared Himself, inerrantly in Sacred Scripture, as unwilling
anyone should perish in hell neverendingly? If so, then how could the
apparently ‘sincere’ catechumen, who really is perfectly contrite,
wind up in hell?
This
is the dilemma Scholastic theologians thought they had solved.
And
this is why they disdained ‘water only’. Because
it looks cruel.
WO,
from their point of view, makes God appear nasty & unjust.
Understanding? You may be truly Catholic, and you may
be a WOer. Therefore, the ‘baptism of desire’ position may look to
you as if it’s come from the pit of hell. And you may have a point. But you’re
also clueless & unreasonable if you don’t truly comprehend the
reasoning for BOD, in its orthodox and (hence far) acceptable version, and thus why Church
thinkers, theologians, saints & leaders embraced it en masse by the
AD 1500s. Maybe these people were wrong, however well-intentioned. Or maybe
they’re right. Whichever, the WOer is ignorant at best, and arrogant at
worst, if you reject BOD peremptorily without giving the other side time to
explain itself to the fullest.
That’s
what we’re doing here. Giving BOD a chance to explain
itself fully.
And
that is why this is the best of arguments by far against ‘water
only’.
And
why ‘water only’ seems to stub its toe… and seems to deserve
it.
+++
191. Ah, But It’s All Changed Now: +++
Most
‘Foes’ Aren’t Just Nasty, But Foes in the Fullest
Sense,
and Most ‘Chums’ Sticking Together on Baptism
But
that’s all changed now. Hasn’t it? Viz., we’ve entered
apocalyptic times.
Don’t
know this? Or don’t believe it? Then peruse
This Is the Great Apostasy… Now, How Do We Make Sure Our Souls
Survive It? This is fairly short. Nonetheless, if you think of yourself as
Catholic --- and realize something is dreadfully wrong with our world today ---
then this is more than enough to show you what must be done in response to our
plight. Need more proof & explanation, though? Something
thoroughly explaining things and how we got into this mess? Then study
closely a much longer
Helplessly Ignorant: the Nonsense of a Perfectly Intelligent But
Strangely ‘Invincibly Ignorant’ Person Somehow ‘Unable’
to Know Catholicism Is True in Order to Find Salvation, Whilst, Instead, Getting
into Heaven by Being ‘Sincere’. Both are in the Books &
Articles section. You may also find them alphabetically in the Quiklinks to
your right.
By
‘apocalyptic times’ we mean this is the Great Apostasy. To wit, the
‘final days’ spoken of by Jesus in the Gospels, the time of
worldwide rebellion against God & His True Religion of Catholicism,
unmatched since the global rebellion of humanity just prior to the Great Flood
during the time of St. Noe [Noah],
and which features the spirit of the antichrist taking shape and revealing
itself in an unprecedented way here now, at the end of the world as we know it.
One of the signs of this is rejection of Catholicity Whole & Entire
everywhere on earth, even amongst those who still claim to be
‘catholic’.
Again,
don’t want to believe it? Then put your money where your mouth is.
Read
Helplessly Ignorant carefully. It
reveals in spades what we dare to say.
In
the meantime, how did we get this way? You’ll have to study the writings
we mentioned above to get the full picture. All we’ve time to note at the
moment is this --- the Great Apostasy revolves around a denial of ‘no
Salvation outside the Church’ in its original, ancient, narrow, correct
& unchanging sense, along with lots of other concurrent heresies or
tomfoolery, and how it is that self-styled ‘catholics’ (but who aren’t what they claim
to be!) could delude themselves into thinking they’re still
‘catholic’ whilst, at the same time, deny one or more of the
Church’s infallible dogmas in its unchanging sense. Doesn’t matter just now that you probably don’t want to
believe this. Assuming you’ve good will, then, with Heaven’s
help, you’ll get it figured out in time. I simply do what must be
done… tell the truth. And the truth, unfortunately, is not exactly
pleasant:
Lots
of sins & lies got us here. Yet it could never have happened without BOD.
Say
again? We wouldn’t have the
Great Apostasy without ‘baptism of desire’.
Specifically,
the unique & peculiar form called ‘implicit’
BOD. Getting it?
For
while lots of everyday people, whether Catholic or not to start with, could
have wandered astray into total anti-Catholicity under the ‘right’
circumstances, no learned or highly trained theologian in the Catholic Church
could ever have gotten away with denial of the Salvation Dogma without
stretching a proper understanding of ‘implicit’ BOD well beyond the
pale and, under guise of this notion --- already entrenched within the minds of
educated Catholic thinkers since the time of the Scholastic theologians ---
then evade the threat of exposure & excommunication under a Catholic bishop
with jurisdiction had he simply come straight out and blatantly opposed
‘no Salvation outside the Church’ and then left it at that. No,
they first had to come up with a way to ‘justify’ themselves.
Having done this with ‘implicit’ BOD, they could pretend they were
‘orthodox’.
I.e.,
lazy, unwary or secretly heretical bishops ignored their subtle yet real
heresy.
We’ve
already looked at this ploy carefully in Chapter 188 above. So we needn’t
get overly detailed. If not skipping & dipping capriciously, then you know
what we mean. ‘Implicit’ BOD, as Scholastic theologians
comprehended it, merely taught that people who, for whatever reason, know
Catholicism is God’s True Religion and honestly intend to obey whatever
She commands (including, especially, to
receive water baptism… and even though he or she might not yet know that
this is required by the Catholic Church), may, notwithstanding, partake of
the graces of the Sacrament of Baptism as exceptions by God’s Mercy, due
to them having perfect contrition for their sins and intending, in spite of not
yet knowing, to obey whatever His Church commands them to do.
Which includes the doorway to the Church, receiving the
sacramental water. This is ‘implicit baptism of desire’ in
its (presently) orthodox understanding. Notoriously & pertinaciously
teach otherwise --- ‘salvation-in-the-state-invincible-ignorance-and-sincerity’
joining you ‘invisibly’ to the ‘soul’ of the Church via
‘implicit’ BOD --- invokes canon law and results in
Automatic Excommunication (‘Latae Sententiae’).
Follow the link for full ecclesial proof of what
I’m saying if you don’t want to acknowledge the truth of what I
dare to say. Automatic excommunications not
recognized let fake ‘catholics’ pretend to be real. It
doesn’t change reality.
