I tell you, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it (Mark 10, 15).
The judgment of condemnation is conditioned more on lack of willingness to repent. “On judgment Day, the men of Nineveh will appear against this generation and they will be its condemnation, because when Jonah preached they repented; and there is something greater than Jonah here (Matt 12, 41; cf. Luke 11, 31). This passage implies that judgment is given not by God but by the Gentiles whose unbelief is compared with the unbelief of the Jews. Failure to believe the word of God thus becomes a person’s condemnation at death. The criteria for the last judgment are given in Matthew:
For I tell you, if your uprightness does not surpass that of the scribes and Pharisees you will never get into the kingdom of Heaven. ‘You have heard how it was said to our ancestors, you shall not kill; and if anyone does kill he must answer for it before the court. But I say this to you, anyone who is angry with a brother will answer for it before the court; anyone who calls a brother a ‘Fool’ will answer for it before the Sanhedrin; and anyone who calls him ‘traitor’ will answer for it in hell fire. So then, if you are bringing your offering to the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you leave your offering there before the altar, go and be reconciled with your brother first, and then come back and present your offering. Come to terms with your opponent in good time while you are still on the way to the court with him, or he may hand you over to the judge and the judge to the officer, and you will be thrown into prison. In truth I tell you, you will not get out till you have paid the last penny. You have heard how it was said, you shall not commit adultery. But I say this to you, if a man looks at a woman lustfully; he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye should be your downfall, tear it out and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of yourself than to have your whole body thrown into hell. And if your right hand should be your downfall, cut it off and throw it away; for it will do you less harm to lose one part of yourself than to have your whole body go to hell. It has also been said, anyone who divorces his wife must give her a writ of dismissal. But I say this to you, everyone who divorces his wife, except for the case of an illicit marriage makes her an adulteress; and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Again, you have heard how it was said to our ancestors; you must not break your oath, but must fulfil your oaths to the Lord. But I say this to you, do not swear at all either by heaven, since that is God’s throne; or the earth, since that is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, since that is the city of the great King. Do not swear by your own head either, since you cannot turn a single hair white or black. All you need say is ‘yes’ if you mean ‘yes’ and’ No’ if you mean no; anything more than this comes from the Evil One. You have heard how it was said: Eye for eye and tooth for tooth. But I say this to you: offer no resistance to the wicked. On the contrary, if anyone hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well; if someone wishes to go to law with you to get your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone requires you to go one mile, go two miles with him. Give to anyone who asks you, and if anyone wants to borrow, do not turn away. ‘You have heard how it was said; you will love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say this to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he causes his sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and sends down rain to fall on the upright and the wicked alike. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax collectors do as much? And if you save your greetings for your brothers, are you doing anything exceptional? Do not even the Gentiles do as much? You must therefore be perfect just as your heavenly father is perfect (Matt 5, 20 -48).
Luke demonstrated this new teaching of Jesus Christ in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16, 19-31). The rich man did not go to hell because he was rich but because he refused to share his God given gifts with the poor. The poor man did not go to heaven because he was poor but because he endured in his suffering and did not complain even when the dogs of the rich man were licking his sores. In the Synoptic gospels the golden rule to be judged at death is a holy and perfect life style that the dead person lived.
John’s approach to the question of judgment is a deeper theological insight than that of the synoptic gospels. In John's gospel, “God did not send His son to judge the world but to save the world (John 3, 17; 12:47). Jesus has come into the world for judgment (John 9, 39). The father judges no one (John 5, 22) because he has given judgement to the son (John 5, 22). These contradictory statements call for serious exegesis and hermeneutics to understand what Jesus is teaching within the context of John’s theological work which was highly influenced by the Hellenistic Greco-Roman world. John went as far as saying that the dead will hear the word of the son.
In all truth I tell you, the hour is coming – indeed it is already here when the dead will hear the voice of the son of God, and all who hear it will live. For as the father has life in himself, so he has granted the son also to have life in himself; and, because he is the son of man, has granted him power to give judgment. Do not be surprise at this, for the hour is coming when the dead will leave their graves at the sound of his voice: those who did good will come forth to life; and those who did evil will come forth to judgment (John 5, 25-29).
John in dealing with the issue of judgements uses the following imageries: The apocalyptic lamb; Judgment on the rejection of life and light, and many others but we shall concentrate on these two for the purpose of this work.
The lamb as the apocalyptic lamb is the figure of a conquering lamb that destroys evil in the world at the time of the final judgment. In this context of final judgment there appears in Jewish apocalyptic the figure of a conquering lamb who will destroy evil in the world. This idea is taken up in the New Testament. “The figure of a conquering lamb appears in Revelation: “in 7, 17, the lamb is the leader of peoples; in 17, 14, the lamb crushes the evil power of the earth”. This fits in well with the perspective that John had in his preaching. For instance, in Luke 3, 7, a great punishment is announced by John the Baptist on those who are not repentant. The axe is laid at the root of the tree. “His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor.” This means that a total change of heart is called for. Failure to repent incurs punishment and condemnation. In the use of the term: “Lamb of God”, John is hailing Jesus as the Lamb of Jewish apocalyptic expectation; a Lamb sent by God to destroy evil in the world. The truth is that this Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world was the scapegoat of the religion of the Jews. This lamb has no sin but sacrificed to take away the sin of the community. Jesus offering himself as priest and victim becomes the new and most effective sacrifice of the New Covenant. Only those who accept him get the desired salvation.
