what bible verse do the catholics use to explain purgatory?

Question

I use KJV bible and really need text: books - verses to learn more of this "purgatory" ie, what is it really? where is it's possible location? who is in charge? how does a dead person earn merits towards heaven? this new concept is all new to me and if it is in the bible would like to learn more.

Answer 1

Purgatory is a non-biblical idea of the Catholic Church. Purgatory actually goes against the Bible. Purgatory is supposedly a place where one goes after death to cleanse themselves of any sin they may have before entering Heaven. But if you put your trust in Christ, the Bible is clear: "to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord". When the thief on the cross next to Christ repented, Jesus said to him: "today, you will be with me in Paradise".

Where the Catholic Church justifies Purgatory comes from the Apocrypha book of the Maccabees. This book is not God and inspired, and is not part of the Bible. It shouldn't have any place in church doctrine.

I would like to say something to Adam. 2nd Maccabees wasn't removed from the Protestant Bibles. It's a non-scriptural book that was never part of the Bible, and shouldn't be. The Catholic Church is actually a cult, elevating church tradition, the Apocrypha and their Catechism above the Word of God.

Answer 2

First of all 1 and 2 Maccabees are not "apocryphal" books but deuterocanonical books. There is a BIG difference.

The following is an excerpt:

All Christians agree that we won’t be sinning in heaven. Sin and final glorification are utterly incompatible. Therefore, between the sinfulness of this life and the glories of heaven, we must be made pure. Between death and glory there is a purification.

Thus, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states: "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 Church gives the name purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned" (CCC 1030–1).

The concept of an after-death purification from sin and the consequences of sin is also stated in the New Testament in passages such as 1 Corinthians 3:11–15 and Matthew 5:25–26, 12:31–32.

The doctrine of purgatory, or the final purification, has been part of the true faith since before the time of Christ. The Jews already believed it before the coming of the Messiah, as revealed in the Old Testament (2 Macc. 12:41–45) as well as in other pre-Christian Jewish works, such as one which records that Adam will be in mourning "until the day of dispensing punishment in the last years, when I will turn his sorrow into joy" (The Life of Adam and Eve 46–7). Orthodox Jews to this day believe in the final purification, and for eleven months after the death of a loved one, they pray a prayer called the Mourner’s Kaddish for their loved one’s purification.

Jews, Catholics, and the Eastern Orthodox have always historically proclaimed the reality of the final purification. It was not until the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century that anyone denied this doctrine. As the quotes below from the early Church Fathers show, purgatory has been part of the Christian faith from the very beginning.

Some imagine that the Catholic Church has an elaborate doctrine of purgatory worked out, but there are only three essential components of the doctrine: (1) that a purification after death exists, (2) that it involves some kind of pain, and (3) that the purification can be assisted by the prayers and offerings by the living to God. Other ideas, such that purgatory is a particular "place" in the afterlife or that it takes time to accomplish, are speculations rather than doctrines.

More here:
http://catholic.com/library/Roots_of_Purgatory.asp

Answer 3

Biblical Proof of Purgation after death. Purgatory Is very Real.

Mt 5:48 be perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect
Heb 12:14 strive for that holiness w/o which can NOT see God
Jam 3:2 we all fall short in many respects
Rev 21:27 nothing unclean shall enter heaven
1 Jn 5:16-17 degrees of sins distinguished
Jam 1:14-15 when sin reaches maturity gives birth to death
2 Sam 12:13-14 David, though forgiven still punished for sin
Mt 5:26 you will not be released until the last penny paid
Mt 12:32 sin against Holy Spirit unforgivenable in this age AND next
Mt 12:36 account for every idle word on judgement day
2 Mac 12:44-46 atoned for dead to free them from sin
1 Cor 3:15 suffer loss, but saved as through fire (PURGATION)
1 Pet 3:18-20, 4:6 Jesus preached to the spirits in prison
2 Tim 1:16-18 Paul prays for dead friend Onesiphorus
1 Cor 15:29-30 Paul mentions people baptizing for the dead

Answer 4

+ Purgatory +

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.

+ Sources of Doctrine +

The Catholic Church does not only use Holy Scripture for the basis of doctrine. 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?

This second source of doctrine is called Holy Tradition.

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 5

When I was a kid in Catholic school, I perceived it as a hell lite. They told us not to read the bible. Only a priest should do that. If you where never baptized, you would stay there forever. Or if you didn't become a Catholic. Because God gave everyone the good sense to know it was the only true religion. So, off to purgatory you went. I also thought that the holy ghost, was a dove, with a big flame shooting out of his a s s. After 8th grade, I had reached the age of reason. The End. Oh yeah, he's right, I have it mixed up with limbo. How low can you go.

Answer 6

There is no specific mention of the word purgatory in the Bible, which is why most (or just some) Christian denominations don't believe in it, but it is a doctrine of the Church that has been passed down through Sacred Tradition, i.e. the teachings of the Popes (who are infallible mind you), Church Fathers, church scholars and theologians, and Church Councils over the Church's 2000 year history.

For more info on the subject, consult the link below and the matching site.

Answer 7

I'm not Catholic or Christian, but I think I recall that some old testament passages contain the story of a sinful man who was being tortured by demons in hell, and he looks over to righteous (but as yet unsaved) dead people being comforted by angels in "Abraham's Keep". This isn't exactly purgatory, but it is something other than heaven and hell that the dead are existing in. Sorry, can't remember the passage, but try starting there.

Answer 8

1 COR. 3:15

Heb. 12:23

2 Macc. 12:46
(Therefore, it is a holy and beneficial thought to pray on behalf of those who have passed away, so that they may be released from sins.) as 2 maccabees, was removed from most protestant bibles.



C M

please tell me where and in what speech he said it. It is Catholic Doctrine and no pope has EVER gone against catholic doctrine.

please do not mistake limbo with purgatory.

Answer 9

Quite frankly i thought the bible says that after death comes judgement, and in judgement every man will receive a reward according to the deeds done in their bodies? In terms of justness think about this, how could a person can die 5,000 years ago and get a chance to get it right AFTER death, and the sinner who lives up to Christ's return, and doesn't get that 'extra chance'? In the OT there was no remission of Sin however in the NT GOD freed those who were his.....

Answer 10

The New Catholic Encyclopedia states: “In the final analysis, the Catholic doctrine on purgatory is based on tradition, not Sacred Scripture.” Regarding hell, A Dictionary of Christian Theology comments: “In the N[ew] T[estament] we do not find hell fire to be a part of the primitive preaching.”

its one of those stuff that the bible does not mention. A n example of what Jesus said 'doctrines of men.'