Over
the past six centuries, one theologian of God’s Roman Catholic Church
after another slowly but surely reinterpreted
‘implicit’ BOD to include perfectly intelligent human beings who never bother seeking for the True
Religion of Catholicism --- or, if confronted by Her Testimony & Existence,
automatically & prejudicially deny
Roman Catholic dogmas without bothering to humbly question themselves and their
thinking, taking God’s Church seriously and striving, with His Help, to see if what She tells us could
possibly be precisely what She
proclaims it to be, God’s
Infallible Truth.
Getting
it now? These wicked theologians denied this necessity. They did so
knowing quite well… or able to know quite well… that this is forbidden
by the
As
“And
we beseech you, brethren [we beg you, our
fellow Catholics]… that you be not easily moved from your sense [the Roman Catholic Faith Whole &
Entire, which we taught you], nor be terrified, neither by spirit, nor by
word, nor by epistle, as sent from us, as if the day of the Lord were at hand [let neither wicked demon nor wicked human
fool you into thinking Christ is going to return to earth right away, and don’t
believe it just because a letter purports to come from us, your
spiritual fathers]. Let no man deceive
you by any means, for UNLESS there come A REVOLT FIRST, and the
MAN OF SIN be revealed, the SON OF PERDITION [literally, the ‘offspring of hell’],
who opposeth [opposes], and is lifted up above all that is called God, or that is
worshipped, so that he sitteth [sits,
as if he’s ‘enthroned’] in the TEMPLE OF GOD, shewing himself AS IF HE WERE GOD
[showing or posing as if
‘God’, as if he or any human being can believe & do whatever
they want when it comes to religion, which is the evil aim of the anti-Catholic
Novus Ordo antipopes since Vatican II]. Remember you not [don’t you recall?], that when I
was yet [still] with you, I told you [about] these things? And now you know
what [it is that] withholdeth [withholds, that is, restrains],
that he may be revealed in his time [at
the time that God has planned to permit this to happen]. For the mystery
of iniquity already worketh [works,
to wit, it’s already started, as I, St. Paul, write to you]; only
that he who now holdeth [holds,
i.e., restrains], do hold, until he be taken out of the way [a real Bishop of Rome, the
Representative of Jesus Christ’s Authority on Earth, will restrain
Lucifer, keeping the dragonic satan & demonic hordes from doing all the
evil they’d like to do, until the Papacy is taken out of the way,
briefly in the future to come]. And then that wicked one shall be
revealed whom the Lord Jesus shall kill with the spirit of his mouth; and
shall destroy with the brightness of his coming, him, whose coming is according
to the working of Satan, in all power, and signs, and LYING WONDERS, and in all seduction of
iniquity TO THEM THAT PERISH [die
in hell neverendingly]; because
they receive not the LOVE OF THE TRUTH, that they MIGHT BE SAVED
[they obstinately refuse to seek
for Roman Catholicism, or become Catholic, or just as stubbornly refuse
to remain Catholic, if raised as such and baptized properly, denying one
or more infallible dogmas in their original & perpetually unchanging
sense]. Therefore God shall send
them the OPERATION OF ERROR, TO BELIEVE LYING: That all may be judged
[punished fully] who have NOT believed the truth, but
have consented to iniquity [they
reject Roman Catholicity Whole & Entire because it forbids
them to sin]. (2 Thessalonians 2:1a, 2-11 DRC)
This
is what real Catholics face today, for this is what BODers wound up being.
Under
the guise of ‘orthodoxy’, mangled ‘implicit’ BOD
ushered in Apostasy.
Accordingly, denial of at least one utterly crucial Catholic
teaching. Every BODer eventually lost their Catholicity and led others to do
the same. God permitted it because Catholics had become so wicked and so
rebellious, and because the rest of the world was determined to disobey the Law
of Natural Reason written upon their hearts --- and even if never Roman
Catholic to begin with. Now do you understand why, as far as I can tell, all
real Catholics left today during the Great Apostasy (howsoever few we are) pretty much embrace WO and view BOD with
disgust? Perhaps not every single real Catholic left. Nevertheless,
the majority as far as I am able to tell. It’s because
they’ve seen the astonishing results of a loophole left open, wrongly twisting ‘implicit’ BOD.
After
all, once bitten, twice shy, eh? ‘Water only’ seems a whole lot
safer.
+++
192. So Where Do I Stand? +++
So
what do I believe? About the Sacrament of Baptism, that is. Or, to be really
exact, where do I stand on the BOD vs. WO controversy? I hope the assiduous
& meticulous reader has seen how very, very, very careful & evenhanded
I’ve tried to be, not biased and willing to cite only the facts &
logic that uphold ‘my side’, or appear to annihilate everything on
the ‘other side’. That’d be unfair and dishonest. We need
clarity here, instead of ever more confusion & stupidity. Notwithstanding, surely I have a side?
As
a matter of fact, I do. And I think it only right the serious know my stance.
All
the same, I’ve refrained from being candid till now so as to keep the
prejudiced person from presuming, out of thin air, that my opinion is a
‘bias’ that keeps me from being accurate, just, factual &
logical. Hopefully you can see that that is not true. For if anything, I have
bent over backward to correctly represent both
sides, presenting all of the
evidence regardless of where it leads, and to stress that, thus far, neither side can claim
‘absolute certainty’ of an infallible nature until a real pope explicitly rules.
That
said, having studied the topic carefully for years on end, I could hardly avoid
choosing one over the other, could I? However difficult, confusing &
complex, having studied it thoroughly… wouldn’t either BOD or WO
eventually win me over? Of course it would. I’m
only human. But a human being determined to find the truth
--- and tell it honestly --- and admit where things are uncertain, or
left hanging until God acts.
So
what is my stance? Which theological opinion do I prefer? BOD
or WO?
Maybe
you’ve guessed already. A careful reader is fully capable, I’m
sure.
So
here it is --- ‘water only’. I like WO. It seems to me the safest
choice.