The statement, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind” (John 9, 39) calls for further clarification.Jesus came to the world in order to save the world from sin. This salvation is meant for all. However everyone is free to accept or reject the light. Acceptance of the light gives eternal life. “To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God” (John 1, 12) Those who claim to see, who presume they know remain blind because, that in itself is pride, a culpable refusal to accept the truth. It was the will of Christ that Judas should repent and accept the light. Judas’ pride for example led him to despair. He repented unto himself and committed suicide. He must have felt the shame and guilt of betraying his master. He did not have enough grace to humble himself before the Lord. Like Peter, he should have been forgiven. Judgment is not the sins we commit, but culpable refusal of guilt and failure to return to the Lord. Man often wants to protect his image and self esteem to the point of losing sight of the mercy of Christ Sometimes we pretend to be in the Light whereas we are glooming in darkness. This is why some people are not converted. Refusal to repent and accept Christ becomes the condemnation.
This was the situation of the Pharisees. They remained spiritually blind to the reality of Light because they claimed that they see and that they even know the mysteries of God. Perhaps their pride must have tempted them to think that Jesus was going to occupy their position. No wonder they committed great atrocities to defend their position. The humble ones, those who accept their ignorance are those referred to as physically blind. This group of people is docile and can easily receive the message of Christ They know their limitations. They are aware that they need the light to guide them. No wonder, they will not remain blind. They have faith in God through Jesus whom the Father has sent. It is faith that can really save. This faith is manifested in humility.
“For judgment I came into this world” (John 9, 39). This does not mean that Christ came purposely to judge. What Christ is saying here is that the fact that he has come to the world, to give the message of salvation is what brings judgment to those who refuse to believe. Judgment is the separation of man from Christ through unbelief. “And this is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil” (John. 3:19). “Here the evangelist makes it plain that it is a reflex of the act of God’s love that men condemn themselves, and not a separate and posterior act of God’s judicial condemnation. Even this judgment speaks his love”. John cited Isaiah to confirm this fact: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see with their eyes and perceive with their hearts and turn for me to heal them” (John. 12, 40; Isaiah 6, 10).
However, Jesus promised life to those who work with the Light and dwell in the Light. He told the people to walkwhile they have the Light. .“While you have the Light, believe in the Light, that you may be sons of the Light” (John 12, 36). To reject the light is to accept darkness. This is self-condemnation. It is not Christ who condemns. It is when man freely chooses to follow darkness that he misses the way and the goal of life. In fact separation from God is hell. Christ came to give life. His message is to lead us, so that we do not stumble. Following Christ’s teaching is the light that leads us to eternal life. Rejection of this message means going without the light. Since the absence of light is darkness, those who refuse to follow Christ will never reach their goal. It is not Christ who condemns but the refusal to accept him and his message. Jesus said. “I have come, as Light into the world that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness” (John 12, 46). We can conclude this argument with the submission of J. L. Mckenzie, that
It seems clear, then, that in John the judgment is the rejection of faith in Jesus Christ Those who refuse faith will rise to the resurrection of judgment which is opposed to the resurrection of life (John 5:29). Jesus is judge in the sense that He presents Himself as the object of decision and it is thus that the Father Judges no one but has committed judgment to the Son. He comes not for the judgment of unbelief but to save those who believe.
Paul in his letters goes into specifics of the content of Judgment. He wrote to the Romans that
Condemnation will never come to those who are in Christ Jesus, because the law of the Spirit which gives life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. What the Law could not do because of the weakness of human nature, God did, sending his own Son in the same human nature as any sinner to be a sacrifice for sin, and condemning sin in that human nature. This was so that the Law’s requirements might be fully satisfied in us as we direct our lives not by our natural inclinations but by the spirit (Rom 8, 1-4).
Paul had earlier warned the Romans not to judge but to live judgment for God. “So no matter who you are if you pass judgement you have no excuse. It is yourself that you condemn when you judge others; since you behave in the same way as those you are condemning. We are aware that people who behave like this are justly condemned by God (Rom 2, 1-2).
For Paul, the judgment of God will be accomplished in justice. It will not matter whether you are a Jew or Gentile. He cited the psalms to buttress his point. “God will always be true even if no human being can be relied on. As Scripture says, that you may show your saving justice when you pass sentence and your victory may appear when you give judgement (Rom 3, 4-5; Ps 51, 4). But no one will escape God’s judgement since “God through Jesus Christ, judges all human secrets” (Rom 2, 16). Paul believes that possessing the Spirit of Christ is a sure way of overcoming eternal death. To the Philippians, Paul said “I shall never have to admit defeat, but with complete fearlessness I shall go on, so that now, as always, Christ will be glorified in my body, whether by my life or my death. Life to me of course is Christ, but then death would be a positive gain (Phili 1, 20-21).
