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Pat Sloane :wrote > Does anyone know how or when the belief arose that deathbed statements > or > > confessions are true? Is there any authority for the idea or is it just > a > > folk-belief? > > > > pat sloane _______ Dear Pat: Possibly incidental, but supportively useful, I hope:In his highly contentious SCIO TE IPSUM, the ever more contentious Abelard ( Bk. II, I think) lashes out specifically against not only the timing, but the authority and authenticity of death-bed confession/ conversions. Uttered, he suspected, out of fear for the consequences rather than love of God, or a true metanoia. In a pitiable gesture of theological/bartering,these statements were useless formulae, he suggests, and would 'negotiate" nothing. Their peculiar authoritative weight seemed to genuinely puzzle him. Regards: Josef Gulka > > Josef Gulka [log in to unmask] 215- 732-8420 %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%