+++
193. The Augustinian Option +++
Now,
the hardcore ‘baptism of desire’ aficionado is not going to like
this. I am very sorry… yet I still must conclude what I conclude, for
now. Viz., a real pope might one day tell us otherwise, with an infallible
& explicit declaration. In which case, being truly Catholic and (I pray Heaven!) a decent & obedient
Catholic, I would back down, accept the extraordinary & solemn ruling, and
never dare to defend ‘water only’ again. Except, that’s not
the case right now, is it? If you’ve read this book carefully &
thoroughly, not fantasizing that you’re ‘incapable’ of being
wrong, then you know this to be true. It is inarguable. The Roman Catholic
Church has never yet infallibly & explicitly told us different;
therefore, it is plainly permissible, as a real Catholic, to
intelligently speak about WO, arguing for its strengths & advantages. But
if you wish to axiomatically denigrate this claim, then
we dare to remind you of what we have already seen.
And
that would be? Well, do you remember the great St. Augustine of Hippo?
Yes,
we examined what he had to say about BOD vs. WO in Chapters 38 to 41. So
whatever did we discover regarding him? Church father, doctor & saint, what
did he reveal about the controversy, all the way back in the early fifth
century? That’s right. Augustine is the first totally inarguable proof of
someone in the Church who taught ‘baptism of desire’ in a truncated
form that is, nonetheless, essentially what every Catholic thinker, theologian
& leader came to believe in centuries later. Truly, his thoughts about BOD
are --- along with what later BODers assumed was Ambrose’s
position on BOD --- the two biggest reasons by far later Roman Catholics came
to embrace this theological opinion without question. Fair enough. The most
highly educated Roman Catholics felt they had a dilemma on their hands to solve
(the catechumen who is
‘sincere’ every once in a long while dies prior to receiving
sacramental water) and they must defend God from the charge of
‘cruelty’.
Are
you with me so far? Good. Now either recall or reread what we learned.
We
do not dispute that
Comprehend?
The evidence from Augustine
himself is heavily against
BOD.
He
definitely believed in BOD earlier in his life. Yet by the time he was old?
Not
so. Having dispensed with the only argument he mustered on behalf of BOD ---
claiming the good thief was unbaptized but went to Heaven anyway without
baptismal water --- how is it that he could continue believing in the
‘baptism of desire’ position? He correctly pointed out, at the end
of his life, how there is no way to know for sure that this good thief was
unbaptized. We, too, noted how there is not yet any
reason to think water baptism was absolutely necessary prior to the Day of
Pentecost, after both Christ & the good thief died. So, if he fails to
defend BOD in his later writings, noting solely BOB later on, and then mentions
neither BOD nor BOB in his very last writings where one might expect him to do
so since they sometimes dealt with the Sacrament of Baptism, and, on top of all
this, he annihilates his one single argument for BOD… well, what is one
to think? Right. It is almost a moral certainty,
consequently, that he rejected BOD.
Fine. Now put two & two together. If Augustine can reject BOD, then
why can’t we?
We
reiterate for the dull of hearing, slow to understand, or the obstinate
quarreler:
If
St. Augustine of Hippo, great & eminent Church father, doctor
& saint that he was, could dare to reject the BOD theological
opinion he had formerly espoused, then how could it be
‘wrong’, ‘foolish’ or ‘sinful’ for another
real Catholic, lesser than him, to imitate his example? Get it? If
you condemn I or another real Catholic for rejecting ‘baptism of
desire’, then you are daring to condemn St. Augustine of Hippo,
too, pretending that he was certainly awry, whilst you, BODer,
are ‘certainly right’.
End
of sentence.
But
if you would not dare to do that --- and I tearfully beg you not to do so! --- then please do not dare to do the same to true Catholics who
intelligently & respectfully prefer to hold to the ‘water only’
theological position. An ‘Augustinian Option’ is real. And, till a
legitimate pope infallibly & explicitly proclaims to the contrary, any true
Catholic may choose to believe likewise. Namely, that BOD is certainly not infallible dogma, facing
many serious arguments against
its correctness, and that WO is nowadays, during the Great Apostasy, the safer position to take.
Don’t get me wrong. If truly Catholic, it’s permissible to believe
in the BOD theological opinion that is orthodox thus far. It’s ludicrous
contending that it’s not. Yet it is as well permissible to argue for WO.
+++
194. Why It’s
Fell
in Love With BOD (A
Torrid Tale, Involving Some
Curious Logic and an Odd Double Standard…)
We’ve
already found out why Church thinkers, theologians & leaders embraced the
‘baptism of desire’ theological opinion to begin with. Yet why so strongly, and why so unquestioningly? Well, to be
honest, we don’t know how much some them might have questioned or doubted
BOD as it started its domination. Certainly Hugh of St. Victor’s
correspondence with St. Bernard of Clairvaux seems to suggest that not everyone
was so happy about it --- or willing to believe in it unquestioningly.
(Chapters 78 to 80) This is why we called the AD 1100s the
‘fulcrum’ or ‘tipping point’ in the matter of a waxing
BOD. (Chapter 81) Yet by the AD 1300s, and certainly by the 1500s, it’s a
forgone conclusion. BOD ‘wins’. It’s
‘proximate’ to dogma and nobody learned doubts it.
What
happened? Why? How an unquestioning --- and ‘unquestionable’ ---
stance?
It’s
an intellectual shift. Literally. From focusing more
on the will, theologians have gradually been emphasizing, more and more, the
importance of the human intellect. It’s not a sudden thing, or done
consciously, necessarily, in a public fashion that’s recognized openly.
And yet it’s real… and all we’re doing is pointing out an
apparently quiet shift in theological thinking. Whereas before any highly
educated Catholic would have earnestly accentuated the status of one’s
will, that it be good, rather
than just intellect, what you know,
the era of ‘baptism of desire’ dominance has ushered in a gradual
& subtle shift toward the intellect. Not that
Catholic theologians never thought the intellect important, what a person knows. Obviously,
an adequately intelligent human being MUST KNOW ABOUT THE ONE TRUE FAITH, all of the Roman Catholic Church’s commands & dogmas, in
order to have a Hope of Salvation. Rather, that the human will has
become lost in the murkiness, so to speak. Or, to be more exact, with the
dominance of BOD, entwined with the saturation of salvation heresy, it is now
automatically assumed a person’s will is good. No human being is ever NOT
good-willed, per them. The conundrum of evil human thinking
& behavior? Viz., how to explain our sin? Unquestionably (no pun intended… much),
it’s the result of ignorance alone.
See
the distinction? This is where things start to get confused & murky.
