Catholics please prove to me there is a purgatory?

Question

I just can't seem to find anything about a place like the purgatory in the Bible. Could you provide yer answers with quotes from the Bible?

Answer 1

Two points.

+ Point one. The concept of purgation is hinted at in the Bible. Here are a couple of places:

"But if someone's work is burned up, that one will suffer loss; the person will be saved, but only as through fire." 1 Cor 3:15

"So that the genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that is perishable even though tested by fire, may prove to be for praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." 1 Pet 1:7

Are you perfect now? Most people would say no.

Will you be perfect in heaven? Most people believe yes.

Purgatory (or purgation) is the process of God's love changing our imperfect selves on earth into perfect beings in heaven. Depending on the amount of change needed by different people, this can be an easy or slightly harder process. Everyone in purgatory is on his or her way to heaven. I do not think Mother Teresa of Calcutta had a very hard time of it.


+ Point two. The Catholic Church does not use Holy Scripture as the only basis of doctrine. It couldn't. The early Catholic church existed before and during the time that the New Testament was written (by Catholics).

Catholics also believe that the Holy Spirit was guiding the early church (and is guiding the church today) to make the correct choices about things like
- The Holy Trinity (which is also only hinted at in the Bible)
- Going to church on Sunday instead of Saturday (which is actually directly against one of the ten commandments)
- Which books to include in the New Testament?
- How do our imperfect selves on earth get to be perfect in heaven?

And things that are even more modern like
- Slavery is bad. Slavery is never declared evil in the Bible. This is one of the justifications for slavery in the Confederate States.
- Democracy is good. The Bible states that either God should be the leader of the nation like Israel before the kings or kings should be the leader, "Give to Caesar that which is Caesar's." This was talked about a lot during the American Revolution.

This second source of doctrine is called Holy Tradition.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

The Catholics can't prove to you anything. The Christian's can't prove to you anything on the contrary either. The Bible, although accurate to us, has been translated over centuries also. Even the first Bible as we know it was a translation. Just know this, we as believers may be wrong due to misleadings which were not intended to be left out of the Bible. We are all called to serve the Lord in different capacities and not to worry or care about what someone else believes. Don't take away belief if God is at the helm. Let them believe it, encourage everyone who believes in God to do so in whatever manner they choose. Remember this,
"The Devil is into details."

Answer 3

One of the major inconsistencies of Protestant Religions is that they dropped several book from the Bible.

Try Maccabees. You should find support for it there.

You may not be aware that the Catholic Bible includes The Apochrypha. Martin Luther decided that not all of the books in the Bible deserved to be there. He decided that the Apochrypha was not the inspired word of god. For some reason, other Protestant religions took Martin Luther's word for it.

However, the same men who decided that the other books of the Bible were the inspired word of god (see the Council of Rome -- third century) also decided to include the Apochrypha. Kind of makes you wonder -- if they were wrong about the Apochrypha, why are they believed to be right about the other books of the Bible?

Answer 4

No fault of yours that you couldn't find any Biblical justification. The clearest reference to it is in 2 Maccabees, which the Protestants removed when they split. I believe there's also a passage in Tobit that has the archangel Rafael leading people in prayer for someone who has died, but I can't find the citation for that at the moment. Anyway, here's a few references:

2 Maccabees 12:42-46
42 Turning to supplication, they prayed that the sinful deed might be fully blotted out. The noble Judas warned the soldiers to keep themselves free from sin, for they had seen with their own eyes what had happened because of the sin of those who had fallen. 43 He then took up a collection among all his soldiers, amounting to two thousand silver drachmas, which he sent to Jerusalem to provide for an expiatory sacrifice. In doing this he acted in a very excellent and noble way, inasmuch as he had the resurrection of the dead in view; 44 for if he were not expecting the fallen to rise again, it would have been useless and foolish to pray for them in death. 45 But if he did this with a view to the splendid reward that awaits those who had gone to rest in godliness, it was a holy and pious thought. 46 Thus he made atonement for the dead that they might be freed from this sin.

1 Cor.3:13-15 each man's work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. 14 If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. 15 If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

Mt. 5:22-26 22 But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Make friends quickly with your accuser, while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison; 26 truly, I say to you, you will never get out till you have paid the last penny.

Answer 5

Well, I can't prove anything...including the existance of God, Heaven, nor Hell.That's why it's called "faith." Since God (and Christians) existed long before the Bible was compiled, Catholics use other sources...writings, tradition, and even best guess to try and understand God. But anyway, here's a start:

http://ic.net/~erasmus/ERASMUS6.HTM

Temporal Punishment

That temporal punishment is due to sin, even after the sin itself has been pardoned by God, is clearly the teaching of Scripture. God indeed brought man out of his first disobedience and gave him power to govern all things (Wisdom 10:2), but still condemned him "to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow" until he returned unto dust. God forgave the incredulity of Moses and Aaron, but in punishment kept them from the "land of promise" (Numbers 20:12). The Lord took away the sin of David, but the life of the child was forfeited because David had made God's enemies blaspheme His Holy Name (2 Samuel 12:13-14). In the New Testament as well as in the Old, almsgiving and fasting, and in general penitential acts are the real fruits of repentance (Matthew 3:8; Luke 17:3; 3:3). The whole penitential system of the Church testifies that the voluntary assumption of penitential works has always been part of true repentance and the Council of Trent (Sess. XIV, can. xi) reminds the faithful that God does not always remit the whole punishment due to sin together with the guilt. God requires satisfaction, and will punish sin, and this doctrine involves as its necessary consequence a belief that the sinner failing to do penance in this life may be punished in another world, and so not be cast off eternally from God.

Venial Sins

All sins are not equal before God, nor dare anyone assert that the daily faults of human frailty will be punished with the same severity that is meted out to serious violation of God's law. On the other hand whosoever comes into God's presence must be perfectly pure for in the strictest sense His "eyes are too pure, to behold evil" (Habakkuk 1:13). For unrepented venial faults for the payment of temporal punishment due to sin at time of death, the Church has always taught the doctrine of purgatory.

So deep was this belief ingrained in our common humanity that it was accepted by the Jews, and in at least a shadowy way by the pagans, long before the coming of Christianity. ("Aeneid," VI, 735 sq.; Sophocles, "Antigone," 450 sq.).

Answer 6

Purgatory is a state of mind just like heaven and hell. From an excatholic

Answer 7

Uhm-- go back to sleep Mr. van Winkle. Purgatory hasn't been part of Catholic teaching in a very long time.

Answer 8

That's a bit like proving there is a heaven or a hell. Or even proving there's a here. It's more a matter of belief than anything else.

Answer 9

Don't you know? It's found right after the verse which says the word of god is exactly the sixty-six books of the Protestant bible.

Answer 10

I'm not Catholic. I agree with you. I have no idea where that concept came from.