Catholics, whatever happened to Purgatory?

Question

Can you help me to understand why this doctrine has been revoked? And, more importantly, does this undermine what the Bible teaches about Hell?

I'm not making this up, folks. Although I don't believe everything I read in the newspapers, I read this in a highly respected British newspaper a couple of months ago. I haven't got the wit, the time or the inclination to spread false rumours. The Pope said Purgutory is no longer upheld by the Catholic church. Feedback, please.

I sit corrected! Thank goodness I asked this question - at least I now know the difference between purgatory and limbo.

Q - Mark 16: 15-16 "He who believes and is baptised will be saved" - baptised babies cannot believe, so how can they be saved?

Q - Jesus' death on the cross - wasn't that enough? You mean, we have to ADD to what Jesus did?

Answer 1

Purgatory- Un-Scriptural

Catholicism teaches that after death, some people are sent to a place called purgatory for further purification before entering heaven:

"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. " Pg. 2658, #1030 (Catechism)
"The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect..." Pg. 268-269, #1031


Did this critical doctrine come from God, or is it another tradition of men? Here' s your answer, right out of the Catechism:

"The Church formulated her doctrine of faith on Purgatory especially at the Councils of Florence and Trent." Pg. 268-269, #1031

Is it unreasonable to ask where a group of men got their information about the afterlife to formulate such a doctrine?

Precious Roman Catholic, if you are praying for loved ones you believe are in purgatory, you need to be aware that God didn't tell you they were there, a group of religious leaders did:

"But at the present time some of his disciples are pilgrims on earth. Others have died and are being purified, while still others are in glory..." Pg. 249, #954

If you suffer, it's not a gift

What makes this doctrine even more disturbing is that the Bible never indicates such a place exists. Neither does the Bible teach that further purification after death is necessary to earn going to heaven. On the contrary, God's Word declares that salvation is a free gift:

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." Romans 6:23
"...by the righteousness of one (Jesus) the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." Romans 5:18


Would an honest, loving God offer you eternal life as a free gift - then make you suffer to earn it - then lie about it in His Word?

"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" Ephesians 2:8

If the Bible is to be believed, then there is no need for further purification for those who die in Christ. They have already been justified by Jesus:

"Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." Romans 5:9
"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:" Romans 3:24


The Apostle Paul drives home this same point:

"And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus..." 1 Corinthians 6:11

True Christians are already purified because Jesus put away all sin on the cross:

"...but now once in the end of the world hath he (Jesus) appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." Hebrews 9:26

God's children are not required to suffer for salvation because they have been bought and paid for:

"For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Corinthians 6:20

The price was the blood of Jesus Christ:

"...feed the church of God, which he (Jesus) hath purchased with his own blood." Acts 20:28

Conclusion

If the Bible is so clear on this subject, why did the Catholic church institute a doctrine that has persuaded faithful members to give multiplied millions of dollars to the church to have prayers and Masses said on behalf of departed loved ones? You must answer that for yourself.

Now, at least you know that the doctrine of purgatory was hatched from the minds of mortal men:

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:1

Answer 2

I agree with those who say that Purgatory is unscriptural, but there's one more important issue to address here.

One of the respondents said that when you die you go straight to Heaven or Hell. There is no biblical evidence for this either. Although I'm not a Catholic I believe it's appropriate to pray for the dead. Why? Because, since God is beyond time and space He is not limited as to when He can answer our prayers.

In 1 Cor 15:29 Paul writes about believers of his day being baptised for the dead. On behalf of the dead, as proxies. Make of this what you want but that's what he says. This would seem to back up the passage in Tobit, one of the apocryphal books that Protestants have taken out of the canon of scripture, which says "It is a good and noble thing to pray for the dead."

There are certain reasons why I am not a Catholic, but this is one doctrine where I think they're right and Protestants are wrong. No single church has the whole truth on every matter. Each one is like a pigeon hole which will let you in but prevent you looking in to any of the others. The true Church of Jesus Christ has members in all denominations (I wouldn't include Mormons of course).

Answer 3

I believe you are mistaken or whoever wrote the article is. I am Catholic, and there has been no such announcement. Catholics still believe in Purgatory and we still pray for the souls in Purgatory.

The Pope did say that Limbo was not an official teaching of the church. Limbo has always been a kind of extension of Purgatory...but never official. It was believed that the unborn were in Limbo because they were not able to be baptized but at the same time had committed no personal sin. Limbo was thought (by many) to be a happy place but not heaven. Even though many may still believe, the Church has stated that this is not Church dogma.

But Purgatory is still there and souls there need prayer.

Answer 4

Oh dear this reminds me of the indoctrination I received growing up. Strange but true the Catholic religion bends and sways this way and that.......Limbo I think you may have read about. Have never heard anything about purgatory......but even the Limbo thing is ridiculous........imagine having a nursery wing for babies who could not go to heaven because they had never been baptised. BUT someone who is a multi murderer can make a good confession in the hours before death and bingo they go toheaven. Sorry to sound cynical but too often the rules are bent and convienient.

