BIBLICAL REVELATION IN MODERN TIMES? WHAT HAPPENED TO LIMBO?

Since God has inspired his holy words to be written during ancient times, why isn't the Bible being added to in modern times?
The full revelation of God took place in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. We don’t need any more revelation because God revealed everything of who God is in Jesus, the Son. We continue to know God by the persistence of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus gave to his disciples so that he might be present. We don’t need any new revelation because Jesus left us the Spirit in the Church (the Pentecost Event) and is present in His Sacraments.


That used to be one of my favorite gripes about our religion. Why did the canon of scripture (the listing of approved books that developed by 300 AD) get closed? Part of it has to do with the specificity of revelation. There were three periods of salvation history: the Covenant with God’s chosen (Abraham and his descendants) The New Covenant (testamentum/testament means covenant in Latin) instituted by Christ, and the present time of the Church when we are charged with bringing the good news to the whole world. The fourth period of salvation history will come when Christ returns at the end of time. Thus biblical times were very special but are now over. Now we are living in the time of the Church where God reveals himself in the written scriptures and the lived tradition of the Church. Some modern theologians want to reopen the canon of scripture to include some of the other gospels, like the gospel of James or the gospel of Thomas. These aren’t in the canon of scripture.
A major change in the teachings as to what constitutes the inspired word came about with the protestant reformation. Much of the difference stemmed from wanting to distinguish themselves from Catholics and using the Bible as a measure stick. The reformers decided to translate scripture on their own and used the Hebrew Old Testament. The version they used didn’t include all the books that were collected in the Greek version of the Old Testament (the Septuagint) which gave us the traditional canon. The Septuagint was the version of the Old Testament that the gospel writers referred to. Thus Sirach and Tobit and others weren’t included in the Protestant bibles.
Mohamed taught that the Koran was dictated to him by an angel. The Book of Mormon is called “Another Testament of Jesus Christ”, also given to Joseph Smith by an angel. There are many texts that claim to be the revealed word of God. As Catholics, we hold the truth to found in the Hebrew bible and the Christian writings of the New Testament as different from any other writing before or since their composition.

What is the definition of limbo and does it still exist?
The traditions of the Church came into being always to express a theological reality, but also to answer the human need for God. Sometimes they do more for revealing God (the Trinity) and other times they are better at expressing human longing. Limbo is one of those terms that tries very hard to show us God, but fails to get it quite right, even as it answers a human need.
God is just. He condemns to hell those who have sinned and are unrepentant and forgives those who turn to him in truth. God is merciful, even while we were sinners, Christ died for our sins on the cross. Baptism is the manner in which the Christian is buried into the death and resurrection of Christ and gains eternal life. What happens then when a baby dies who has not been baptized? We know God is merciful, so that baby being innocent of personal sin surely won’t be condemned to hell. But God is just and can’t allow anyone into heaven who hasn’t been saved by Christ. There is a long tradition within the Church of reflecting upon these realities. We want to preserve the justice and mercy of God, and we want to preserve the sanctity of baptism. Perhaps there is some in between place that unbaptized innocents go where they aren’t in hell in eternal punishment, but don’t quite enjoy the vision of God. That place is what has been termed limbo.
Benedict XVI reflected upon this very issue, which can be so troubling to our conscience and understanding of God. He made it clear that there is no place for a category of the afterlife resembling a limbo in Catholic theology and has never been officially taught. He simply stated that what happens to these babies has not specifically been revealed to us. But he also says that our hope in Jesus Christ doesn’t disappoint us, so we can trust in God’s mercy that He will justly and tenderly take care of these innocent souls.