And
this is how ‘sincerity’ starts stealing the show, making apostasy.
Because
it is not either / or.
It’s both / and, with will
coming first.
To
wit, is your human will good, seeking
the Divine Will of Our Creator above everything else? Or is your
human will less good --- even bad --- seeking what’s created more than the Creator? In other
words, do you want what God wants more than what you want? Or
want what God doesn’t want you to want, things which are evil
& abominable? What you want --- and what you’re willing to do in
order to get what you want --- is that
which determines the goodness or badness of your will. In the
meantime, your intellect guides your will in these things. A
real Catholic? Then you’ve no good excuse not to behave
better. You know better, so you ought
to will to do better. Not yet Catholic? Nevertheless, no good excuse
when you’re adequately intelligent. You
ought to be seeking to become Catholic, knowing there is One Religion
Alone That Is True. It requires time to do so, of course. Yet endless time,
especially with Heaven & angels assisting you? No. After
a few years you start to become guilty. Guilty of not trying
harder, guilty of not caring to seek at all, lazily assuming, out
of thin air, that it doesn’t matter what you are or what you
believe. Guilty of arrogantly assuming, out of thin air, that what you
are and what you believe is impossible to be wrong, that you need never
question, doubt, pray, search or ask for Our Creator to reveal to you what is
true, and regardless of what you want
to believe is true to begin with, what you were told to believe
as a child or what you discovered later on in life, finding it to be appealing.
Getting
it? It’s not just
intellect, what you know. It’s goodness
of will, over all.
Or, as may be, the lack thereof. For who seeks
if you don’t want to know?
Therein
lies the absolute
necessity of possessing a truly
good will.
BOD
tends toward obscuring this rudimentary truth & necessity. Holding to the
theological opinion of ‘baptism of desire’, even in its presently
orthodox sense, tends toward causing the holder of this opinion to subtly
elevate ‘what one knows’ over and above ‘what one wills’, as if ‘ignorance alone’ and a
supposed ‘sincerity’ is all that can ever matter. Combined with the
arrogance of Modernism & Modernist salvation heresy, people then ---
constantly wanting to believe whatever they want to believe, despite it defying
God’s Will & His One True Religion --- then always presume
‘good will’ is operating in whatever person is concerned. Even if
hell existed, think they, no one possibly could ever
go there since the person is ‘only’ ignorant whilst
‘sincere’.
Well,
of course, unless you’re talking about Nazis or real Roman Catholics.
Such
people always ‘go to hell’, and the modern
is more than happy to believe in the existence of hell when it comes to them.
After all, the ‘truly evil’ must be truly punished, eh? It’s not punishment that ultimately
bothers a Modernist… it’s who
gets punished. It disturbs them terribly that Roman Catholicism dares to tell
them adequately intelligent non-Roman Catholics are always punished, dying in
the state of lazy non-Catholicity. Hence why zealously Modernist Humanity is
happy believing Catholics ‘go to hell’.
But
even if you run into a ‘nice’ Modernist, who doesn’t
automatically wish real Catholics to go to hell --- or who, wishing they could
go there, doggedly upholds disbelief in the existence of hell --- the outcome
is the same. Reinforcement of the nonsense of ‘ignorance’ and
‘sincerity’ being your ticket to Heaven if you wind up mistaken in
the end. We don’t accuse the Scholastic theologians of this nonsense. We
merely note how it paved the way for purportedly Catholic people to more easily
buy wholeheartedly into such religious nonsense. Yet we do note… well, an
odd double standard. For while orthodox, the Scholastics touted a strange
linkage of two ideas.
That
is to say, strange in relation to one another. You wouldn’t logically
expect it.
On
the one hand, as we saw in Chapters 56 & 129, the Scholastic theologians or
their heirs were good at upholding ‘no Salvation outside the
Church’ in its ancient, original, narrow & unchanging sense. They
went so far as to say that, even if a human is raised in the wilderness by
wolves, such a person has the Law of Natural Reason on one’s heart, and,
in following that Law --- shunning evil and pursuing good --- how God Himself
guarantees either infused knowledge of the Catholic Faith Whole & Entire in
this individual’s mind, or else an angelic or human messenger to teach
you the same.
Comprehend?
Now take it the next step. If this is so, then why not the other?
Think
about it. The Triune God of the Catholic Church is Omniscient, i.e., All-Knowing… so how could He not know that a human being is truly
sincere and is in urgent need of His Catholic Religion Whole & Entire?
And, being Omnipotent, i.e.,
All-Powerful, then how could He
possibly not be able to get such a person this Singular Faith no
matter where in the world he or she might be? Hm? Now extend the logic.
The
Triune God of the Catholic Church is Omniscient…
so how could he not know
that a human being is truly sincere and is in urgent need of the
Sacrament of Baptism and its life-giving water? And, being Omnipotent, then how could He possibly not be able to get such
a person the sacramental water and therefore baptized validly no matter his
or her situation? How could such a person possibly die
‘accidentally’ without
God able to provide real baptism,
either by doing so before death or
else preventing death?
Do
you see? This is almost a ‘double standard’. Why one but not the
other?
Is
God able & willing regarding Faith whilst ‘unwilling’ for
Baptism?
Why then ‘must’ BOD exist
when there’s no need for ‘faith of desire’?
Again,
think about it. The Scholastic theologians in no way had a problem at all with
the hypothetical human in the wilderness raised by wolves having GOOD WILL, ergo, he or she COOPERATING with the LAW OF NATURAL REASON upon his or her heart. And, consequently, God MAKES CERTAIN such a good-willed person
receives His Roman Catholic Religion one way or another BEFORE HE OR SHE DIES. Hence, what’s the deal with them
suddenly finding a problem with believing a catechumen possesses GOOD WILL, ergo, he
or she COOPERATING with the LAW OF CHRIST (ROMAN CATHOLICISM) by pursuing instruction & reform through
CATECHISM. And, consequently, God MAKES CERTAIN this good-willed
catechumen receives the LIFE-GIVING
WATER, one way or another, in His Sacrament
of Baptism, regardless of supposedly ‘accidental’
circumstances?
Do
you get it? This is a little bit mysterious. There seems to be a disconnect.
In
reality, there’s a way to explain it. Nonetheless, the disconnect
remains.
