What is purgatory?? And who goes there?? Sorry, not being catholic this post confused me a bit...
Sorry Cath. Purgatory is a state of final purification before a soul destined for heaven actually gets there. It is not hell but there is some suffering due to the soul being cleansed completely for heaven. Since the early Church the Christians have always prayed that the dead will be swiftly received into heaven and purified quickly from their final faults. It has nothing to do with hell but it is a place of temporary suffering and that is what the lady was rejecting to. She didn't believe God would have anyone suffer, ie even Hitler was dancing in heaven!
I don't like the sound of that!!
Do you go there even if you apologise for your sins??
You do go to purgatory if you have not made up adequately for the sin committed, even though it is forgiven by Christ's death. If I steal something, I can apologise and be forgiven but I still need to make recompense to make up for my offence. It is the same with our souls. Early christian writers have looked to bible passages like 1 cor 3.15 and 1 pet 1.7 that speak of purification through fire and from the earliest days Christians have offered prayers that they be loosed from their sins. The Church calls this place purgatory, meaning to purge/cleanse. We don't know who goes to purgatory and who doesn't, it isn't necessary but most people live very lukewarm lives, they have made it to heaven but still need final purification.
So even if you are truly sorry for your sins you still have to go through some kind of suffering?? Why?? If you're already sorry, what's the point?? Got to say it sounds a little unchrist like... I thought God was forgiving?? If anyone I know is truly sorry for something they did I wouldn't want to put them through suffering just to recompensate... where abouts is this purgatory info?? I don't remember reading it in the bible?? And how do we know that some people living lukewarm lives still make it to heaven???
God is a God of Justice, he is not just, he is Justice itself and we can be sure that the way he acts is completely full of love, the love of Christ. Now Adam and Eve were sorry for the sin they had committed but that was not enough it was such a serious offence that it required divine intervention, Christ had to come and shed his blood in offering recompense to the Father.
This gives us an idea of the effects of sin. All sins have a double consequence. Firstly it is a rejection of God and if serious enough can risk salvation (an eternal consequence) but secondly it leads us to have a disorded attachment to sinful acts (a temporal consequence) and this is what must be purified. This is the purification of purgatory. You will read about the purifying fire in the references I gave before and also the book of maccabees speaks about how it is a holy to pray for the dead that they may be loosed from their sins. Conviently though Martin Luther didn't like this book so at the reformation he tossed it out (he was also going to get rid of the book of James but was persuaded against it) so you will not find that book in a protestant bible.
We don't pretend to know a persons heart and we do not presume to judge anyone but that is why catholics have always prayed for their deceased relatives and friends (in purgatory a soul can do nothing to help himself). If a soul I am praying for has already gone to heaven, they cannot benefit from my prayersm the prayers will go to help another, if a soul I am praying for has tragically gone to hell, there is nothing that can be done now and again those prayers will also go to help another.
You will find references to places of purification in the bible but remember this question 'where is it in the bible' is not a relevent question. The bible did not come first, the Church did, there was no 'bible' for 400 years. We look to the living tradition, what were the Christians proclaiming, what had the apostles taught them, what did the early christian writers say etc. Remember every word of Christ was not written down. You find the place in the bible that says the only thing we need to believe in is the bible? There is no place. 'Bible alone' is a reformation idea. Yes the bible is the inspired word of God but the faith rests on two pillars, sacred scripture and sacred tradition, not man made traditions but those that that go right back to the apostles who were promised by Christ protection from the Holy Spirit.
Dear Bernard, I thought your explanation of hell in relation to God being a God of love was particularly well put. Well done on this one. Margaret M.
Thanks Margaret, appreciate that. It's just a shame that so many people envisage God as a God who is just waiting to throw people into hell. Blessings.
I like what you said about the christian life not set upon only the shoulders of the bible.
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