Answer 5

I think you saw a story on Limbo not Purgatory.

+ Limbo +

Jesus said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to the whole creation. He who believes and is baptised will be saved." (Mark 16:15-16)

For centuries, people have wondered about children who died before they were baptised. The Bible does not explicitly state that they will go to heaven.

Limbo was suggested as the place where unbaptised babies went when they died. This idea was never official Church doctrine and has been rejected.

The Church now says that it is not sure what happens to unbaptised babies when they die but she entrusts them to the mercy of God.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2sect2.htm#1261

+ Purgatory +

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 into perfect beings.

Depending on the amount of change needed by different people this can be an easy or slightly harder process.

Everyone in purgatory is on their way to heaven.

I don't think Mother Teresa of Calcutta had a very hard time of it.

http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art12.htm#1030

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 6

In effect, purgatory has indeed been revoked. It has been dramatically shortened from the very long, drawn out, painful process of purification of the Middle Ages, to Ratzinger's instantaneous transformation of today.

Medieval peasants could be usefully kept in check by the threat of purgatory, as a service to exploitative aristocracies. By the time of Cardinal Newman, when there were many middle class Catholics in Europe, whom it was not necessary or wise to threaten too much, the threat had been reduced, but even then, purgatory was not an experience to be shrugged off. Newman's poem 'The Dream of Gerontius' makes that clear enough; Gerontius, the newly departed, says 'There will I sing my sad perpetual strain.' However, he is 'happy in my pain'. Not too frightening for genteel Victorians!

Threatening modern Westerners, though, is definitely not PC, and in any case, Protestantism with its Bible has been successful in putting the lie to purgatory. So it had to go.

m.

Answer 7

The doctrine of Purgatory has not and cannot be revoked. This has been the teaching of the Church from the very beginning. You may be confusing it with Limbo. Limbo was never a doctrine, but a belief that the Church never ruled as true or untrue. Limbo is supposedly a place of perfect natural comfort where the innocent unbaptized (victims of abortion, miscarriage, unbaptized children who die before the age of consent) go after death. The reasoning goes that since they did not sin, they could not go to hell. But, since they were not baptized and cleansed of the stain of original sin, they are unworthy to go to heaven. Recently the Pope has tried to distance the Church from this belief because of a lack of support in Tradition (more than a few centuries back). However, the Church still has not infallibly ruled on this, so it is OK to believe it. But, I think that following the Pope is a good idea. The alternative to Limbo is that the innocent unbaptized go to heaven. Given God's infinite mercy, this is in my humble opinion the most likely destiny for such children.

Answer 8

I am a fomer Catholic and can say with confidence the n0tion of purgatory undermines Jesus death on the cross. Folks the gospel message is clear he died to pay for our sins. If we could have purified ourselves he would never needed to die. To suggest such a place as purgatory which you will find no evidence of in the bible is to suggest Jesus death wasn't sufficeint to pay for our sins. Jesus whole purpose for coming to earth was to save men from their sins. If we could haved purified ourselves he would have never needed to go through the agony of sufering this cruel death. 1 John 1:9 says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. All means all. Hebrews 10:10 And by that will we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus once and for all. vs 18 and where these have been forgiven there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. I have to wonder at the thumbs down I mean I didn't write these bible verses and if you have scripture that supports belief in limbo/purgatory than that would be more instructive. The Apostle Paul said if I or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel than that we have preached let him be accursed. So if it tradition doesn't measure up with the Gospel they preached discard it. We will answer to God for our beliefs and how we handled the truth. I would like to add do you not think that if such a place as limbo or putgatory existed Jesus would have told us about it. Again if we could do something as important as praying for the dead you would think that Jesus or the apostles would have made some mention of it. On this subject the scripture it silent. We need to be careful not to add to God's word what he never said. Finally For by grace are you saved through faith it is a gift of God not of works lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:9 Notice salvation is a gift not something we earned through our good works. If good works cannot save us now they could not save us in the afterlife in a place such as a limbo or purgatory. God's gift is sufficient to save us from our sins. Living a good life with good works should be done out of gratitude to God and love for others but not in hopes of buying our way inot heaven.

Answer 9

The Pope rang God and they had a chat did rock paper scissors and well Purgatory got dumped ,, it was a cost factor to high maintenance .

Answer 10

No the doctrine was not revoked as catholics don't revoke what was taught to them from apostolic tradition. This doesn't undermine the teaching of hell, all who are in purgatory are destined to heaven but are being purified before they enter paradise.

Answer 11

When was purgatory revoked? The concept is still alive and well. I suggest you read the bible or read 'Left Below'