The author of the letter to the Hebrews focussed on the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment (Heb 6, 2) since human beings die only once, after which comes judgement. Christ offered himself only once to bear the sin of many who are waiting for him, to bring them salvation (Heb 9, 27). The expectation is fearful because if, after we have been given knowledge of the truth and still deliberately commit sin then our sacrifice will be in vain. There is left only the dreadful prospect of judgement and of fiery wrath that is to devour the enemies of God. Anyone who disregards the Law of Moses is ruthlessly put to death on the word of two witnesses or three, and you may be sure that anyone who tramples on the Son of God, and who treats the blood of the covenant which sanctified him as if it were not holy, and who insults the Spirit of grace, will be condemned to a far severer punishment. We are all aware who it was that said: vengeance is mine; I will pay them back. And again: The Lord will vindicate his people. It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb 10, 26-31).
The author acknowledges the dignity of marriage and the consequences of the defilement. “Marriage must be honoured by all, and marriages must be kept undefiled, because the sexually immoral and adulterers will come under God’s judgement (Heb 13, 3-4). This can help us to appreciate the value placed on the family by Africans and how progeny is a condition for joining the ancestors as we shall see in due course. The author of the letter to the Hebrews also condemned avarice. “Put avarice out of your lives and be content with whatever you have; God himself has said: I shall not fail you or desert you, and so we can say with confidence: With the Lord on our side, I fear nothing: what can human beings do against me (Heb 13, 5)?
James after listing the virtues that lead to salvation and the vices that lead to condemnation concludes: “Whoever acts without mercy will be judged without mercy but mercy can afford to laugh at judgement (Jas 2, 12-13). James also says that Christian teachers will be judged with special severity (Jas 3, 1). This means that judgement will also depend on the level of awareness of the human person.
In the first letter of Peter God will judge the living and the dead (1 Pet 4, 5). This judgement will begin with God’s house, the Church (1 Pet 4, 17). In his second letter, he compares this judgement to that of Sodom and Gomorrah (2 Pet 2, 6). The wicked are stored up for the day of judgment (2 Pet 3, 7). The book of Revelation affirms that there is an hour of judgement (Rev 14, 7). This will be the judgment by the Saints and martyrs: “Then I saw thrones, where they took their seats, and on them was conferred the power to give judgement. I saw the souls of all who had been beheaded for having witnessed for Jesus and for having preached God’s word, and those who refused to worship the beast or his statue and would not accept the brand-mark on their foreheads or hands” (Rev 20, 4). The agent of judgment is the rider of the white horse: “And now I saw heaven open, and a white horse appear; its rider was called Trustworthy and True; in uprightness he judges and makes war” (Rev 19, 11).
The conclusion of this exegesis on judgement can be that death is certain and after death comes judgement. In the words of J.L Mckenzie, “For each man, the day of judgment is the day on which he makes a permanent decision to accept Jesus Christ or to reject Him. The biblical view of judgment is that the attributes and operations of God’s judgment are exhibited in the course of the individual life and in the course of history.”
4.2 Limbo (Aminigho) and Purgatory (Aghadava) in Etsakọ
The Etsakọ believe that once a child is born, that child is destined to live up to the duration of time Ọmanọma’gbọ(God the creator) assigned to the child on earth. The child is weaned and initiated when the navel (ukho) is healed. This initiation makes a child a proper member of the family. Consequently, the child’s destiny is to live to a ripe old age and join the ancestors and if he lived well become an ancestor too. Therefore, for the Etsakọ people dying young especially dying before childhood initiation is unnatural. It means that the child did not belong to the living and cannot join the ancestors without this mark of initiation. For some Etsakọ, a child who died at birth is not buried with cloths. The child was rapped with coco yam leaves (ebi ‘khokho)and buried. This implies that the child is not a member of the traditional race in the context of humanity. The death of a child is called egwi’ebikha. The child does not go to the ancestral world he remains in limbo (aminighuo) till the number of years divinely appointed to the child on earth is completed. Aminighuo means premature knitting (of cotton wool). The child is not judged because the child did not attain the age of reason and could not have consciously lived to choose between good and evil. From limbo (aminighuo)the child can come back again in form of reincarnation. This form of life whereby the child comes and goes over and over again is stealing in Etsakọ hence a reincarnated child is called (omo’ghiator) meaning the child who is a thief. This child reincarnation is to enable the child to be properly initiated into the traditional society. While in aminigho (limbo), the child disturbs the mother until a ritual is performed. This ritual is performed to make the child live on earth to complete his allotted span of life.
Some of the rituals include: wearing a small bell on the neck, wrists and ankles of the child; putting visible marks on the child and wearing the child black charcoal (ikpi’khiameghie) on the face. The belief is that the bells scare away other children in aminighuo (limbo) from coming to call the child back. The marks and the charcoal make the child unattractive to the children in aminighuo(limbo)
Here an argument may ensue. The general belief is that it is the good ancestors who reincarnate. This is likely to contradict our findings of the child’s reincarnation. The view is that the child who dies is supposed to have been reincarnated by an ancestor but the child did not live for the parents to find out which of the ancestors have come back. It is when the reincarnated child does not stay that the child come over and over again as the same person either as (Ere or Iye). Ere of Etsakọ is the Babatunde of the Yoruba while Iye of Etsakọ is the Iyabo of the Yoruba. This means fatherhas come back (Ere) and mother has come back (Iye).
