On what is the teaching of purgatory based?

Answer 1

Purgatory


According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1030, "All who die in God’s grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation, but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven."
The Second Vatican Council, p. 63, says, "The truth has been divinely revealed that sins are followed by punishments. God’s holiness and justice inflict them. Sins must be expiated. This may be done on this earth through the sorrows, miseries and trials of this life and, above all, through death. Otherwise the expiation must be made in the next life through fire and torments or purifying punishments."
This process of purification occurs in a place designated by the Catholic church as purgatory. According to Catholic doctrine, purgatory is not supposed to be a place of punishment, but of purification. The nature of this purification, according to different Catholic theologians, ranges from an extreme awareness of loss to an intense, excruciatingly painful "purifying fire."
According to Roman Catholic Doctrine, though a person may be in a state of grace, he may not enter heaven until he is purified from sins that were not dealt with on earth. Baptism remits sins committed up to that point, but prayers, indulgences, penance, absolution, and the Mass are means by which the sinner is able to expiate sins committed after baptism. If sins are not remitted, after death he must suffer the flames of purification until he is sufficiently cleansed and pure so as to enter into the presence of God. Additionally, intercession can be made by Catholics on behalf of those who are presently in purgatory. This is also done through saying the Mass, certain acts of penance, saying the Rosary, or by indulgences where the benefit is applied to the dead in purgatory.
But purgatory is not for everyone. Baptized infants who have died before the age of accountability and Catholic saints who lived such holy lives are excused from the "purifying fires."
The length of time that someone must suffer in this state is never known, but it is considered to be proportional to the nature and severity of the sins committed. Therefore, it could be anywhere from a few hours to thousands of years.

Problems with the Doctrine of Purgatory

As a Christian who bases spiritual truth on the Bible alone, I see problems with the doctrine of purgatory. For example:

1. It is not explicitly found in the Bible.
2. It implies that the righteousness of Christ does not cleanse from all sin.
3. It implies that justification is not by faith alone.
4. It implies that there is something we must do in order to be cleansed of sin.

The Catholics will disagree with my perceived problems of the doctrine of purgatory. That is to be expected. They will cite church Fathers, the apocrypha, and various biblical references to fire and purification. Which ever side of the argument you fall into, my goal here is to present a biblical argument that examines the doctrine in an attempt to determine if it is biblical or not.
Of course, the Catholic will say that as a Protestant, I come to the argument with the preconceived belief that (1) Purgatory is unbiblical, (2) that I am biased against it, and (3) that I have an agenda to accomplish. To each of these accusations I admit guilt. None of us are perfectly unbiased and most everyone has personal beliefs that are reflected in their actions and words. In this case, having read and studied the Bible thoroughly, I find no place in it for the Roman Catholic doctrine of Purgatory.

Answer 2

Purgatory is nothing more than yet another "concoction" of the Catholic Church. There is no such place mentioned in the Bible and the very fact that the Catholic Church suggests that ther is such a place is to call the Lord a Liar. " let God be true and every man a liar" The Catholic Church is an abomination before the Lord as it has perverted the simple truth of the Gospel and turned the truth into a huge lie. The Lord will destroy the Catholic Church during the tribulation for the reasons stated in Revelations Ch.17 V1-9

Answer 3

Purgatory, also called limbo, is a place between Heaven and Hell.

It' s based on a good parent giving his disharmonious child one more chance to choose harmony as a way of life.

Proof: When we pray we say "Our father who art in Heaven"

God is certainly a good parent. Therefore purgatory is the place where a disharmonious person is sent to be given one more chance to choose harmony and qualify for Heaven.

The Catholics were quick to use Purgatory as a way to extort money from the relatives of a non certified Christian. The Pope said, "Hey, your son is in purgatory, if you pay me some money I will put in a word with God and we can get him transferred to Heaven. If you don't pay me money, I will let him Go to Hell."

Most churches do not believe in Purgatory. Why? They want to scare you into thinking you will go to Hell unless you join their church.

Answer 4

In 2 Maccabees 12, Judas Maccabeus asks for prayers to atone for the sins of countrymen who died in battle wearing the emblem of a foreign god. The passage itself points out that he would not have done this if prayer for the dead was useless. The Catholic church therefore reasoned that there must be some state in which a sincerely righteous but technically guilty soul could be purified..

The Books of Maccabees are from the Septuagint Bible and have been part of Catholic scripture since the beginning, even though the Jews rejected these books when they closed their canon in 90 CE. Martin Luther also rejected these books because of this and other doctrines that didn't fit his theology.

Anyway, you asked for the basis, not the verdict.

Answer 5

It is one of the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church...

It's a 'waiting station' where the souls of the dead sinners go to for a 'cleansing period of time' before being admitted to heaven. Meantime, the departed's surviving families are encouraged to 'pray for the loved one's soul' [who are presumably in Purgatory] and to offer a Mass or two on their behalf --naturally, it's a fee for service each time.

But, so far, I have not come across that word anywhere in the Bible which I've read over a dozen times from cover to cover...

Peace be with you.

Answer 6

I thought the Catholics abolished purgatory recently. I know they abolished "limbo" - for unbaptized babies that died before they had a chance to be baptized. It took the Catholic church 400 years to acknowledge that Galileo was right - I don't put a lot of stock in what they say.

Answer 7

All Christians agree that we gained’t be sinning in heaven. Sin and extremely last glorification are completely incompatible. for this reason, between the sinfulness of this life and the glories of heaven, we should be made organic. between demise and glory there's a purification. the very actuality continues to be that between demise and glory ought to come purification, and that is purgatory by definition -- the stunning purification or, to placed it in extra Protestant words, "the stunning sanctification" or "the stunning rush of sanctification." in element of incontrovertible actuality that the suffering we adventure in sanctification in this life is something we get carry of because of Christ's sacrifice for us. His sufferings paid the cost for us to be sanctified, and his sufferings paid the cost for the completed of our sanctification -- both the initial and extremely last factors. therefore that's because of Christ's sacrifice that we get carry of the stunning sanctification contained in the first position! If he had no longer suffered, we does no longer receive the stunning sanctification (or the glorification to which it leads), yet would bypass instantly to hell. therefore purgatory does no longer advise Christ's sufferings were inadequate; truly that's because of Christ's sufferings that we are given the stunning sanctification of purgatory contained in the first position. Purgatory is by no ability an unbiblical doctrine. truly, it really is thoroughly biblical on both implicit and express grounds. Implicitly, it will be derived from the biblical ideas that we nevertheless sin till demise yet that there'll be no sin in glory. therefore between demise and glorification ought to come purification. Explicitly, we no longer purely have the witness of passages which includes 2 Maccabees 12, yet to boot the witness of passages describing our accounting previously Christ contained in the certain judgment, which includes the fantastically bright depiction of one escaping by the flames in a million Corinthians 3:11-15. All who die in God's grace and friendship, yet nevertheless imperfectly purified, are certainly guaranteed of their eternal salvation; yet after demise they undergo purification, with the intention to achieve the holiness needed to enter the excitement of heaven.

Answer 8

Dante...Paradise Lost

Answer 9

False doctrine... Peace be with you all your days...

Answer 10

on what teaching is eternal damnation based?