Please tell me about "indulgences".....?

Question

I believe these are bought from the church. Paying for a sin that one intends to commit at a later date. Am I correct?

I thought confession was for after the sin, and indulgences were before. Either way, it seems in the catholic church you can "get away with" anything!!

Answer 1

I have plenty of indulgences but these days I practise moderation but only in moderation of course!

Answer 2

No, you are wrong.

The theology is thus:

All sin is forgiven by the sacrifice of Jesus. Ask for forgiveness, repent of your sin and forgiveness is yours.

BUT, sin leaves a mark, a stain if you will, upon the soul. That stain MUST be removed since nothing but purity may enter Heaven. The Church provides a variety of ways and means for the removal of those stains.

This is where it gets kinda into bookkeeping. The Church Fathers decided, using the Power of the Keys and the promises made by Christ, that each sin had a certain amount of "scrubbing" due before the stain was removed. It was decided that making that "scrubbing" available while the soul was yet on Earth would be easier on the soul than forcing it to wait until it got sent to Purgatory. So a series of penances was instituted.

Basically, you do thus and such and the Church mandates a specific "scrubbing bubble" to wash away the stain after you've repented and been forgiven.

Mostly this took the form of prayers and public service wihout pay.

Then the Church, wanting to pay for the renovation of St. Peter's, hit upon what looked to be a grand scheme. After all, according to Jesus, "those whose sins you forgive are forgiven". Why not provide that forgiveness for a donation? Everybody benefits. They get a clean slate. The Church gets a nifty new St. Peter's.

So, indulgences were born. You sin. You confess. You're pardoned. BUT, there is still penance to be made. If you have an indulgence, you hand it over. In effect, a "get out of jail free" card.

Of course, abuses entered in almost immediately. And Martin Luther just HATED the idea. So the end result was corruption. Eventually St. Peter's was done, the Church stopped the sale of indulgences and the Protestants were off and running.

Today, you may still obtain an indulgence, but ONLY for the souls in Purgatory. By giving your money, or your time or your prayers, you may, with Church permission, apply same to cleaning the stains off some soul in Purgatory, thus lessening their stay and hastening the glorious day they enter into the Father's Presence.

Hope this helped.

Answer 3

You're not completely correct - an indulgence is paying for a sin that you have already committed, so that it'll be knocked off your total sins when you die, in Roman Catholic mythology. Before Luther and his 95 theses in the 16th century, you could simply pay for these indulgences, and it was a useful additional revenue stream for the Catholic Church. Obviously, this was more than open to abuse.
After the Council of Trent in 1567, indulgences were no longer allowed to be bought, but had to be "paid" for in prayer, or other contritional acts.

Wikipedia has a lot on this subject:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indulgence

Answer 4

From an on-line encyclopedia:
Reconciliation

Indulgences are only granted by the Church after the individual earning the indulgence receives the sacrament of reconciliation (penance) or experiences perfect contrition. Because the sacrament of reconciliation removes the guilt of sin, the penitent is restored by reconciliation to the state of grace. However, while the individual’s guilt is removed by reconciliation, the sin is not completely erased; the individual still must be punished for the sin. God has mercy upon sinners who repent of their sins, but like a good parent, His justice still requires that the sinner be punished for the wrongdoing. This punishment is called temporal punishment, both because it is a punishment of time, as opposed to eternal punishment, and because it relates to the temporary world (Earth or Purgatory), rather than to the “final destination” (Heaven or hell).

I'm not endorsing this, just trying to answer your question.

Answer 5

Indulgences are not licenses to sin, or a means of payng for future sins.

Indulgences are granted through the power of the pope and the church, are based on the merits of Christ and all the saints, and have the power to obtain the release of souls from purgatory.

According to church law it is illegal to sell indulgences, or to attempt to transfer an indulgence to any living person.

Indulgences are obtained by doing certain spiritual works of mercy, through receipt of the sacraments, and through proper worship and prayer.

Indulgences can't get anyone out of hell.

Since protestants don't even believe in purgatory, why would any protestant even care about indulgences?

http://www.ourladyswarriors.org/indulge/index.html

Answer 6

No. An Indulgence is not a buy-out of forgiveness nor is it a permission to sin.

The Indulgence is a way of reconcilling and avoiding punishment (i.e, purgatory) AFTER the sin has already been forgiven by God.

Answer 7

My mother grew up Catholic, and that indulgences are pretty much what you said. Nowhere in the Bible are they mentioned, and therefore will not take away your sin. The Bible says only through repentance and the blood of Jesus are our sins forgiven.

Answer 8

over indulge, it's my way of getting back at religions. Irish Catholic people are repressed, they come to my resort in their droves, they also react in anger with ease and hold a grudge forever. I am church of no genocide, Christian God committed genocide, that's a firm support for Muslims. Kill every one and then ask them to worship you. I prefer very, very long sex myself.

Answer 9

Are you looking for an actual dictionary definition? If so then here goes:

an inability to resist the gratification of whims and desires

Answer 10

My mother always said that clotted cream scones were one of her favourite little indulgences!