The understanding of the Etsakọ people therefore, is that death is a reality. The general attitude is that of fear especially the time and manner death may come. This fear affects everybody both old and young especially the ignorance of what happens after death. However, no comment of serious negative feelings is passed on the death of elders. On the other hand, the community is set ablaze at the death of youths and children. For the Etsakọ people, the death of a youth is a bad omen. Hence the corpse of a youth does not sleep at home till dawn. The corpse is immediately interred and properly buried. If children go to aminighuo (limbo), where do the youth go? A matured youth is not expected to go and come back over and over again but the youth must be somewhere to mature before crossing to the land of the ancestors (Ọgbanakido / Alimhi’afemha).
In Etsakọ, it is believed that the youth who died go to aghadava (purgatory) to spend the remainder of his life. After spending the allotted span of life, the youth can climb the mountain of Adaobi (ege Adaobi) to meet the ancestors. A youth does not come back in form of reincarnation. Aghadava in Etsakọ is not only a state of purgation akin to Catholic theology of purgatory; it is also a state of maturation. This view is similar to the reflection of Karl Rahner that “in death the human soul enters into a much closer and more intimate relationship to that ground of unity of the universe which is hard to conceive yet is very real, and in which all things in the world communicates through their mutual influence upon each other. And this is possible precisely because the soul is no longer bound to an individual bodily structure.
The truth is that nearly every religion tends to give a holistic view of man: in addition to the tangible physical component parts of man, there is an element which is intangible and indestructible and which outlives the physical death. This is the soul”.
In Indian thought, it is followed by rebirth to life in some form on earth, the inexorable law of karma determining the nature of that reincarnation, and in Buddhism men are offered the hope of breaking the weary round of sanisara in the endless peace of Nirvana. In biblical thought we find none of this. For here life is held to be a blessing and not a curse, and its possession is wistfully desired so long as may be. Yet though long life is counted and element in the desirable lot of the blessed, it must have a limit and the grave claim all men. But beyond the grave – what?
To the question of what happens to children and youths when they die? In Etsakọ, they do not go straight to heaven because they have not completed their life span on earth. Rather they spend the remainder of their life in Aghadavawhat is likening to the Christian concept of purgatory and aminighuo limbo. Some people believe that these youths and children go to areas where they are not known to complete their life span. Some have reported claims of seeing such persons and the moment the dead youths identified them they disappear and change location. Others claim that they have even eaten with the dead relatives unknown to them that they have died. This claim has it that the dead youths visit their relatives who are not yet aware of their death. The moment they know, they disappear. This is confirmed by J.O. Awolalu:
Stories have also been told of men who are reported dead going to dwell in another village or town and living a normal life, until they suddenly disappear when they learn that the local people have found them out. We have met people who have encountered such men. We have also listened to pupils who were at boarding school when their parents died at home. Such pupils have testified to the fact that their fathers or mothers called visit them and to leave important instructions and messages with them. These men and women come in human form, not in form of spirits at all!”
4.3 Limbo in the Judeo-Christian Religion
The word Limbo is from the Latin limbus meaning hem and edge. It is a technical theological term for the place and state of the dead who are neither in heaven, or in hell or in purgatory. The concept of limbo was not known in the Old Testament and the early apostolic Church. It was in St Augustine’s argument with Pelagius on the teaching on original sin and infant baptism that really brought out the debate of limbo. Augustine was born in Roman North Africa (modern Souk Ahras in Algeria) to Patricius, who only later became a Christian, and to the pious Monica, who enrolled him as a catechumen from infancy. It is possible that the teaching of Augustine was influenced by his African background. It is also possible that the life of Augustine also contributed to his belief that the grace of God through baptism which is the first stage of Christian initiation was the only condition for salvation. Augustine also took very seriously the words of Jesus that “no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born through water and the Spirit; what is born of human nature is human; what is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3, 6). Baptism is a sacrament that cleanses the child from original sin, makes him a Christian and a member of the Church. Thus Augustine believes that once a child is born, he is stained with original sin, namely, the sin of our first parents Adam and Eve (Gen 3). Pelagius argument was that the infant has no freedom to decide his fate and faith. Augustine argued that a child should be baptised on the faith of the parents who decide for the child.
A distinction is however drawn between the limbus partum,that is the place and state of the Pre-Christian just, who could not enter into eternal happiness before Christ descent into hell and his ascension, and the limbus infantium, that is of the human beings who on earth never attained the use of reason, and to whom the sacrament of baptism was never administered, although the gospel was sufficiently proclaimed in their countries for the possibility of their sacramental incorporation into the Church not of itself to have been excluded. The concept of the limbo ‘of the Fathers, is no doubt a Christian adaptation of the Jewish notion of sheol. Jesus’ story of Lazarus and the Rich man throw some light into this position.
Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels into the bosom of Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In his torment in Hades he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off with Lazarus in his embrace. So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, pity me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames.’ ‘Abraham said, ‘my son, remember that during your life you had your fill of good things, just as Lazarus his fill of bad. Now he is being comforted here while you are in agony. But that is not all: between us and you a great gulf has been fixed, to prevent those who want to cross from our side to yours or from your side to ours (Luke 16, 22-26).