+++
195. How This ‘Double Standard’ Is What +++
It
Really Comes Down to, and Thus Why God Must,
Through
His
This
‘double standard’ --- as it’s nearly fair to call it --- is
the heart of the matter.
Resolve
it, and the debate subsides. A debate that is not going away until the Great
Apostasy goes away. That is to say, BOD helped play a role in the arising of
the Great Apostasy; without it, Church leaders & thinkers could not have
been overcome by subtle reasoning on behalf of salvation heresy. Or, at least,
if more & more leaders & thinkers of the Church were becoming secret
enemies of the True Faith (it is publicly
documented, if a studious Catholic, that Freemasons, Communists & other
stolidly anti-Catholic people infiltrated their own members into monasteries
and the priesthood…), could never have gotten away with appearing to
‘induct’ salvation heresy into the Church under the guise of
remaining perfectly ‘orthodox’ and not denying the infallible dogma
of ‘no Salvation outside the Catholic Church’. And yet… this
is what they’ve actually accomplished.
That
part is over. We cannot undo the past. God permitted it to happen --- period.
What
can we do, though? Is there
anything real Roman Catholics can
achieve?
To
help solve this problem, that is. Assuming that you
understand & care.
First
off, you’ve already contributed to solving the problem if you
truly comprehend the problem. That’s been part of the problem ---
indeed, the foundation of the problem. Don’t understand? Then how are you going to be aware
there’s a problem to begin with? Sense that something’s not
quite right or needs to be cleared up? Okay, that’s better than being
utterly clueless. Howsoever, you still need to comprehend the problem. Or else how are you going to solve it?
Not much luck with that. You’ll be shooting in the dark.
Secondly,
help other real Catholics --- however few they may be --- to comprehend the
problem. That’s why I’ve written this book, to help others
understand. (Surprise! Bet you couldn’t have guessed that!)
Seriously, it’s up to them if they’ll listen. It’s up to
them, as well, if they’ll strive to comprehend… particularly as to
when it comes to why it’s very important to understand. Beyond
that, unless God calls you to be a Catholic prophet or elevates you to high
Church rank, then you’ve done as much as you can.
Third,
pray that God is merciful and, not only dramatically increasing the Catholic
membership and resurrecting the Hierarchy, but that He also grants the Gift
of Wisdom to each & every one of us, making us of One Heart &
One Mind, giving us, too, the Spirit of Unity so that we work
together, humbly & charitably, to solve this dilemma. Pray for Christ’s
Vicar, when returned to St. Peter’s Throne, that he take this issue gravely and,
guided by the Holy Ghost, rule infallibly with adequate explicitness, so
that we may know, finally, with absolute certainty where the answer lies.
Mind
you, any wise & real Roman Catholic ought not to exalt the human intellect above the human will. Yet whether a future
Bishop of Rome rules for BOD or WO, he ought to, in addition, clarify this overlooked gaffe,
reminding Catholics the human will is not
an immaterial thing, completely irrelevant to a person’s eternal fate. Yes, human
intellect matters, too. We’re not saying it doesn’t. Nevertheless, it is secondary to the
will. The intellect guides; the will decides. Good or evil? It’s ultimately the will that decides. Merely
‘knowing’ what is good is no
guarantee that a person chooses
good.
Fathom, my precious & beloved soul? This stupidity
has to stop.
Christ
through His Church’s Papacy must clear the matter up.
We
must also erect a high barrier ’twixt intellect & will.
Only
Jesus’ Papal Vicar can do this with finality.
It
ought to be one of his high priorities.
Otherwise,
things will not become better.
And, even if God ends the Great Apostasy, Lucifer can use precisely the same ploy to fool people again. Or is the
reader so naïve as to suppose that future generations actually learn from the past and are
always sure to never repeat their
ancestors’ mistakes? Ah, how charming. Your blind trust is sweet;
notwithstanding, totally bonkers. If we don’t, by God’s Power,
erect strong barriers, closing off loopholes, then satan
--- who has no scruples about pursuing a winning strategy, regardless of the
evil done (and that is his goal,
you’ll recall…) --- shall, doubtlessly, strike again where he
profited so much once before centuries ago.
To
think to the contrary is to think wrongly. Or to not think.
Whichever.
The
result is identical --- the same old thing, over & over again.
+++
196. Were a Pope to Try to Rule Incorrectly +++
But
let’s say a future pope does soon rule.
And
let’s say he’s not quite as wise as we could hope.
In
other words, he holds the wrong theological opinion on baptism.
What
then? That’s why he should exercise infallibility. Indisputably.
Indubitably. Explicitly… so explicit there can
never again be fights over this subject, or confusion. Not to mention whackos
that go Catholic fundamentalist and needlessly hurt Catholics who are wiser,
whilst misleading Catholics who are foolish. At any rate, why tolerate such
mayhem in the Church’s Body? Any pope, any bishop, any priest, worth his
salt would squelch such insanity & diabolic bewilderment with alacrity.
That is not how Catholics are to be. It is not loving one another, or making
Jesus’ Body stronger.
Now,
if he attempts to rule mistakenly, invoking infallibility, then the Holy Ghost
prevents him. I know not how the Third Person of the Holy Trinity might choose
to act. Maybe He would give a pope a lucid dream the night before, instructing
him. Or maybe the pope’s arm would be paralyzed or his hand
uncontrollably shake were he to try to sign the infallible statement (this actually happened with a Byzantine
emperor). Of course, Byzantine emperors don’t have the Charism of
Infallibility. Yet if God does something like this with an emperor, who’s
supposed to be Catholic and persecuting a doctrinally correct saint who’s
doing the right thing according to the Triune God & His Roman Catholic
Church… well, I mean, how hard is it to believe He might choose to behave
similarly toward a pope who tries to infallibly define or condemn wrongly?
I’m
not hoping for it, not predicting it --- it’s up to God. He holds all the
cards.
He
always has. Or didn’t you know that? If not, then please realize this
truth:
It’s
God’s Church, it’s His Creation. We’re His creatures, bearing
His Image. It’s thoroughly up to Him, ultimately, what happens and how
things turn out. We choose freely to act within this created world of His. We
can be evil, or we can be good. It is within our freedom of will to determine
this, inasmuch as Our Creator permits us to be alive and does not intervene in
a supernatural way --- however subtle such intervention, or not --- or
otherwise make clear to our often clouded minds that He opposes us and simply
will not allow us to get away with vile sin or foolishness in corporeal life.
