My mom wants to know why some religions say that people should pray for the dead.?

Question

She was brought up as a Roman Catholic and always told this and wonders why. I'm thinking that once a person has died physically nothing in their past life can be changed and God judges us on the way we lived our life. I hope what I've said makes sense and someone can answer this for me. Then, I can help my mom to understand and myself also.

Answer 1

tell her the catholics are steeped in paganism

have her go here:

Answer 2

Each one of us will stand accountable before God for our won actions. Once we are dead to this body we will be in the presence of God and that is when we will be judged. There is not holding cell that we can be prayed out of because it is the actions of our hearts that God is looking at.

Prayers for the dead are wasted prayers and have no bearing on where that soul will spend eternity. Many times over history men have come up with ideas to make the living feel better about the dead but we are judge on our actions alone. There is nowhere in the word where it supposes praying for the dead. They had already received their reward one way or the other.

Answer 3

You are right in stating that once a person dies there is nothing in his life that can be changed and he/she will be judged accordingly, as it is written.

I was also brought up a Roman Catholic, but no longer am, and the reason why the Church teaches its faithful to pray for the dead is due to its doctrine of "Purgatory"--that halfway station where souls are being "cleansed" before being allowed to Heaven. Apparently, unbaptized little children who die also end up in Limbo or Purgatory "temporarily"...

However, there is no such thing as 'Purgatory' [sometimes called 'Limbo'] ever mentioned in the Bible and, therefore, it is one of the many fabrications or inventions of the RCC.

I have also heard that another religious denomination includes "Baptism of the Dead" among its doctrines and practices but I cannot fully comment on that one.

Hope that helps...

Peace be with you.

Answer 4

For the Roman Catholic Church, the selling of indulgences, and Masses for the dead is a huge way to take in money. But money is just part of the equation. Included is the comfort brought to the faithful who believe as the church teaches, that one can pray a love one out of Purgatory.

But this is an unscriptural concept, and one that I had to deal with as I left the Catholic Church and its many extra-Biblical doctrines and dogma.
I never understood it either.

Answer 5

in MAcabee's it tells of how a son's living repentance in honourof his deceased father actually helped his father.

here are some other scruptures the Catholics read andstudied to discuss the prayers for the dead and why....
1 Cor 3:15, 1 PEt 1:7, Mt 12:32, 2 Macc 12:46, 1 Cor 41:5 and Job 1:5
IN Matthew we are told that balsphemers will be forgiven neither in this world nor in the world to come.... this shows that we can and will be forgive others sins in - the world to come.

when someone dies, they stand before the judgement of God. we do not know that process, but we do know we will be tested in fire, we wil be judged. think about this.... someone you know died and they weren't perfect but they did love God and accepted Jesus as Saviour. while they are standing before the throne of God for their judgement you are praying for them.... God does not let sincere prayers go unheard. since we don't know how long a person is beofre God - since Gods time is not our time.....

if this makes sense to you or you or your mom have more questions, please ask.... i might not know all the asnwers, but through studdying and prayer -- i can surely try!

God Bless
YSIC

Answer 6

A lot of people who believed in God might have sinned the day they died and therefore it wouldn't be right for God to send then to hell so I gather the reason your mom says that is when the dead are raised up they will be asked if they believe in God and she wants them to say Yes, so they will not be damned forever.

Answer 7

It's to help the souls in purgatory:

"The Church believes that the souls detained in purgatory "are helped by the prayers of the faithful and most of all by the acceptable sacrifice of the altar" (Council of Trent, Decree on Purgatory)"
http://www.catholicculture.org/docs/doc_view.cfm?recnum=589

"Catholic teaching regarding prayers for the dead is bound up inseparably with the doctrine of purgatory and the more general doctrine of the communion of the saints, which is an article of the Apostle's Creed. ... their souls are purified by purgatorial pains after death; and that for relief from these pains they are benefitted by the suffrages of the faithful in this life, that is, by Masses, prayers"
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04653a.htm

Answer 8

There is a Catholic belief that some people end up in purgatory, an "in between" sort of place where they continue to learn and grow... praying for them increases their chances of making it to heaven when their time in purgatory is over. That is my understanding of it.

Answer 9

Because, as in many beliefs....they misinterpret scripture. The only mention in the bible of praying for the dead is a question of why people do it. Prayers do not help those who are not living.

Answer 10

Some believe you should "pray for the dead" so their soul make it safely to heaven.

Answer 11

you need to both start to read the bible. All the answers are there. The Catholic church has there own doctorin, you can not believe all they say. Get a bible at your local book store and pray.