This gulf is probably referred to as limbo by some theologians but this passage is very close to the African concept of the ancestral home. The text is not however enough to postulate limbo. In the Jewish’s figure of speech, the equivalent of the old biblical phrase ‘gathered to his fathers, that is, to the patriarchs is similar to the Etsakọ’s Ọgbanakido. This generation is endless in the Jewish and African thought. When that whole generation had been gathered to its ancestors, another generation may follow who knew neither Yahweh nor the deeds which he had done for the sake of Israel (Judg 2, 10). But a generation worth the name is that generation that know and worship God. “For your part you will join your ancestors in peace” (Gen 15, 15). “Yahweh said to Moses, you will soon be sleeping with your ancestors” (Deut 31, 16). The embrace of Abraham implies close intimacy. The gulf is a symbol that separates the destiny of saved and lost that is unalterable.
In Patristic theology and art, limbo is the place to which Christ descends after death. This is the view of St Peter in his first letter.
Christ himself died once and for all for sins, the upright for the sake of the guilty, to lead us to God. In the body he was put to death, in the spirit he was raised to life, and, in the spirit he went to preach to the spirits in prison. They refused to believe long ago, while God patiently waited to receive them, in Noah’s time when the ark was being built. In it only a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water. It is the baptism corresponding to this water which saves you now – not the washing off of physical dirt but the pledge of a good conscience given to God through resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has entered heaven and is at God’s right hand, with angels, ruling forces and powers subject to him (1 Pet 3, 18-20).
For Christian theology, the idea of limbo provided a means for conceptualizing the possibility of salvation for those who preceded Christ in history while at the same time seeing that salvation as dependent on the act of salvation of God in Christ. The limbo of infants is an attempt to deal with the fate of children who have died without baptism in the time of the explicit Christian dispensation during which faith in Christ and the reception of baptism are understood to be the necessary conditions for entrance into heaven. Pelagius, in harmony with their idea of original sin, postulated a place or state of natural happiness between heaven and hell for the unbaptized. Since the Pelagian theology of original sin envisioned no guilt in unbaptized children, they could not be consigned to hell. “The magisterium of the Church has taken no official position on the question of limbo”
The discussion has been open headed, thus Peter Abelard thinks that the souls of infants who die without baptism are deprived of the beatific vision; for Thomas Aquinas they lack both grace and beatific vision. Thus one attributes to them a natural happiness in harmony with their natural spiritual faculties, but not the supernatural happiness of beatific vision (Aquinas, De malo 5, 4, ad 4). Post Reformation and modern theology has suggested a number of ways of supplying for sacramental baptism in an extra-sacramental way. Thus, a baptism of blood was envisioned in the case of the infants of Bethlehem when “Herod was furious on realising that he had been fooled by the wise men, and in Bethlehem and its surrounding district he had all the male children killed who were two years old or less, reckoning by the date he had been careful to ask the wise men” (Matt 2, 16).
The prayer of desire of the child’s parents might be seen as a vicarious baptism of desire according to Cajetan. J.A. Hardon sees the question of limbo as a delicate one in the Catechesis of the Church because according to God’s universal salvific will, we believe that somehow he gives all persons the opportunity of reaching heaven. There is such a thing as baptism of desire, defined by the Council of Trent, but this assumes sufficient mental maturity to make an act of faith and love of God. We must however, say with the Church that “There are people who are in ignorance of Christ’s Gospel and of his Church through no fault of their own, and who search for God in sincerity of heart; they attempt to put into practice the recognition of his will that they have reached through the dictate of conscience. They do so under the influence of divine grace; they can attain everlasting salvation.” By implication, their children who die before the age of reason can also be saved. Saying this does not deny what the Church also teaches through two ecumenical councils, that even those who die with only original sin on their souls cannot reach the beatific vision. St Thomas taught that limbo is a place of perfect natural happiness, but minus the supernatural vision of God to which, of course, no creature has a natural right.
P.J. Hill says that the fate of infants dying without Baptism is indeed a very complex problem. The common solution still remains: such infants are in Limbo, a place where they suffer the pain of loss because of original sin but are immune from the pain of sense. He cited the admonition of the Holy Office in 1958 as follows:
The practice has arisen in some places of delaying the conferring of Baptism for so-called reasons of convenience or of a liturgical nature – a practice favoured by some opinions, lacking solid foundation, concerning the eternal salvation of infants who die without Baptism. Therefore this Supreme Congregation, with the approval of the Holy Father, warns the faithful that infants are to be baptized as soon as possible according to the directive of Cannon 770. Pastors and preachers are exhorted to urge the fulfilment of this obligation. [Act.ApS 50 (1958) 114]
4.4Purgatory in the Judeo-Christian Religion
For the African, an intermediate state before reaching the ancestors and dwell in the presence of the Creator does not call for a philosophical argument. The African believes that going to meet the Ancestors is not immediate. The dead is first in an intermediate state and later join the world of the spirit if he/she is found worthy and after certain rituals and proper burial rites. This belief was not so easy in the Judeo-Christian Religion. This was due to the fact that the Church by way of contextualization wanted to make the Christian message relevant to the Hellenistic world of the Greeks, the Romans and the European nations. The Greeks were already so vast in philosophy and with their metaphysical minds were ready to question any belief before they can accept. Their faith as it were was tested through intellectual rigor of rationalization. This rational attitude led to a lot of debate on the question of the reality of an intermediate state for the dead.