Now
apply that principle to a true pope. Starting to see the implications?
The
difference between the rest of us human beings and a legitimate Bishop
of Rome, really, when you get down to it (and
setting aside, for a moment, his stupendous duties as Supreme Religious
Authority & Representative of Christ on earth), is that he alone,
of all human beings, is gifted… or, rather, amazingly heavy burden placed
upon his episcopal shoulders… with the Charism of Infallibility.
Any Roman Catholic --- any human being willing to become Roman Catholic --- can
partake in this Charism of Infallibility, rightly espousing what
Jesus’ One True Religion teaches & commands, yet solely a
Successor to St. Peter can clarify a Saving Truth by either defining or
condemning with infallibility (to wit, a
‘never wrongness’), without notoriously &
pertinaciously defying the irreformable meaning of such dogmas as known
to any real Roman Catholic from beforehand. In the meantime, human
beings who become truly Roman Catholic simply participate in this
infallibility by rationally understanding & loyally professing what
real popes properly teach, command & uphold. Got that? Catholics are a
Body, the Body of the Divinity. Without a head on earth, this Sacred
Ecclesial Body cannot function fully. Even so, God’s Catholic Body can
rationally understand & loyally profess Infallible Truth, whoever the true
member, despite the head being
temporarily absent on earth.
But
what is the point of this explanation? Why drive this home about popes?
Real
popes are human, conceived in sin, therefore they can --- like any human being conceived in sin --- use their
intelligence badly and
exercise their will wickedly
so as to fail to defend, undermine or even diabolically oppose that which is
celestially precious & true. Yet when brave, wise, prudent &
industrious, they are invaluable
to any real Roman Catholic in comprehending
the Infallible Truth of Jesus Christ via a proper defining or condemnation of
that which is necessary or profitable
to know rightly or better… but always --- we repeat, ALWAYS! --- without ever contradicting the original sense.
Again, the point? The original sense of the dogma of the
Sacrament of Baptism is how it’s absolutely necessary to
entrance into God’s Roman Catholic Church, which is God’s Singular
Means of Salvation. This is not disputable. If of sound mind and
claiming to be Catholic, then, to be truly Catholic, you must believe &
profess it. End of sentence. And Scholastic theologians were no dummies. They
knew this quite well. Hence why they’d regularly say, in one way or
another, when the subject arose and it was necessary, that baptism, in its
supposed BOD form, was NOT ‘another &
separate baptism’, BUT a participation in the One
& Single Sacrament of Baptism which God has given us, receiving
it ‘flaminis’ (Latin for
‘of breath’, ‘of wind’, or, by extension, ‘of
spirit’, meaning the Third Person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, of
course) if not ‘aquae’, accordingly, ‘fluminis’ (Latin for ‘of water’ --- the
first --- or ‘of river’ --- the second --- meaning the actual
matter, water, of the Sacrament of Baptism visibly administered and received).
The gist? There are not really ‘three’
baptisms as recent catechisms & clergy, etc., have often carelessly said.
There is only ONE baptism.
The Scholastic theologians knew this to be true and did not dare, any of them
to my knowledge, to say contrarily. ‘Baptism of desire’, if
correct, was merely one of three ways to take part in a single
Sacrament of Baptism, the other being the so-called ‘baptism of
blood’. Or, to be exceedingly precise --- if a true & correct
theological opinion --- it is God making, charitably, an ‘exception’
to His otherwise ‘necessity of means’ for water baptism.
And
therein lies the confusion, put yet a different way. For if a
‘necessity of means’, consequently, then there is, by definition, never exceptions.
And, yet… aren’t BOD or BOB, by logical thought & definition, EXCEPTIONS? Ergo, how is the Sacrament of Baptism a ‘necessity of means’?
We’ve already grappled with this weird aspect of the theological opinion
of ‘baptism of desire’ or ‘baptism of blood’ before in Baptismal Confusion, and it’s a
big part of what makes baptism such a confusing, divisive & controversial
subject amongst those who call themselves Catholic lately. After all, it cannot be both ways. Either it’s a ‘necessity of means’
and there are no exceptions; or else it’s a ‘necessity of precept’
and there can be an exception. So
which is it? Scholastics got around this by the above reasoning. Namely,
calling BOD & BOB two alternate ways to participate in ONE Sacrament of Baptism should
‘accidental’ death stop one’s solemn resolution,
allied with perfect contrition for one’s sins (a perfect contrition made into an act of the sacrifice of
one’s bodily life in martyrdom for the Roman Catholic Faith and thus
the aforementioned ‘baptism of blood’), to get an actual water
baptism which is validly administered in visible form & matter. The Scholastics
also emphasized, to be fair, that one still needed to get actual water baptism
should you, somehow, survive in spite of honestly thinking death imminent &
unavoidable without the baptismal water. Ummm… but there’s the rub,
isn’t it? As we remarked before, this is really about the sacramental water…
isn’t it? And, though we’ve not stated it plainly before, too, it
involves the sacramental words.
Words, water? What is their importance?
It’s not ‘only’ symbolic. That’s not Catholic (it’s Protestant). Therefore, form & matter,
sacramentally speaking, are imperative to the Sacrament of Baptism. We thus ask:
Are the SACRAMENTAL WATER & WORDS
of the Sacrament of Baptism a NECESSITY OF PRECEPT (once in awhile there can be an exception made, if an obstacle prevents
obedience or you truly & inculpably cannot know that it is required),
or are the SACRAMENTAL WATER & WORDS of the Sacrament of Baptism a NECESSITY
OF MEANS (never can there be an
exception made, for any reason whatsoever)? This is the REAL QUERY.
All else is confusion & distraction. Resultantly, God either makes
exceptions or He doesn’t. It’s that simple.
And
this is what God eventually must, for His Church, via a
Pope, clarify.
If
not, then confusion remains, the devil has a toehold, and sin multiplies.
Oh,
and, you do know… don’t you? …this is a matter of eternal fate.