4.4.1. A biblical attempt to locate Purgatory
The word purgatory means a state of purgation. This teaching is a call to perfection because nothing stained or impure will be able to stand in God’s presence after death. The sages of the Old Testament admonish us: “in everything remember your end and you will not sin” (Eccl 7, 36). Sin separates the human person from God’s presence. God is just without prejudice to his divine justice. The justice of God demands that all human beings will not be judged equally. This same justice will not let God’s children go to eternal hell for punishment because of some venial sins that the person has not properly been cleansed of while on earth. The allusion to the purification of the dead with prayers and sacrifices is shown in the life of the Jewish soldiers in the book of Maccabees:
Judas then rallied his army and moved on to the town of Adullam where, as it was the seventh day of the week, they purified themselves according to custom and kept the Sabbath. Next day, they came to find Judas (since the necessity was by now urgent) to have the bodies of the fallen taken up and laid to rest among their ancestral tombs. But when they found on each of the dead men, under their tunics, objects dedicated to the idols of Jamnia, which the Law prohibits to Jews, it became clear to everyone that this men had lost their lives. All then blessed the ways of the Lord, the upright judge who brings hidden things to light, and gave themselves to prayer, begging that the sin committed might be completely forgiven. Next, the valiant Judas urged the soldiers to keep themselves free from all sin, having seen with their own eyes the effects of the sin of those who had fallen; after this he took a collection from them individually, amounting to nearly two thousand drachmas, and sent it to Jerusalem to have a sacrifice for sin offered, an action altogether fine and noble, prompted by his belief in the resurrection. (2 Macc 12, 38-45).
This passage shows that these dead people still had the chance to go to heaven but with the stain on them they needed prayers and sacrifices before they could see the face of Yahweh. The call to prayer not only for the living but more for the dead is also emphasized by the sages: “Let your generosity extend to all the living, do not withhold it even from the dead” (Eccl 7, 33). This praying for the dead includes giving decent burial to the dead (2 Sam 21, 10-14; Tobit 1, 17-18; 12, 12; Isa 34, 3; Jer 22, 19).
According to Elmar Klinger, for the New Testament, the eschatological situation was more acute, because Jesus himself, and then the original community considered that the dawn of the Kingdom of God had already come. In accord with the definitive character of the Jesus-event, the specific hope of the Christian was directed towards an immediately imminent, general and universal consummation. In the individual domain notions of Sheol are still operative (Luke16, 19-31). The real testing of faith and its works is expected in the “fire” of the Last Judgment: “On this foundation, different people may build in gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay or straw but each person’s handiwork will be shown for what it is. The day which dawns in fire will make it clear and the fire itself will test the quality of each person’s work. The one whose work stands up to it will be given his wages; the one whose work is burnt down will suffer the loss of it, though he himself will be saved; he will be save as someone mightexpect to be saved from a fire” (1 Cor 3, 12-15). Purgatory is not directly envisaged here, but this text is one of those on the basis of which the Church has made this doctrine explicit. According to Jerome Biblical Commentary,
Although the doctrine of purgatory is not taught in this passage, it does find support in it. The metaphor suggests an expiatory punishment – which is not damnation –for faults that, although not excluding salvation, merit punishment. When Paul wrote this epistle he was still hoping for the coming of the Lord’s Day in his life time. Consequently, he locates this expiatory punishment at the final judgment.
Jesus also implied the concept of purgatory in the statement that “and anyone who says a word against the son of man will be forgiven; but no one who speaks against the Holy Spirit will be forgiven either in this world or in the next”(Matt 12, 32). The next world here could not be heaven because only the perfect are in heaven and being in heaven is an eternal reality. Only the perfect are in heaven and no longer need forgiveness. The next world could not be hell because hell is an eternal damnation and those who go to hell have eternally separated themselves from God’s presence and mercy. Those in hell endure the eternal justice of God. It follows therefore that the next world where sin can still be forgiven is an intermediate state called purgatory. The sinner in the next world must be in a state awaiting forgiveness before entering everlasting heaven.
The Alexandria Theologians of the third century in the Patristic period saw sin as an alienation from God. The cause of this is traced to the misuse of human freedom and love of the creatures more than the creator. Through this alienation from God the soul, which was by origin pure spirit, has become ‘refrigerated’ into psyche (which Origen fancifully derives from the root of psychros, ‘cold’). Those supra-human intelligences that fell became demons; the human souls entered the material world as a place of punishment, or, rather, of corrective training, for Origen holds that life in this visible world is really all part of purgatory, continuous with that process of purification and education which awaits the soul after death, and it is as a training-ground that the soul, embodied as a human being, must use its mortal life. The clothing of souls with flesh for this purpose is mythically portrayed in the ‘coats of skin’ which God made for Adam and Eve. Origin compares this myth with that of the soul’s loss of its wings in Plato’s Phaedrus; they denote both the corporeal character of man’s life on earth and also the diversity which this entails.
The patristic writings on this subject draw a very clear line between Eastern and Western theologians (Origen, Gregory of Nyssa, Tertullian, Cyprian, Ambrose, Lactantius, Augustine, and Caesarius of Arles). The Pauline texts gradually took on greater significance in this connection. Pope St Gregory the Great (d.604) secured widespread acceptance for the doctrine of purgatory; to him more than any other writer we owe many of the accounts of the life and appearances of the departed which have come down to us.The Catholic Church taught the doctrine of purgatory explicitly during the controversies with the Eastern Church and with the Reformers especially in the Second Council of Lyons, DS 856ff; the Council of Florence, DS 1304 and The Council of Trent (DS 1820). The synopsis of the article of faith regarding the debate about purgatory states:
The Catholic Church, by the teaching of the Holy Spirit, in accordance with Sacred Scripture and the ancient tradition of the Fathers, has taught in the holy councils, and most recently in this ecumenical council, that there is a purgatory, and that the souls detained there are helped by prayers of the faithful, and especially by the acceptable Sacrifice of the Altar. Therefore, this holy council commands the bishops to be diligently on guard that the true doctrine about purgatory, the doctrine handed down from the holy Fathers and the sacred councils, is preached everywhere, and that Christians be instructed in it, believe it, and adhere to it…. Likewise, they should not permit anything that is uncertain or anything that appears to be false to be treated in popular or learned publications. And they should forbid as scandalous and injurious to the faithful whatever is characterized by a kind of curiosity and superstition, or is promoted by motives of dishonourable gain.
The Orthodox Church and the other separated Churches of the East did not deny every form of purification. The dead, in the opinion of Eastern theologians, find themselves in an intermediate condition. Apart from the martyrs and saints, who are widely held to enter immediately into heaven, the disembodied souls remain in Hades until the time of the resurrection. But this is a place of light, comfort, and peace for the just that have fallen asleep in faith, while it is a place of utter darkness for the condemned souls. The former state is not to be identified with heaven, or the latter with hell. In this intermediate state between death and the last judgement, it is possible for the souls of those who have died without doing sufficient penance to reach illumination and quickening and finally full freedom from their anguish, not through their own satisfaction made or punishment endured, but simply and only through the mercy of God.
We have no direct revelation about purgatory as to time, place, or mode of existence. Time in purgatory does not correspond to the Aristotelian conception; by using the time categories of Augustine, we can understand life in purgatory in terms of responsibility, of intensity, and of maturity. Pope Alexander VII (1655-1667) rejects every temporal mode of expression regarding it. The souls in purgatory likewise continue to have a relation to the total creation. The mode of life of purgatory is a deep mystery we can only attempt to explore on the basis of scriptural revelation concerning justification, the meaning of death, the forgiveness of sin, and the love and justice of God.
The souls in purgatory live in the peace and love of God. Their final life-decision has been made for union with God and their won perfect fulfilment, but they are not yet ready for the unmediated, face-to-face dialogue with God. Even persons living in God’s grace are subject to temptation throughout their lives, notwithstanding their most earnest striving and the assurance of God’s forgiveness with its accompanying interior renewal. The Council of Trent states: It is not possible for a man, once justified, to avoid all sins-even venial-throughout his entire life without a special privilege of God (sixth session, canon 23, DS 1573)
Because of the weakness of human nature, the theory and doctrine of an intermediate state before joining God and the ancestors who are Saints and already enjoying the beatific vision should really make sense to the common person. It is true that every good thing can be abused. This happened in the dark ages of the Church in the middle ages. Therefore we should be honest enough to accept this abuse by giving a brief historical development of the doctrine of Purgatory.
4.4.2A brief history of the Dogma of Purgatory
Outside Christianity, it was characteristic that all the dead without distinction were located in the same place (Hades, Sheol). It was only within this frame-work-according to the particular eschatological or mythological conceptions current at the time-that they were distinguished from one another according to their merits, sometimes after long struggle and after passing through an ‘ordeal by fire’ as in the case of transmigration of souls and with the help of the prayers and sacrifices of the living . In the individual domain notions of Sheol were still operative as in Luke 16, 19-21. The real testing of faith by “fire” of the last judgment was mentioned by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians (3, 12-15)
Justin and Tertullian still shared this perspective in the second century and taught that the dead were waiting “in the grave” for the consummation. Irenaeus took a dynamic view of this state and Origen, in the framework of his universal eschatology (apocatastasis) worked out a doctrine of a particular purification for each individual. The belief then was that Baptism of the Spirit takes place in the baptism of fire and thus developed in germ the doctrine of purgatory.
In the West, Augustine emphasized that all the just immediately attain the vision of God and do not have to wait for the end in some indeterminate place. The eschatological process thus essentially included an individual element. As a result, the doctrine of purgatory was detached from that of the universal eschaton. For Gregory the Great, the very fact of not yet being totally with God constitutes a punishment for the souls in purgatory.
At the Second Council of Lyons (1274) and at the Council of Florence (1439), the Latin position (D 456; Locus purgatories, ignis transitorius; D 570), strengthened even further by Benedict XII’s definition (D 530-1) had to be explained in face of the Greeks, for on the basis of their tradition they contested the existence of the fire of purgatory and any immediate retribution after death (D 535). Because the Greeks regarded the universal last judgment as the only consummation, they could only attribute relative importance to the decision regarding each individual. For them, as had been the case in Sheol, the good and the wicked were still essentially in the same place. For there was only one firewhich is that of the Last Judgment.
The protestant Reformers rejected the doctrine of purgatory, based on the teaching that salvation is by faith through grace alone, unaffected by intercessory prayers for the dead. During the middle Ages the Church engaged in the practice of drawing upon its treasury of grace to repeal the necessary penalty for sin. It could remit some (partial indulgence) or all (plenary indulgence) of the temporal punishment that a sinner must suffer, if not in this world then in the next.