So
the next real pope better rule on this utterly vital topic with an absolute
clarity. St. Peter’s next legitimate successor has a crucial moral
obligation, as part of his ecclesial duties and supreme authority, exercising
his Charism of Infallibility with an explicitness that leaves no doctrinal dust
unswept and no dogmatic ‘loophole’ remaining. So that this
confusion & controversy can be laid to rest, Lucifer left no route through
which he may again attack & overcome like he has for the last several
centuries, and people may not pretend to be ‘catholic’ when
they’re not, and real Catholics avoid heresy & schism.
Only
a pope can do this. Only the Charism of Infallibility can possibly achieve it.
And
what has a pope to worry about when the Holy Ghost is safeguarding him?
That
is, when he’s invoking the Charism of Infallibility, with explicitness.
Do
you understand? This is what the next real pope should & must do.
If
wise & prudent, with infallibility invoked, he’s nothing to dread.
The
Spirit of Truth will look after him; Catholic Truth triumph.
And
the battle of BOD vs. WO will be --- finally --- finished.
+++
197. A Strange Yet Marvelous Idea, Rooted in
+++
the Gospel of
St. Matthew (Primarily Speaking, If
God’s Made the Water Absolutely Necessary,
Then Miracles Just Might Happen)
Some
time ago… Chapter 118 of Baptismal
Confusion, to be exact… we, with curious readers, wondered aloud,
“Why did bishops & priests, near the turn of the 20th
century, think it so important to teach about BOD in newly made, or edited,
catechisms, to their laity? Why should
their Roman Catholic flock have to know about this? And why did they, in
their catechismal efforts, often --- if not usually or always --- claim Sacred
Scripture supported this theological idea? And often --- if not usually or
always --- completely fail to give
biblical citations for their claim? Or, if given… but typically
solely in more scholarly works… not really to the point. That is to say,
okay, maybe one’s interpretation of that passage of Sacred Scripture can
be made to ‘look’ like it supports BOD --- but, then again,
it’s not a slam dunk. It can easily be made to look different, as if it
has, really, nothing at all to do with BOD.” Don’t believe it?
Well, remember Chapters 133 to 157? Right. We
meticulously examined scripture and pondered the most popular arguments, at
least in more recent times, for the two theological positions. And… guess
what? The evidence is pretty flimsy.
And easily spun in either direction, depending upon your bias to
start.
Ah,
but the ‘need’ or ‘wish’ to suddenly inform all
Catholics, around the turn of the twentieth century, of the BOD theological
opinion? And teach them as if it’s ‘certain’ that it’s
true? Nay, not just ‘certain’, but an absolute ‘dogma’!
What’s the agenda?
If
charitable, we may opine that they wanted to ‘reassure’ poor adult
catechumens. Sudden & unexpected death? Why, no
problem. BOD will ‘save’ you! In reality, the catechisms made
around this time, and later, are aimed at instructing persons raised in
Catholicism. Or, er, ostensibly
Catholic. Meaning? That I don’t think the reason was to
‘reassure’ adult catechumens. So why go out of their way to raise a
generation of young people to believe in the idea of BOD who were already long
ago baptized at infancy? Eh? What’s
the motivation, what’s the goal? Hate to get all
conspiratorial on you, my beloved soul, yet do you recall us also noting, in
Chapter 124, that, at the same time this
‘baptism of desire’ rules in these catechisms, the Modernist salvation heresy reigns,
too? Are you putting two and two together? (Which make four, by the way… in case it’s slipped your mind.) Now, we can be gullible and imagine --- as if
‘nice’ and being ‘careful’ --- it’s sheer
coincidence. I find this hard to swallow. If these catechisms are
simultaneously teaching BOD and the heresy of
‘salvation-in-the-state-of-ignorance-and-sincerity’, however
possibly can you imagine that this is ‘innocent chance’? The men
making catechisms were not stupid. They were highly trained. Ergo, they either
knew that salvation heresy was heresy and purposely wanted lay people to
believe in it, or… actually buying into salvation heresy because
it’s what they were being taught in the seminaries by the late
1800s… they very much wanted lay people to think that they, learned
priests & bishops, were ‘justified’ in believing salvation
heresy and ‘not’ in reality denying ‘no Salvation outside the
Church’ in its original, ancient, narrow & correct sense, wanting the
laity, as well, to believe the same thing. And, whether
explained fully or not in a particular catechism, the ‘invincibly
ignorant’ whilst completely non-Catholic soul of adequate intelligence
getting into Heaven with ‘sincerity’ was precisely what they wanted
this laity to believe in. Obviously!
Now
finish the logical analysis. Most people, either not caring or very gullible,
swallowed this religious lie whole. But if better trained, or more cautious,
how did theologians, priests & bishops, not to mention monks & nuns, explain their novelty? Correct. Via
a mangled interpretation of ‘implicit baptism of desire’.
Voilà!
Totally amazing religious-sleight-of-hand accomplished! The audience is
dazzled. Lucifer appears as an ‘angel of light’ and no one is the
wiser. Why should they be? They abominate the Saving Truth and think Roman
Catholicism is mere ‘preference’. Everybody in a New World Order is
free to believe as he or she wishes.
‘Catholicism’
must get with the times.
Which times loathe the Church.
Again,
doesn’t make the orthodox version of ‘baptism of desire’
inarguably into ‘falsehood’. Not even the orthodox conception of
‘implicit’ BOD is inarguably a ‘falsehood’ because of
this. But it does send up a red flag. And makes me wary.
Which
is why, right now, I prefer ‘water only’. It was good enough for
the ancient Catholics. It also avoids, for now (unless a future legitimate pope carefully & explicitly rules
otherwise with infallibility), the pitfalls of the recent past. Of mangling
‘implicit’ BOD and elevating human intellect over
human will, to the point of presuming
every human will as ‘sincere’ & ‘good’, whilst ignoring
the self-evident fact that souls of adequate intelligence can never be
‘invincibly’ ignorant about the One True Faith.
Whither
WO, then? If soon or eventually infallibly affirmed, what might we see?