By the 13th century, the practice of granting indulgences became separated from the sacrament of penance and became more and more the prerogative of the Pope. Much of the Protestant revolt centred on the problem of simony, the medieval Church’s corrupt practice of selling indulgences to penitents, a lucrative source of income. This egocentric, calculating approach to salvation, based as it was on an accumulation of spiritual credits, was a deformation of the essential doctrine of purgatory. This was the dark ages of the Church.
In the 14th century the idea of the direct combination of purgatory and judgment prevailed without exception. Today, in line with many world religions especially African Primal religion who do not see a sharp separation between the living and the dead we can still appreciate the teaching of the Church that death is not the end of life, neither is it the end of our relationship with loved ones who have died, who along with the Saints make up the Body of Christ in the “Church Triumphant. Having corrected the abuses that watered down the relevance of the truth of purgatory, the Council of Trent declared:
If anyone says that after the reception of the grace of justification the guilt is so remitted and the debt of eternal punishment so blotted out to every repentant sinner, that no debt of temporal punishment remains to be discharged either in this world or in purgatory before the gates of heaven can be open, let him be anathema.
The Council further emphasized the value of sacrifice as a means of releasing the souls in purgatory. For, appeased by this sacrifice, the Lord grants the grace and gift of penitence and pardons even the gravest crimes and sins. For the victim is one and the same, the same now offering by the ministry of priests who then offered Himself on the cross, the manner alone of offering being different. The fruits of that bloody sacrifice, if well understood, are received most abundantly through this unbloody sacrifice. According to the tradition of the Apostles, it is rightly offered not only for the sins, punishments, satisfactions and other necessities of the faithful who are living, but also for those departed in Christ but not yet fully purified. To show how serious the Church was about this, the Council of Trent again declared:
If anyone says that the sacrifice of the mass is one only of praise and thanksgiving; or that it is a mere commemoration of the sacrifice consummated on the cross but not a propitiatory one; or that it profits him only who receives, and ought not to be offered for the living and the dead, for sins, punishments, satisfactions, and other necessities, let him be anathema.
Since the Catholic Church, instructed by the Holy Ghost, has, followed the sacred writings and the ancient tradition of the Fathers, taught in sacred councils and very recently in the ecumenical council of Trent that there is a purgatory and that the souls there detained are aided by suffrages of the faithful and chiefly by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar, the holy council commands the bishops that they strive diligently to the end that the sound doctrine of purgatory, transmitted by the Fathers and sacred councils, be believed and maintained by the faithful of Christ, and be everywhere taught and preached.
4.4.3The Need for Purification after Death
There is a permanent tendency in human nature even if the person is in the state of grace towards egotism (concupiscence), the disorderly entanglement of human relations and the confusion which besets the whole human situation, all weigh upon man’s conduct like an unpaid debt. Almost universally, human affairs are tainted by this leaning towards egotism in the form empty conceit, pride, tepidity, and the lack of love; fickleness, disloyalty, cruelty, bitterness, narrowness and obstinacy. Thus, owing to the complexity of the social and economic order, love can often be productive of injustice and concern for others can deteriorate into self-seeking.
There are many faults, therefore, which cannot be uprooted without destroying the virtues that go with them. The parable of the wheat and the tares must be understood as applying to the relation of good and evil in the individual as well as in the world. At the last judgment, God will take the tangled web of human affairs in the omnipotent hands of his love and justice, extricating the good from the evil in such a way that the good will shine out in unmixed purity. This process reaches down into the deepest levels of each human self.
When a man repulses God, he opens the door to disorder, injustice, pride, hatred; when, on the contrary, a man opens himself to God, the ordering power of God enters into the world. Since God never violates man’s freedom, he enters only when human hearts are opened to him. Such considerations show us that it is difficult, during one’s earthly life, to arrive at that perfect maturity which is the goal of the divine plan. The question arises whether death offers that opportunity. This is why the Church strongly recommends that the sacrament of anointing of the sick should be administered to the sick and the dying. However, that a man can immediately see the face of God after death is the grace of God. The full pain in purgatory is the awareness that the soul is not yet ready for face-to-face dialogue with God. This is like desiring an object of love that is remote and distant for the time being.
The soul’s purification consists precisely in this process: the human person is gradually pervaded by the divine love, with the effect that the person is increasingly freed of imprisonment within himself. Aware of himself as hidden in and by God, he experiences a mingling of pain and joy both increasing together. As his love of God becomes more intense, he suffers more from his inability to converse with him in a perfect way. Yet, as he is increasingly detached from himself his joy intensifies. When the term of this process of purification is reached, man is freed from his own ego, therefore, through true and perfect love to become his proper and true self. In this way he attains his authentic and genuine form in the total community of mankind. In the absence of the author of life the pain of purgatory becomes the pain of loss. It follows therefore that the role of the Saviour and Redeemer, Jesus Christ is indispensable. Every association of the living with the dead is in its principle Christological. Purification and atonement are possible only ‘in’ Christ, through participation in his atoning death. This truth is revealed in the doctrine concerning purgatory as in all of the Church’s teaching with regard to salvation.
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