In
the Gospels, we find an enigmatic yet fascinating event at the Resurrection:
“And
Jesus again crying with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost [gave up his soul, i.e., died]. And behold the veil of the temple
was rent in two from the top even to the bottom [this signified how Christ’s Sacrifice rendered the division
between an All Holy God and sinful yet penitent human beings no longer the
case], and the rocks were rent [earthquake
of mammoth strength shook at least Jerusalem fearfully, as well as opening
subterranean regions or locales]. AND
THE GRAVES WERE OPENED: AND MANY BODIES OF THE SAINTS
[those just in God’s Sight]
THAT HAD SLEPT [died, many long ago] AROSE [came back to life, physically]. And coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, came
into the holy city, AND APPEARED TO MANY.” (Matthew 17:50-53
DRC)
Ever
wonder why this flabbergasting thing occurred? Probably not.
Those few who peruse the Bible hardly notice this brief account, or, puzzled,
pass over it not knowing what to think. And a very few have ventured the
suggestion that this was simply ‘proof’ of Christ’s Death
& Resurrection, of what it accomplished in hell. Plausible, I suppose, yet
not very convincing. Jesus’ appearance, after Resurrection, multiple
times to many persons --- once up to 500 disciples at
a single time (1 Corinthians 15:3-7) --- is more than ample evidence in and of
itself. Consequently, what is the ‘need’ for such godly people to
resurrect physically and then appear to many in
Provable? Not yet. Disprovable? No, indeed. Thinkable? Yes. Worth the effort?
Consider.
If WO turns out to be infallibly true --- and papally defined as such ---
absolutely nothing in Sacred Scripture or Sacred Tradition makes it
‘impossible’ to speculate, theologically, that this
‘necessity of means’ for the sacramental water can apply to every
just soul in God’s Sight all through human history. To wit, we
from 1 Peter 3:18-20 know how Christ, while in hell, preached to “those
spirits that were in prison…” (DRC) This is catechism, and
shows us that even souls in hell --- but who, ultimately, were just
and not there permanently, being either, at first, in purgatory, or,
eventually, in the ‘limbo of the fathers’ --- had to know &
profess Jesus’ Catholicism Whole & Entire. And if this is true, why not the Sacrament of Baptism that
goes along together with the Profession of Faith? Comprehending,
dear & precious reader? Roman Catholicism is a duality of Profession (joining humans to the Roman Catholic Mind of Christ) and Baptism
(joining humans to the Roman Catholic Body of Christ).
There’s nothing, yet, in the Infallible Dogmas of the Catholic Church to
rule out this thought. Accordingly, that God Himself has divinely willed, from
eternity, to require baptism, sacramentally in the living flesh, with the
proper form & matter, of every human ever, from beginning of creation to
the end of creation, in this old world as we now know it. Astounding? Truly. Impossible? Not unless
God’s Church infallibly & explicitly rules against it. And if,
amazingly enough, this idea turns out to be true, then
guess what?
God
can allow catechumens to die ‘accidentally’ without water baptism
because He knows they aren’t truly ‘sincere’. This can even
be an Act of Mercy upon His Part since, with the Sacrament of Baptism, their punishment in hell for eternity would be even
more horrendous. He can also do it to keep bad Catholics out of His Church.
Whichever, there is still one more possibility, at the very least. An astounding possibility. What if, in He
permitting some catechumens to die prior to water baptism, He does so NOT because they’re
‘insincere’ or would be bad Catholics. What if He does so
because, refraining immediately to judge them with finality, He keeps their
souls in abeyance, until, at a proper time, He resurrects them in their
earthly bodies in order for them to
receive sacramental water? After all, He has, both
through His Divine Son and His Son’s marvelous Catholic saints, resurrected many a human being. This is
not ‘fantasy’. Catholicism’s Triune Creator is perfectly capable of such
a thing, if He wills.
And
why would He will this? To test His Church, probing our
hearts. How much do Catholics love Him? Above all
things? And His Dogmas & Commandments along with
Him? More than anything else? And, confronted
with baptismal confusion and eventual apostasy, here at the end of creation as
we know it, what if this is one of His final tests? What if, in passing through
this fiery refinement, clinging to the Sacrament of Baptism and the Salvation
Dogma, realizing that BOD was a mistaken theological opinion and unintentional
doorway for the ‘justification’ of filthy Modernist salvation
heresy, He reveals, with many resurrected catechumens, whether martyred or not,
the truth of baptism’s absolute necessity, they confirming it by seeking only for the life-giving sacramental
water, and testifying to the rightness of a potential papal ruling,
with infallible explicitness, upholding the same? What then? What then would result?
Right,
lots of people converted to the One True Religion, or confirmed in it, the
controversy resolved with resounding clarity, both papally & miraculously,
with Catholics from then on treating the Laver of Regeneration with a much
greater veneration, holy respect & solemn piety. It would make us better
Catholics.
Can
I prove this? No. Do I have to? No. But a tantalizing prospect? Yes.
Wouldn’t it be something if it actually happened.
We’d be changed. And the world would never again be the same. Like Jesus
Christ, Who bodily resurrected and turned the earth upside down.
His
Ecclesial Body awaits resurrection, entombed. Living Water, that He empowered,
resurrects the dead of soul & body. We know this is true spiritually, in
the invisible realm, which we don’t usually see. But sometimes God makes
visible the invisible.
Satanic
zombies walk earth right now. What if
resurrected saints did the same?
+
+ +
Part One of Baptismal Confusion (Chapters 1-32)
Part Two of Baptismal Confusion (Chapters 33-60)
Part Three of Baptismal Confusion (Chapters 61-82)
Part Four of Baptismal Confusion (Chapters 83-105)
Part Five of Baptismal Confusion (Chapters 106-132)
Part Six of Baptismal Confusion (Chapters 133-169)
+
+ +
NOTE: If the reader has enjoyed, or
benefited from, this book, you may wish to examine
Baptismal Confusion: Sheepishly Shy or Gaunt as a Goat? and
Baptismal Confusion: Dilemmas of ‘Desire’; or, It Is Foolish
to Presume Either ‘BOD’ or ‘WO’, as of Yet in Our Era, to Be the
‘Inarguable’ Stance, Not Even Bothering to Honestly Study Each Sides’s
Evidence!
, in the Letters & Admonishments and Great Apostasy sections, respectively. The three
deal with similar dilemmas resulting from confusion, during the Great Apostasy, over the
Sacrament of Holy Baptism after the Vatican II Pseudo-Council, resulting in acrimony,
stupidity, cruelty, rashness, impatience, heresy & schism in the fight of
BOD vs. WO.
+
+ +
Pilate’s
query met:
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